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RELIGION  IN  AMERICA. 


RELIGION  IN  AMERICA; 


OR,    AN  ACCOUNT   OF 


THE    ORIGIN,  RELATION  TO  THE  STATE,  AND  PRESENT  CONDITION 
OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


WITH 


NOTICES  OF  THE  UNEVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS. 


BY 


ROBERT    BAIRD. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

No.    S2T    to    335    PEARL    STREET. 
MDCCCLVI. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

Harper  &  Brothers, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York 


I    ■ 


PREFACE. 


A  few  words  respecting  the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  the 
preparation  and  publication  of  this  volume,  seem  appropriate  by- 
way of  Preface. 

In  the  year  1835,  at  the  instance  of  several  distinguished  Christian 
gentlemen  of  his  native  land,  the  author  visited  the  Continent  of 
Europe  for  the  prosecution  of  certain  religious  and  philanthropic  ob- 
jects ;  and  during  the  twenty  years  which  have  since  elapsed  he  has 
resided  much  in  Europe,  and  traveled  in  every  country  in  it.  In  the 
course  of  these  journeys  the  author's  engagements  introduced  him 
to  the  acquaintance  of  a  large  number  of  influential  persons,  be- 
longing to  almost  all  professions  and  stations  in  society.  Among 
them  were  many  who  rank  high  in  their  respective  countries  for  en- 
lightened piety,  zeal,  and  usefulness.  From  such  persons  innumera- 
ble inquiries  were  addressed  to  him,  sometimes  by  letter,  but  oftener 
in  conversation,  respecting  his  native  country,  and  esj)ecially  respect- 
ing its  religious  institutions.  To  meet  the  wishes  of  an  illustrious 
individual*  in  France,  whom  God  has  called  from  the  scene  of  her  ac- 
tivity on  earth  to  Himself,  he  wrote  a  small  work  on  the  Origin  and 
Progress  of  Unitarianism  in  the  United  States.f 

But  that  little  work,  while  it  so  far  satisfied  curiosity  on  one  sub- 
ject, seemed  but  to  augment  it  in  regard  to  others;  so  that,  without 
neglecting  what  was,  by  others  as  well  as  himself,  deemed  a  manifest 
duty,  the  author  could  not  but  accede  to  the  earnest  request  of 
highly  valued  friends  in  Germany,  Sweden,  France,   and  Switzer- 

*  The  late  Duchess  de  Broglie. 

f  This  work  was  published  in  Paris  in  1837,  under  the  title  of  "L  'Union  de 
TEglise  avec  l'Etat  dans  la  Nouvelle  ADgleterre." 


Vi  PREFACE. 

land,  in  writing  a  work  as  full  as  the  subject  might  require,  upon 
the  Origin,  History,  Economy,  Action,  and  Influence  of  Religion  in 
the  United  States.  This  task  he  endeavored  to  accomplish  in  the 
summer  of  1842,  while  residing  in  the  city  of  Geneva,  in  Switzer- 
land. In  the  autumn  of  the  year  following,  this  work  was  published 
in  Scotland,  where  it  was  introduced  to  the  Christian  public  by  the 
"Rev.  Drs.  Welsh,  Cunningham,  and  Buchanan,  in  a  recommendatory 
notice,  which  the  reader  will  find  appended  to  this  Preface.  In  the 
course  of  two  or  three  years  the  work  was  translated  into  French, 
German,  Swedish,  and  Dutch,  and  obtained  a  wide  circulation  on 
the  Continent,  as  well  as  in  the  British  Isles  * 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1843,  the 
author  was  induced  to  revise  the  work  and  bring  out  an  American 
edition— a  measure  which  he  had  not  originally  contemplated.  In 
doing  this,  he  at  first  thought  of  abridging  it,  inasmuch  as  it  con- 
tained many  things  with  which,  though  they  were  indispensable  hi  a 
work  prepared  to  make  known  our  religious  economy  to  the  people 
of  Europe,  and  especially  of  the  Continent,  our  countrymen  might 
be  supposed  to  be  sufficiently  acquainted.  But  he  yielded  to  the 
judgment  of  valued  friends,  and  among  them  the  esteemed  publish- 
ers, who  preferred  to  see  the  work  brought  out  in  the  form  in  which 
it  was  written,  as  more  likely,  on  the  whole,  to  be  instructive  and 
useful.  Accordingly,  it  was  published  in  the  spring  of  1844,  and 
gained  an  extensive  circulation  at  home  as  well  as  abroad. 

At  the  suggestion  of  several  friends,  residing  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  the  author  has  been  led  to  revise  the  work  in  the 
most  careful  manner,  and  bring  it  down,  in  all  its  details,  to  the 
present  time,  or  rather  to  the  year  1855.  To  do  this  has  been  no 
easy  matter.  Every  sentence  has  been  read,  and  almost  every  figure 
has  been  changed.  This  has  been  rendered  inevitable  by  the  growth 
of  our  country,  and  the  progress  of  all  our  religious  bodies,  and  of  our 
religious  and  benevolent  societies.  No  one  who  has  not  looked  into 
the  subject  attentively  is  likely  to  be  aware  of  the  immense  changes 
that  have  taken  place  with  us  during  the  last  twelve  years — the 

*  The  author  would  gratefully  mention  the  fact,  that  James  Douglass,  Esq.  (of 
Cavers),  so  well  known  for  his  numerous  and  able  writings,  did  much  to  promote  the 
circulation  of  this  work  in  France. 


PREFACE.  Vll 

northern  boundary  of  Oregon  defined,  and  the  North-eastern  Ques- 
tion settled ;  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  annexed ;  Florida, 
Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Texas,  and  California  received  as  States,  enlarging 
the  constellation  of  our  Republic  from  twenty-six  to  thirty-one ;  the 
Territories  of  Minnesota,  Utah,  New  Mexico,  Oregon,  Washington, 
Kansas,  and  Nebraska  formed,  and  the  "  Indian  Territory"  marked 
out ;  the  boundless  gold  mines  of  California  possessed,  and  the  rapid 
peopling  of  the  shores  of  the  Pacific ;  the  increase  of  our  population 
by  at  least  eight  millions,  including  the  influx  of  at  least  two  mil- 
lions of  foreigners ;  and  the  vast  augmentation  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation,  and  the  expansion  of  its  commerce,  until  its  tonnage  now 
exceeds  that  of  any  other  country  in  the  world ! 

Few  readers  can  form  an  idea  of  the  modifications  which  it  has 
been  necessary  to  make  in  the  statistics  of  this  book.  What  prog- 
ress have  our  churches  and  religious  societies  made  within  the  brief 
period  of  twelve  years !  This  progress  has  been  fully  equal  to  that 
of  the  Material  Interests  of  the  country  in  the  same  time.  For  this 
we  can  not  be  too  grateful.  It  has  been  an  eventful  period.  The 
war  with  Mexico,  1846-48,  and  the  almost  overwhelming  immigra- 
tion of  people  from  the  Old  World,  were  well  calculated  to  try  the 
strength  of  our  political  institutions  and  of  our  religious  economy. 
But  the  crisis,  so  far  as  these  questions  are  concerned,  is  over.    It 

4 

was  well  met  by  the  development  of  such  influences  as  the  occasion 
demanded. 

It  will  be  found  that  within  the  last  twelve  years — 1844-55,  in- 
clusive— the  number  of  churches,  ministers,  and  communicants  in 
every  branch  of  the  great  evangelical  body  of  Christians  among  us 
has  increased,  and  in  all,  except  a  very  few  of  the  smallest,  that  in- 
crease has  been  great.  The  same  is  true  of  our  religious  societies ; 
the  amount  of  their  receipts,  and  of  the  number  of  their  missionaries 
and  other  laborers  at  home  and  abroad,  have  been  greatly  aug- 
mented.   To  God  be  the  praise. 

The  reader  will  find  that  while  a  large  amount  of  new  matter  has 
been  introduced,  and  the  statistics  brought  down  to  a  date  as  recent 
as  possible,  the  form  of  the  work  remains  unchanged.  It  still  has 
the  aspect  of  a  work  written  for  those  who  know  but  little  about  our 
religious  economy  and  its  workings.     This,  perhaps,  will  be  found  no 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

disadvantage  in  the  case  of  those  who  desire  to  know  well  the  relig- 
ious state  and  prospects  of  our  country — a  subject  about  which,  it  is 
apprehended,  many  of  our  own  people  are  not  as  well  informed  as 
they  ought  to  be. 

While  the  form  of  the  work  remains  as  it  was,  the  author  trusts 
that  the  reader  will  find  the  spirit  to  be  the  same.  He  has  endeav- 
ored to  treat  the  subject  to  which  it  relates  at  once  with  fidelity  and 
with  heartfelt  charity.  The  obligations  of  Truth  and  Duty  required 
at  his  hands,  however,  that  every  denomination  that  professes  to  be 
a  religious  one  should  be  spoken  of  as  it  is.  He  could  not  place  the 
Non-Evangelical  bodies  in  the  same  category  with  the  Evangelical 
Churches,  that  is,  the  Churches  which  hold  the  great  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation.  He  has  honestly  endeavored  to  set  forth  the  prin- 
ciples, practice,  and  statistics  of  all. 

The  author  has  made  what  he  deems  to  be,  on  the  whole,  a  just 
classification  of  the  various  branches  of  the  evangelical  body  of 
Churches.  He  is  well  aware  that  there  are  portions  of  some  of  these 
bodies — as  he  has  indicated  in  the  proper  places — about  which  there 
has  been  no  little  solicitude ;  but  even  among  these,  whose  error  has 
chiefly  arisen  from  attaching  an  undue  importance  to  some  rite,  or 
to  some  mode  of  worship,  or  some  form  of  church  government,  he 
is  happy  to  believe  there  is  a  gradual  return  to  sound  views  and  a 
safer  action ;  w^hile  all  would  answer  the  inquiries  after  salvation  in 
the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  Saviour  and  His  Apostles.  As  to  the  re- 
sults of  our  religious  economy,  and  the  working  of  the  "  Voluntary 
Principle"  among  us,  as  set  forth  in  the  Conclusion  of  the  work, 
the  author  has  not  a  doubt  that  they  are  correct — substantially  so  at 
all  events — and  certainly  they  are  such  as  both  to  astonish  and  de- 
light every  friend  of  evangelical  religion  in  all  lands. 

The  reader  will  perceive  that  the  work  is  divided  into  Eight  Books, 
to  which  is  added  a  Summary  or  Conclusion. 

The  First  Book  is  devoted  to  preliminary  remarks  intended  to 
throw  light  on  various  points,  so  that  readers  the  least  conversant 
with  American  history  and  society  may,  without  difficulty,  under- 
stand what  follows.  Some  of  these  preliminary  remarks  may  be 
thought  at  first  not  very  pertinent  to  the  subject  in  hand,  but 


PREFACE.  IX 

reasons  will  probably  be  found  for  changing  this  opinion  before  the 
reader  comes  to  the  end  of  the  volume. 

The  Second  Book  treats  of  the  early  colonization  of  the  country 
now  forming  the  United  States ;  the  religious  character  of  the  first 
European  colonists — their  ecclesiastical  institutions — and  the  state 
of  the  Churches  when  the  Revolution  took  place  by  which  the  col- 
onies became  independent  of  the  mother  country. 

The  Third  Book  treats  of  the  changes  involved  in  and  consequent 
upon  that  event — the  influence  of  those  changes — /the  character  of 
the  civil  governments  of  the  States — and  the  relations  subsisting 
between  those  Governments  and  the  Churches. 

The  Fourth  Book  exhibits  the  operations  of  the  Voluntary  System 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  extent  of  its  influence. 

The  Fifth  Book  treats  of  the  discipline  of  the  Churches — the 
character  of  American  preaching — and  the  subject  of  revivals. 

The  Sixth  Book  is  occupied  with  brief  notices  of  the  evangelical 
denominations  in  the  United  States — their  ecclesiastical  polity  and 
discipline — the  doctrines  peculiar  to  each — their  history  and  pros- 
pects. 

The  Seventh  Book  treats  in  like  manner  of  the  non-evangelical 
sects. 

The  Eighth  Book  shows  what  the  Churches  are  doing  in  the  way 
of  sending  the  Gospel  to  other  lands. 

The  author  renews  the  expression  of  his  thanks  to  the  many 
friends  who  aided  him  in  many  ways,  in  the  original  preparation  of 
this  work.  Without  naming  them  all,  he  may  without  impropriety 
express  his  obligations  to  the  Rev.  Drs.  De  Witt,  Hodge,  Goodrich, 
Bacon,  Durbin,  Anderson,  Emerson,  Schmucker,  Berg,  and  to  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Tracy  and  Allen. 

For  the  important  chapter  on  Revivals,  the  reader  as  well  as  the 
author  is  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Goodrich,  who  has  long  been  a 
distinguished  professor  in  Yale  College,  than  whom  no  man  probably 
is  more  capable  of  treating  the  subject  in  a  judicious  and  philosoph- 
ical manner. 

To  the  late  Hon.  Henry  Wheaton,  who  so  long  and  so  ably  rep- 
resented the  United  States  at  the  courts  of  Denmark  and  Prussia, 
and  to  Robert  Walsh,  Esq.,  who  has,  for  twenty  years  and  more,  so 


X  PREFACE. 

well  made  known  in  Europe  the  institutions  of  our  country  and  vin- 
dicated its  honor,  the  author  is  under  obligations  for  many  valuable 
suggestions,  and  much  important  information. 

Deeply  sensible  that  the  work  is  far  from  perfect,  he  commends 
it  to  the  keeping  of  Him  without  whose  blessing  nothing  that  is 
good  can  be  accomplished. 

New  Yoke,  May,  1856. 


RECOMMENDATORY  NOTICE 


BY   THE 


RET.   DRS.  DAVID    WELSH,   WILLIAM    CUNNINGHAM,  AND 

ROBERT  BUCHANAN. 


Having  had  an  opportunity  of  perusing  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  following  work  while  it  was  passing  through  the  press,  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  complying  with  a  request  made  to  us  by  the  publish- 
ers, to  recommend  it  to  the  attention  of  the  British  public.  The 
author  is  an  esteemed  minister  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  has  had  full  access  to  the  best  and  most  authentic 
sources  of  information  on  the  various  subjects  which  he  discusses, 
while  his  personal  acquaintance  with  the  state  of  religion  and  the 
condition  of  the  Churches,  both  in  Britain  and  on  the  Continent,  has 
afforded  him  peculiar  advantages  in  selecting  the  materials  with  re- 
gard to  the  state  of  religion,  and  the  efforts  made  for  its  promotion 
in  America,  which  it  might  be  most  interesting  and  useful  for  the 
British  churches  to  possess  and  to  examine.  The  work  contains  a 
very  large  amount  of  interesting  and  valuable  information  with  re- 
gard to  the  origin  and  the  history  of  the  different  religious  bodies  in 
the  United  States,  and  their  doctrines,  constitution,  organization,  and 
agency,  their  relations  with  each  other,  and  the  character  and  re- 
sults of  the  efforts  they  are  making  to  promote  religion  in  their  own 
country  and  in  other  lands.  It  supplies  a  larger  amount  of  informa- 
tion upon  all  these  important  topics  than  any  work  with  which  we 
are  acquainted ;  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  in- 
formation it  contains  is  well  fitted  to  encourage  the  efforts  of  all 


XII  RECOMMENDATORY     NOTICE. 

Churches  which  are  similarly  situated  to  those  in  America,  and  to 
afford  some  important  practical  lessons  in  the  prosecution  of  those 
great  objects  which  all  Christian  Churches,  in  every  variety  of  ex- 
ternal circumstances,  are  bound  to  aim  at.  We  do  not  agree  in  all 
the  opinions  which  the  esteemed  author  has  expressed,  but  we  ad- 
mire the  judicious,  benevolent,  candid,  and  catholic  spirit  by  which 
the  work  is  pervaded.  We  regard  the  publication  of  this  work  in 
our  own  country  as  a  boon  conferred  upon  the  British  Churches,  not 
merely  because  it  gives  a  fuller  view  than  could  anywhere  else  be  ob- 
tained of  "  Religion  in  America,"  but  also  because  it  is  well  fitted  to 
promote  a  spirit  of  love  and  kindness  among  the  Churches  of  Christ, 
and  to  diffuse  more  widely  the  benefits  which  may  be  derived  from  a 
judicious  use  of  the  experience  of  the  American  Churches,  in  the 
peculiar  circumstances  in  which,  in  Providence,  they  have  been 
placed,  and  in  connection  with  the  peculiar  way  in  which  the  Head 
of  the  Church  has  been  pleased  to  make  them  instrumental  in  ac- 
complishing His  gracious  purposes.  Whatever  diversities  of  opinion 
may  prevail  in  this  country  on  some  important  points  connected  with 
the  condition  and  prospects  of  religion  in  America,  no  candid  man 
will  deny  that  religion  has  there  been  placed  in  circumstances,  and 
has  appeared  in  aspects,  which  are  well  worthy  of  serious  considera- 
tion, from  a  judicious  investigation  of  which,  important  practical 
lessons  are  to  be  learned.  And  on  this  ground  we  hail  with  much 
satisfaction  the  publication  of  a  work  which  contains  a  very  large 
amount  of  information  upon  this  interesting  and  important  subject, 
and  cordially  recommend  it  to  the  perusal  of  British  Christians. 

David  Welsh, 
William  Cunnixgham, 
Robert  Buchanan. 

Edinburg,  September,  1843. 


CONTENTS. 


-*-»♦• 


BOOK    I. 

PRELIMINARY   REMARKS*. 

Page 
Chap.  I. — General  Notice  of  North  America 19 

Chap.  II. — The  Aborigines  of  North  America 24 

Chap.  III. — Discovery  of  that  part  of  North  America  which  is  comprised  in  the 
Limits  of  the  United  States. — The  early  and  unsuccessful  Attempts  to  Colonize 

it 31 

Chap.  IV. — The  Position  and  extent  of  the  United  States ;  Nature  and  resources 

of  the  Country ' 35 

Chap.  V. — The  Colonization  of  the  Territories  now  constituting  the  United  States 

at  length  accomplished 37 

Chap.  VI. — Interior  Colonization  of  the  Country 43 

Chap.  VII. — Peculiar  Qualifications  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Race  for  the  work  of 

Colonization 49 

Chap.  VIII. — On  the  alleged  Want  of  National  Character  in  America 53 

Chap.  IX.— The  Royal  Charters 57 

Chap.  X. — How  a  correct  Knowledge  of  the  American  People,  the  Nature  of 

their  Government,  and  of  their  National  Character  may  best  be  attained 61 

Chap.  XL — How  to  obtain  a  correct  View  of  the  Spirit  and  Character  of  the  Re- 
ligious Institutions  of  the  United  States 66 

Chap.  XII. — A  brief  Notice  of  the  Form  of  Government  in  America 70 

Chap.  XIII. — A  brief  Geographical  Notice  of  the  United  States 74 

Chap.  XIV. — Obstacles  which  the  Voluntary  System  in  supporting  Religion  has 
had  to  encounter  in  America :  1.  From  the  erroneous  Opinions  on  the  Subject 

of  Religious  Economy  which  the  Colonists  brought  with  them 77 

Chap.  XV. — Obstacles  which  the  Voluntary  System  has  had  to  encounter  in 
America :  2.  From  the  Newness  of  the  Country,  the  Thinness  of  the  Popula- 
tion, and  the  unsettled  state  of  Society 80 

Chap.  XVI. — Obstacles  which  the  Voluntary  System  has  had  to  encounter  in 

America :  3.  From  Slavery 83 

Chap.  XVII. — Obstacles  which  the  Voluntary  System  has  had  to  encounter  in 
America:  4.  From  the  vast  Emigration  from  Foreign  Countries 86 


BOOK    II. 

THE     COLONIAL     ERA. 

Chap.  I. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  New  England    90 
Chap.  II.— Religious  Character  of  the  Founders  of  New  England. — Plymouth 
Colony 96 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Pagh 

Chap.  III. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  New  En- 
gland.— Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay 105 

Chap.  IV. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  New  En- 
gland.— Colonies  of  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine. 
— General  Remarks 113 

Chap.  V. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  the  South- 
ern States 122 

Chap.  VI. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Colonists  of  New  York  129 

Chap.  VII. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  New 
Jersey 135 

Chap.  VIII. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  Dela- 
ware, at  first  called  New  Sweden 137 

Chap.  IX. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Founders  of  Pennsyl- 
vania  141 

Chap.  X. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Emigrants  from  "Wales. .  144 

Chap.  XI. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists  of  America. — Emigrants 
from  Scotland  and  Ireland 145 

Chap.  XII. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Huguenots  from  France  152 

Chap.  XIII. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Emigrants  from  Ger- 
many    162 

Chap.  XIV. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Emigrants  from  Po- 
land    166 

Chap.  XV. — Religious  Character  of  the  early  Colonists. — Emigrants  from  the 
Valleys  of  Piedmont 167 

Chap.  XVI.— Summary 168 

Chap.  XVII. — Relations  between  the  Church  and  the  Civil  Power  in  the  Colo- 
nies of  America. — 1.  In  New  England 171 

Chap.  XVIII. — Relations  between  the  Church  and  the  Civil  Power  in  the  Colo- 
nies.— 2.  In  the  Southern  and  Middle  Provinces 179 

Chap.  XIX. — The  Influences  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State,  as  it  formerly 
existed  in  America. — 1.  In  New  England 185 

Chap.  XX. — The  Influences  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State. — 2.  In  the  South- 
ern and  Middle  States 195 

Chap.  XXI.— State  of  Religion  during  the  Colonial  Era 211 


BOOK    III. 

THE     NATIONAL     ERA. 

Chap.  I. — Effects  of  the  Revolution  upon  Religion. — Changes  to  which  it  neces- 
sarily gave  rise 207 

Chap.  II. — The  Dissolution  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State  not  effected  by 
the  General  Government,  nor  did  it  take  place  immediately 211 

Chap.  III. — Dissolution  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State  in  America,  when  and 
how  effected 213 

Chap.  IV. — Effects  of  the  Dissolution  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State  in  the 
several  States  in  which  it  once  subsisted 228 

Chap.  V. — Whether  the  General  Government  of  the  United  States  has  the 
Power  to  promote  Religion 235 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Page 
Chap.  VI. — "Whether  the  Government  of  the  United  States  may  justly  he  called 

Infidel  or  Atheistical 240 

Chap.  VII. — The  Government  of  the  United  States  shown  to  be  Christian  by  its 

Acts 243 

Chap.  VIII. — The  Governments  of  the  Individual  States  organized  on  the  basis 

of  Christianity 247 

Chap.  IX. — The  Legislation  of  the  States  shown  to  be  in  favor  of  Christianity. .  252 
Chap.  X. — The  Legislation  of  the  States  often  bears  favorably,  though  incident- 
ally, on  the  cause  of  Religion 255 

Chap.  XL — In  what  cases  the  action  of  the  Civil  Authority  may  be  directed  in 

reference  to  Religion 258 

Chap.  XII. — Review  of  the  ground  which  we  have  gone  over 261 


BOOK    IV. 

THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA  J   ITS  ACTION  AND 

INFLUENCE. 

Chap.  I. — The  Voluntary  Principle  the  great  Alternative. — The  Nature  and 

Vaatness  of  its  Mission 262 

Chap.  II. — Foundation  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  to  be  sought  for  in  the  Char- 
ter and  Habits  of  the  People  of  the  United  States 265 

Chap.  III. — How  Church  Edifices  are  built  in  Cities  and  large  Towns 268 

Chap.  IV. — How  Church  Edifices  are  built  in  New  Settlements 271 

Chap.  V.— The  Voluntary  Principle  developed. — How  the  Salaries  of  the  Pas- 
tors are  raised 275 

Chap.  VI. — How  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  brought  forward,  and  how  they 

become  settled  Pastors 279 

Chap.  VII. — The  Voluntary  Principle  developed  in  Home  Missions. — American 

Home  Missionary  Society 282 

Chap.  VIII. — Presbyterian  Board  of  Domestic  Missions,  under  the  Direction  of 

the  General  Assembly 287 

Chap.  IX. — Home  Missions  of  the  Episcopal,  Baptist,  and  Reformed  Dutch 

Churches 291 

Chap.  X. — Home  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 293 

Chap.  XL — The  Voluntary  Principle  developed. — Influence  of  the  Voluntary 

Principle  on  Education. — Of  Primary  Schools 296 

Chap.  XII. — Grammar-schools  and  Academies 300 

Chap.  XIII. — Colleges  and  Universities 303 

Chap.  XIV.— Sunday-schools — American  Sunday-school  Union,  and  other  Sun- 
day-school Societies 308 

Chap.  XV. — Bible-classes 315 

Chap.  XVI. — Maternal  Societies 316 

Chap.  XVII. — Education  Societies 318 

Chap.  XVIII. — Theological  Seminaries 322 

Chap.  XIX. — Efforts  to  diffuse  the  Sacred  Scriptures 334 

Chap.  XX. — Associations  for  the  Circulation  and  Publication  of  Religious  Tracts 

and  Books 336 

Chap.  XXI.-^-The  Religious  Literature  of  the  United  States 341 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Page 
Chap.  XXII. — Efforts  to  promote  the  Religious  and  Temporal  Interests  of  Sea- 
men    346 

Chap.  XXIII. — Of  the  Influences  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  in  reforming  exist- 
ing Evils. — Temperance  Societies 348 

Chap.  XXIV. — The  American  Prison  Discipline  Society 351 

Chap.  XXV. — Sundry  other  Associations 354 

Chap.  XXVI. — Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  on  the  Beneficent  Institu- 
tions of  the  Country 356 

Chap.  XXVII. — Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  on  the  Beneficent  Institu- 
tions of  the  Country. — Asylum  for  the  "Insane 359 

Chap.  XXVIII. — Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  on  the  Beneficent  Insti- 
tutions of  the  Country. — Asylums  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 361 

Chap.  XXIX. — Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  on  the  Beneficent  Institu- 
tions of  the  Country. — Asylum  for  the  Blind 363 

Chap.  XXX. — Concluding  Remarks  on  the  Development  of  the  Voluntary  Prin- 
ciple   365 


BOOKY. 

THE     CHURCH     AND     THE     PULPIT     IN     AMERICA. 

Chap.  I — Importance  of  this  Part  of  the  Subject 368 

Chap.  II. — The  Evangelical  Churches  in  the  United  States  maintain  Discipline.  369 

Chap.  III. — The  "Way  in  which  Membership  in  our  Churches  is  obtained 372 

Chap.  IV. — The  Relations  which  unconverted  Men  hold  to  the  Church 376 

Chap.  V. — The  Administration  of  Discipline 379 

Chap.  VI. — Character  of  American  Preaching 3S1 

Chap.  VII.— Revivals  of  Religion 392 

Chap.  VIII. — Supplementary  Remarks  on  Revivals  of  Religion 426 

Chap.  IX. — Alleged  Abuses  in  Revivals  of  Religion 428 

Chap.  X. — Concluding  Remarks  on  the  Church  and  the  Pulpit  in  America 435 


BOOK    VI. 

THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES  IN  AMERICA. 

Chap.  I. — Preliminary  Remarks  in  reference  to  this  Subject 438 

Chap.  II. — The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 439 

Chap.  III. — The  Congregational  Churches 445 

Chap.  IV. — The  Regular  Baptist  Churches 457 

Chap.  V. — The  Presbyterian  Church 464 

Chap.  VI.— The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 488 

Chap.  VII.— The  Moravian  Church 498 

Chap.  VIII. — Smaller  Baptist  Denominations 499 

Chap.  IX. — Smaller  Presbyterian  Churches. — Cumberland  Presbyterians 504 

Chap.  X. — Smaller  Presbyterian  Churches. — Reformed  Dutch  Church 505 

Chap.  XI. — Smaller  Presbyterian  Churches. — The  Associate  Church. — The  As- 
sociate Reformed  Church,  and  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 509 


•  • 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

Page 
Chap.  XII. — Smaller  Presbyterian  Churches.— The  German  Reformed  Church. .  514 

Chap.  XIII. — Smaller  Presbyterian  Churches. — The  Lutheran  Church 516 

Chap.  XIV. — Smaller  German  Sects 521 

Chap.  XV. — Smaller  Methodist  Denominations 524 

Chap.  XVI.— The  Friends  or  Quakers 527 

Chap.  XVII.— The  Summary 530 

Chap.  XVIII. — Number  of  Evangelical  Sects 533 

Chap.  XIX. — Alleged  "Want  of  Harmony  among  the  Evangelical  Christians  of 

the  United  States 536 


BOOK  VII. 

UNE VANGELIC AL    DENOMINATIONS    IN    AMERICA. 

Chap.  I. — Introductory  Remarks 540 

Chap.  II. — The  Roman  Catholic  Church 541 

Chap.  III. — Unitarianism 547 

Chap.  IV. — Christian  Connection 562 

Chap.  V. — The  Universalists 565 

Chap.  VI. — Swedenborgians  and  Tunkers 561 

Chap.  VII.— The  Jews 567 

Chap.  VIIL— Rappists,  Shakers,  Mormons,  etc 568 

Chap.  IX. — Atheists,  Deists,  Socialists,  Fourrierists,  etc 575 

Chap.  X. — General  Remarks  on  the  State  of  Theological  Opinion  in  America. .  577 


BOOK  VIII. 

EFFORTS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  CHURCHES   FOR   THE   CONVERSION  OF 

THE   WORLD. 

Chap.  I. — Introductory  Remarks 588 

Chap.  II. — Earlier  Efforts  to  convert  the  Aborigines 589 

Chap.  III. — American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 603 

Chap.  IV. — Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 617 

Chap.  V. — Missions  of  the  Baptist  Churches 621 

Chap.  VI. — Foreign  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 623 

Chap.  VII. — Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 626 

Chap.  VIII. — Foreign  Missions  of  other  Denominations 627 

Chap.  IX. — American  Society  for  Ameliorating  the  Condition  of  the  Jews 629 

Chap.  X. — Foreign  Evangelical  Society  of  the  United  States 629 

Chap.  XL — American  Colonization  Society 631 

Chap.  XII. — Summary 637 

Conclusion 639 

2 


RELIGION   IN   AMERICA. 


BOOK    I. 

PRELIMINARY   REMARKS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL     NOTICE     OF     NORTH     AMERICA. 

The  configuration  of  the  Continent  of  North  America,  at  first 
view,  presents  several  remarkable  features.  Spreading  out  like  a 
partially  opened  fan,  with  its  apex  toward  the  south,  its  coasts,  in 
advancing  northward,  recede  from  each  other  with  considerable  reg- 
ularity of  proportion  and  correspondence,  until,  from  being  separated 
by  only  sixty  miles  at  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  they  diverge  to  the 
extent  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  miles  ;  the  eastern  coast  pursuing 
a  north-easterly,  and  the  western  a  north-westerly  direction. 

Parallel  to  these  coasts,  and  at  almost  equal  distances  from  them, 
there  are  two  ranges  of  mountains.  The  eastern  range,  called  the 
Allegheny,  or  Appalachian,  runs  from  south-west  to  north-east,  at  an 
average  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the  Atlantic. 
Its  length  is  usually  estimated  at  nine  hundred  miles.*  Its  greatest 
width,  which  is  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  is  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles.  Rather  a  system  than  a  range  of  mountains,  it 
is  composed  of  parallel  ridges,  generally  maintaining  a  north-east 
and  south-west  direction.  But  as  it  advances  toward  its  northern 
extremity,  and  passes  through  the  New  England  States,  it  loses 
much  of  its  continuity,  and  gradually  runs  off  into  a  chain  of  nearly 
isolated  mountains.     The  southern  extremity  by  degees  sinks  down 

*  This  is  the  length  of  the  chain  considered  as  a  continuous  range,  from  the 
northern  parts  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  to  the  State  of  New  York.  Taken  in  the 
extensive  sense  in  ■which  it  is  spoken  of  in  the  text,  the  entire  range  exceeds  1500 
English  miles. 


20  PEELIMINAEY   REMARKS.  [BOOK   I. 

into  the  hills  of  Georgia,  unless,  indeed,  we  may  consider  it  as  disap- 
pearing in  the  low,  central  line  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida.  The 
north-eastern  end  terminates  in  the  ridges  of  Nova  Scotia.  The 
whole  of  this  range  is  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  except- 
ing that  part  of  it  which  stretches  into  the  British  Provinces  of 
New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  We  may  remark,  in  passing,  that 
although  apparently  this  mountain  range  separates  the  waters  which 
flow  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  St.  Lawrence,  such  is  not  really  the  case.  The  mount- 
ains simply  stand,  as  it  were,  on  the  plateau  or  elevated  plain  on 
which  those  waters  have  their  origin.  Rising  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  each  other,  and  often  interlocking,  these  streams  are  not  in 
the  least  affected  in  their  course  by  the  mountains,  the  gaps  and 
valleys  of  which  seem  to  have  been  made  to  accommodate  them,  instead 
of  their  accommodating  themselves  to  the  shape  and  position  of  the 
mountains.  In  a  part  of  its  north-eastern  extension,  this  range  of 
mountains  seems  to  detach  itself  entirely  from  the  plain  where  those 
streams  have  their  source,  and  lies  quite  south  of  it,  so  that  the 
streams  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic,  in  making  their  way  to  the  south, 
as  it  were,  cut  through  the  mountain  range,  in  its  entire  width. 

When  first  discovered  by  Europeans,  and  for  a  century  and  more 
afterward,  the  long  and  comparatively  narrow  strip  of  country 
between  the  Allegheny  range  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  was  covered 
with  an  unbroken  forest.  The  mountains,  likewise,  up  to  their  very 
summits,  and  the  valleys  that  lay  between  them,  were  clad  with 
woods.  Nothing  deserving  the  name  of  a  field,  or  a  prairie,  was 
anywhere  to  be  seen. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  continent,  as  has  been  stated,  another 
range  of  mountains  runs  parallel  to  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
This  range  is  a  part  of  the  immense  system  of  mountains  running 
from  Cape  Horn  throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  continent,  and 
seems  as  if  intended,  like  the  backbone  in  large  animals,  to  give  it 
unity  and  strength.  It  is  by  far  the  longest  in  the  world  ;*  and 
bearing  different  names  in  different  parts  of  its  extent,  it  is  the 
Andes  in  South  America,  the  Cordilleras  in  Guatimala  and  Mexico, 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains}  in  the  north. 

The  long,  and,  in  many  parts,  wide  strip  of  land  between  the  Ore- 
gon Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  is  claimed,  on  the  north,  by 

*  The  entire  length  of  this  range  is  estimated  to  be  9000  English  miles. 

f  The  proper  name  of  this  portion  of  the  range  is  Oregon,  a  word  of  Indian  origin, 
and  which,  whatever  may  be  its  original  signification,  is  a  much  better  name  than 
that  which  this  range  has  so  long  borne,  and  which  has  nothing  distinctive  about 
it — for  all  mountains  are  rocky. 


CHAP.  I.]  GENERAL  NOTICE   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  21 

Russia ;  on  the  south,  by  Mexico ;  and  in  the  middle,  by  England 
and  the  United  States. 

Between  these  two  ranges  of  mountains — the  Allegheny  on  the 
east  and  the  Oregon  on  the  west — lies  the  immense  central  valley  of 
North  America,  wider  in  the  north  than  toward  the  south,  and  reach- 
ing from  the  Northern  Ocean  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  the 
most  extensive  valley  in  the  world,  and  is  composed  of  two  vast 
sections,  separated  by  a  zigzag  line  of  table-land.  This  ridge,  which 
is  of  no  great  elevation,  and  which  commences  near  the  forty-second 
degree  of  north  latitude  on  one  side,  while  it  terminates  near  the 
forty-ninth  degree  on  the  other,  stretches  across  from  the  Allegheny 
system  to  the  Oregon,  and  thus  separates  the  waters  that  flow  south- 
ward into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  from  those  flowing  in  the  opposite 
direction  into  the  northern  seas.  Thus  the  one  section  of  this  great 
valley  inclines  to  the  south,  the  other  gently,  nay,  almost  impercept- 
ibly, descends  toward  the  north.  The  former  is  drained  mainly  by 
one  great  river  and  its  numerous  branches,  called,  in  the  pompous 
language  of  the  aborigines  of  the  country,  the  Mississippi,  or  Father 
of  Waters.  The  latter  is  drained  by  the  St.  Lawrence,  falling  into 
the  Northern  Atlantic  ;  by  the  Albany,  and  other  streams,  falling  into 
Hudson's  Bay;  and  by  M'Kenzie's  River,  and  others,  which  fall 
into  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

These  great  sections  of  this  immense  valley  differ  much  in  charac- 
ter. The  northern  possesses  a  considerable  extent  of  comparatively 
elevated  and  very  fertile  land  in  its  southern  part :  while  toward 
the  far  north  it  subsides  to  a  low,  monotonous,  swampy  plain,  little 
elevated  above  the  level  of  the  ocean  ;  and,  by  reason  of  its  marshes, 
bogs,  and  inhospitable  climate,  is  almost  as  uninhabitable  as  it  is 
incapable  of  cultivation.  The  southern  section — more  commonly 
called  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi — terminates  on  the  low,  marshy 
coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  part  of 
it  which  lies  on  the  upper  streams  of  the  Red  River  and  La  Platte, 
it  everywhere  abounds  in  fertile  land,  covered,  for  the  most  part, 
even  yet,  with  noble  forests,  or  adorned  with  beautiful  prairies.  The 
St.  Lawrence  is  the  great  river  of  the  northern  section  or  basin, 
though  not  without  a  rival  in  the  M'Kenzie's  River;  while  its 
southern  rival,  the  Mississippi,  flows  almost  alone  in  its  vast  domain. 
There  are,  however,  the  Alabama,  and  a  few  small  rivers,  on  its  left, 
and  the  Sabine,  the  Brazos,  the  Rio  Grande,  and  some  others  of 
lesser  note,  on  its  right.  The  St.  Lawrence  boasts  a  length  of  more 
than  two  thousand  miles.  That  of  the  Mississippi  exceeds  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred ;  and  if  the  Missouri  be  considered  the  main  upper 
branch,  as  it  ought  to  be,  then  it  may  fairly  claim  the  honor  of  "  drag- 


22  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

ging  its  vast  length,  with  many  a  fold,"  through  more  than  four 
thousand  miles.  But,  though  exceeded  by  the  Mississippi  in  length, 
the  St.  Lawrence  clearly  has  the  advantage  in  depth  and  noble 
expansion  toward  its  mouth,  being  navigable  for  the  largest  ships 
of  war  as  high  as  Quebec,  three  hundred  and  forty  miles ;  and  for 
large  merchant  vessels  to  Montreal,  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles 
further ;  whereas  the  Mississippi  does  not  reach  the  medium  width 
of  a  mile,  nor  a  depth  in  the  shallow  places  of  the  central  channel, 
when  the  stream  runs  low,  of  more  than  fifteen  feet;  so  that, 
excepting  when  in  flood,  it  is  not  navigable  by  ships  of  five  hundred 
tons  for  more  than  three  hundred  miles.  The  St.  Lawrence,  and  all 
the  other  considerable  rivers  of  the  northern  basin,  pass  through  a 
succession  of  lakes,  some  of  vast  extent,  by  which  the  floods  caused 
by  melting  snows  and  heavy  rains — which  otherwise,  by  rushing 
down  in  the  spring,  and  accumulating  vast  masses  of  ice  in  the  yet 
unopened  channel  of  its  lower  and  northern  course,  would  spread 
devastation  and  ruin  over  the  banks — are  collected  in  huge  reservoirs, 
and  permitted  to  flow  off  gradually  during  the  summer  months. 
Wonderful  display  of  wisdom  and  beneficence  in  the  arrangements 
of  Divine  creation  and  providence  !  But  the  Mississippi,  as  it  flows 
into  the  warmer  regions  of  the  south,  needs  no  such  provision  ;  and 
hence,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  lakes  connected  with  the 
head  streams  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  in  the  west,  and  one  or  two 
connected  with  the  Allegheny,  a  branch  of  the  Ohio,  in  the  east,  no 
lake  occurs  in  the  whole  of  the  southern  basin.  Owing  to  this  dif- 
ference in  these  rivers,  a  sudden  rise  of  three  feet  in  the  waters  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  would  be  more  surprising  than  a  rise  of  thirty  feet 
in  the  Mississippi.  But  in  order  that  the  country  which  borders 
upon  the  latter  may  not  be  too  much  exposed  to  great  and  destruct- 
ive inundation,  the  Creator  has,  in  his  wisdom,  given  to  it  a  peculiar 
configuration.  The  inclined  plane  which  slopes  down  from  the  Ore- 
gon Mountains  toward  the  east,  is  much  wider  than  that  sloping 
from  the  mountains  on  the  opposite  side.  Hence  the  rivers  from  the 
western  side  of  the  valley  have  a  much  greater  distance  to  traverse 
than  those  that  drain  the  eastern  slope,  and  the  floods  which  they 
roll  down  in  the  spring  are,  of  course,  proportionally  later  in  reach- 
ing the  Lower  Mississippi.  In  fact,  just  as  the  floods  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, the  Cumberland,  and  the  Ohio,  have  subsided,  those  of  the 
Arkansas,  the  Missouri,  and  Upper  Mississippi  begin  to  appear.  If 
these  all  came  down  at  once,  the  Lower  Mississippi,  as  the  common 
outlet,  by  swelling  to  such  an  extent  as  to  overflow  its  banks,  would 
spread  destruction  far  and  wide  over  the  whole  Delta.  Such  a  calam- 
ity, or,  rather,  something  approaching  to  it,  does  occasionally  occur ; 


CHAP.  I.]  GENERAL   NOTICE   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  23 

but  at  long  intervals,  to  teach  men  their  dependence  on  Divine  Prov- 
idence, as  well  as  to  punish  them  for  then-  sins. 

Of  the  slope  between  the  Oregon  Mountains  and  the  Pacific,  the 
northern  part,  occupied  by  Russia,  is  cold,  and  little  of  it  fit  for  cul- 
tivation; the  middle,  claimed  by  the  United  States*  and  Great 
Britain,  is  a  fine  country  in  many  parts;  while  that  occupied  by 
Mexico  has  very  great  natural  advantages.  The  country  bordering 
on  the  Gulf  of  California  is  surpassed  by  none  in  North  America  for 
pleasantness  of  climate  and  fertility  of  soil. 

On  both  sides  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  as  well  as  on  both  sides  of 
the  Missouri,  there  are  extensive  "  prairies,"f  as  the  French,  who 
first  explored  that  country,  called  them :  that  is,  in  many  places,  there 
are  districts,  some  of  them  very  extensive,  including  hundreds,  and 
even  thousands  of  acres  of  land ;  others  smaller,  and  resembling  a 
field  or  meadow,  which  are  covered  in  the  summer  with  tall  grass  and 
a  great  variety  of  flowers,  but  on  which  scarcely  any  thing  in  the 
shape  of  a  tree  is  to  be  found.  Many  of  these  prairies  possess  a  fer- 
tile soil ;  but  others  produce  only  a  sort  of  stunted  grass  and  short 
weeds ;  and  between  the  upper  streams  of  the  Red  River  and  the  La 
Platte,  toward  the  Oregon  Mountains,  there  lies  an  extensive  tract 
which  has  been  called  the  Great  American  Desert.  The  country  there 
is  covered  with  sand  and  detached  rocks,  or  boulders,  which  have 
evidently  come  from  the  Oregon  Mountains,  and  is  thinly  clothed 
with  a  species  of  vegetation  called  buffalo  grass.  The  prickly  pear 
may  often  be  seen  spreading  its  huge  leaves  over  the  ground.  Not  a 
tree,  and  scarcely  a  bush,  is  to  be  met  with  in  many  places  for  miles. 
Herds  of  buffalo  sometimes  traverse  it,  and  a  few  straggling  Indians 

*  The  portion  belonging  to  the  United  States  comprises  the  State  of  California  and 
the  Territories  of  Oregon  and  Washington. 

f  Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  origin  of  the  prairies  of  North  America ; 
but,  after  all,  no  perfectly  satisfactory  theory  has  yet  been  invented.  The  Indians  know 
nothing  on  the  subject.  As  to  the  barren  prairies  between  the  upper  streams  of  the 
Ked  River  and  the  Platte,  mentioned  in  the  text  under  the  name  of  the  Ch-eat  Amer- 
ican Desert,  the  same  cause  produced  them  which  produced  the  Great  Sahara  in  Africa, 
the  utter  sterility  of  the  soil.  But  as  it  relates  to  those  fertile  prairies  which  one  finds 
in  the  States  of  Illinois,  Missouri,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa,  the  case  is  very  different. 
In  some  respects,  the  theory  that  they  owe  their  existence  to  the  annual  burning  of 
the  dry,  decayed  grass,  and  other  vegetable  matter,  in  the  autumnal  months,  seems 
plausible.  It  accounts  well  enough  for  the  perpetuation  of  these  prairies,  but  it  fails 
to  account  for  their  origin.  How  is  it  that  the  same  cause  did  not  produce  prairies 
in  those  parts  of  North  America  where  none  have  ever  existed  ?  which  yet  have  been, 
as  far  as  we  can  learn,  occupied  by  the  Aborigines  as  long  as  those  in  which  the 
prairies  are  found.  It  is  very  likely  that  fire  was  one  of  the  causes  of  their  origin  ; 
but  there  may  have  been  others  not  less  efficient,  as  well  as  various  concurring  cir- 
cumstances, with  respect  to  which  we  are  wholly  in  the  dark. 


24  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

are  occasionally  seen  upon  its  outskirt.  With  these  exceptions,  the 
whole  portion  of  North  America  which  is  now  either  occupied  or 
claimed  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  was,  when  first  visited  by 
Europeans,  and  for  more  than  a  century  afterward,  one  vast  wilder- 
ness. The  luxuriant  vegetation  with  which  it  had  been  clothed  year 
after  year,  for  ages,  was  destined  only  to  decay  and  enrich  the  soil. 
Thus  did  the  work  of  preparing  it  to  be  the  abode  of  millions  of 
civilized  men  go  silently  and  steadily  on ;  the  earth  gathering  strength, 
during  this  long  repose,  for  the  sustentation  of  nations  which  were  to 
be  born  in  the  distant  future.  One  vast  and  almost  unbroken  forest 
covered  the  whole  continent,  imbosoming  in  its  sombre  shadows  alike 
the  meandering  streamlet  and  the  mighty  river,  the  retired  bay  and 
the  beautiful  and  tranquil  lake.  A  profound  and  solemn  silence 
reigned  everywhere,  save  when  interrupted  by  the  songs  of  the  birds 
that  sported  amid  the  trees,  the  natural  cries  of  the  beasts  which 
roamed  beneath,  the  articulate  sounds  of  the  savage  tribes  around 
their  wigwams,  or  their  shouts  in  the  chase  or  in  the  battle.  The 
work  of  God,  in  all  its  simplicity,  and  freshness,  and  grandeur,  was 
seen  everywhere;  that  of  man  almost  nowhere;  universal  nature 
rested,  and,  as  it  were,  kept  Sabbath. 

Two  hundred  years  more  pass  away,  and  how  widely  different  is 
the  scene  !  Along  the  coasts,  far  and  wide,  tall  ships  pass  and  repass. 
The  white  sails  of  brig  and  sloop  are  seen  in  every  bay,  cove,  and 
estuary.  The  rivers  are  covered  with  boats  of  every  size,  propelled 
by  sail  or  oar.  And  in  every  water  the  steamboat,  heedless  alike  of 
wind  and  tide,  pursues  its  resistless  way,  vomiting  forth  steam  and 
flame.  Commerce  flourishes  along  every  stream.  Cities  are  rising 
in  all  directions.  The  forests  are  giving  way  to  cultivated  fields  or 
verdant  meadows.  Savage  life,  with  its  wigwams,  its  blanket  cover- 
ing, its  poverty,  and  its  misery,  yields  on  every  side  to  the  arts,  the 
comforts,  and  even  the  luxuries  of  civilization. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    ABOEIGINES     OF    NORTH     AMERICA. 

North  America,  when  discovered  by  Europeans,  was  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  a  great  number  of  uncivilized  tribes ;  some  large,  but  most 
of  them  small :  and,  although  differing  in  some  respects  from  one  an- 
other, yet  exhibiting  indubitable  evidence  of  a  common  origin.  Un- 
der the  belief  that  the  country  was  a  part  of  the  East  Indies,  to  reach 


CHAP,  n.]  THE   ABORIGINES    OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  25 

which,  by  pursuing  a  westerly  course,  had  been  the  object  of  their 
voyage,  the  companions  of  Columbus  gave  the  name  of  Indians  to 
those  nations  of  the  Aborigines  whom  they  first  saw.  Subsequent 
and  more  extensive  exploration  of  the  coasts  of  America  convinced 
them  of  their  mistake,  but  the  name  thus  given  to  the  indigenous 
tribes  has  adhered  to  them  to  this  day. 

A  striking  similarity  of  organization  pervades  the  tribes  of  North 
America.*  All  have  the  same  dull  vermilion,  or  cinnamon  complex- 
ion, differing  wholly  from  the  white,  the  olive,  and  the  black  varieties 
of  the  human  family ;  all  have  the  same  dark,  glossy  hair,  coarse,  but 
uniformly  straight.  Their  beards  are  generally  of  feeble  growth,  and 
instead  of  being  permitted  to  become  long,  are  almost  universally 
eradicated.  The  eye  is  elongated,  and  has  an  orbit  inclined  to  a 
quadrangular  shape.  The  cheek-bones  are  prominent ;  the  nose  broad ; 
the  jaws  projecting ;  the  lips  large  and  thick,  though  much  less  so  than 
those  of  portions  of  the  Ethiopic  race. 

Yet  there  are  not  wanting  considerable  varieties  in  the  organization 
and  complexion  of  the  Aborigines  of  North  America.  Some  nations 
are  fairer-skinned,  some  taller  and  more  slender  than  others;  and 
even  in  the  same  tribe  there  are  often  striking  contrasts.  Their  limbs, 
unrestrained  in  childhood  and  youth  by  the  appliances  which  civiliza- 
tion has  invented,  are  generally  better  formed  than  those  of  the  white 
race.  The  persons  of  the  males  are  more  erect,  but  this  is  not  so  with 
the  females ;  these  have  become  bowed  down  with  the  heavy  burdens 
which,  as  slaves,  they  are  habitually  compelled  to  bear. 

Their  manner  of  life,  when  first  discovered,  was  in  the  highest  de- 
gree barbarous.  They  had  nothing  that  deserved  the  name  of  houses. 
Rude  huts,  mostly  for  temporary  use,  of  various  forms,  but  generally 
circular,  were  made  by  erecting  a  pole  to  support  others  which  leaned 
upon  it  as  a  centre,  and  which  were  covered  with  leaves  and  bark, 
while  the  interior  was  lined  with  skins  of  the  buffalo,  the  deer,  the 
bear,  etc.  A  hole  at  the  top  permitted  the  escape  of  the  smoke  ;  a 
large  opening  in  the  side  answered  the  purpose  of  a  door,  of  a  win- 
dow, and  sometimes  of  a  chimney.  The  skins  of  animals  formed  almost 
the  whole  covering  of  the  body.  Moccasins,  and  sometimes  a  sort  of 
boot,  made  of  the  skins  of  the  animals  slain  in  the  chase,  were  the 

*  This  may  be  said  also  of  all  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  America  entire,  from  the 
shores  of  the  Northern  Ocean  to  the  Island  of  Terra  del  Fuego.  But  there  was  a 
vast  difference  in  regard  to  civilization.  The  inhabitants  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  when 
those  countries  were  visited  and  conquered  by  Cortes  and  Pizarro,  were  far  more  civ- 
ilized than  the  tribes  of  the  portion  of  North  America  which  we  are  considering.  No 
remains  of  antiquity  among  the  latter  can  be  for  a  moment  compared  with  those  of 
the  kingdoms  of  Montezuma  and  Central  America. 


26  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

only  protection  to  their  feet  and  legs  in  the  coldest  weather.  The 
head  was  adorned  with  feathers  and  the  beaks  and  claws  of  birds,  the 
neck  with  strings  of  shells,  and  that  of  the  warrior  with  the  scalps  of 
enemies  slain  in  battle  or  in  ambush. 

Nothing  like  agriculture  was  known  among  them,  save  the  planting 
of  small  patches  of  a  species  of  corn  which  has  taken  its  name  from 
them,  and  which,  when  parched,  or  when  pounded  and  made  into 
paste  and  baked,  is  both  palatable  and  nutritious.  Having  no  herds, 
the  use  of  milk  was  unknown.  They  depended  mainly  on  the  chase 
and  on  fishing  for  a  precarious  subsistence,  not  having  the  skill  to 
furnish  themselves  with  suitable  instruments  for  the  prosecution  of 
either  with  much  success ;  and  when  successful,  as  they  had  no  salt, 
they  could  preserve  an  abundant  supply  of  game  only  by  smoking  it. 
Hence  the  frequent  famines  among  them  during  the  long,  cold  months 
of  winter. 

Poets  have  sung  of  the  happiness  of  the  "  natural,"  in  other  words, 
uncivilized  life.  But  all  who  know  any  thing  of  the  aboriginal  tribes 
of  North  America,  even  in  the  present  times,  when  those  that  border 
upon  the  abodes  of  civilized  men  live  far  more  comfortably  than  did 
their  ancestors  three  hundred  years  ago,  are  well  aware  that  their  ex- 
istence is  a  miserable  one.  During  the  excitements  of  the  chase,  there 
is  an  appearance  of  enjoyment ;  but  such  seasons  are  not  long,  and 
the  utter  want  of  occupation,  and  the  consequent  tedium  of  other 
periods,  make  the  men  in  many  cases  wretched.  Add  to  this  the  want 
of  resources  for  domestic  happiness ;  the  evils  resulting  from  polyga- 
my ;  the  depressions  naturally  caused  by  the  sickness  of  friends  and 
relatives  without  the  means  of  alleviation ;  the  gloomy  apprehensions 
of  death :  and  we  can  not  wonder  that  the  "  red  man"  should  be 
miserable,  and  seek  gratification  in  games  of  chance,  the  revelries  of 
drunkenness,  or  the  excitements  of  war.  I  have  seen  various  tribes 
of  Indians  ;  I  have  traveled  among  them  ;  I  have  slept  in  their  poor 
abodes,  and  never  have  I  seen  them,  under  any  circumstances,  with- 
out being  deeply  impressed  with  the  conviction  of  the  misery  of  those 
especially  who  are  not  yet  civilized. 

They  are  not  without  some  notions  of  a  Supreme  Power  which 
governs  the  world,  and  of  an  Evil  Spirit  who  is  the  enemy  of  man- 
kind. But  their  theogony  and  their  theology  are  alike  crude  and  in- 
coherent. They  have  no  notion  of  a  future  resurrection  of  the  body. 
Like  children,  they  can  not  divest  themselves  of  the  idea  that  the  spirit 
of  the  deceased  still  keeps  company  with  the  body  in  the  grave,  or 
that  it  wanders  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Some,  however,  seem  to 
have  a  confused  impression  that  there  is  a  sort  of  elysium  for  the  de- 
parted "brave,"  where  they  will  forever  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   ABORIGINES    OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  27 

chase  and  of  war.  Even  of  their  own  origin  they  have  nothing  but 
a  confused  tradition,  not  extending  back  beyond  three  or  four  genera- 
tions. As  they  have  no  calendars,  and  reckon  their  years  only  by  the 
return  of  certain  seasons,  so  they  have  no  record  of  time  past. 

Though  hospitable  and  kind  to  strangers  to  a  remarkable  decree 
they  are  capable  of  the  most  diabolical  cruelty  to  their  enemies.  The 
well-authenticated  accounts  of  the  manner  in  which  they  sometimes 
treat  their  prisoners  would  almost  make  us  doubt  whether  they  can 
belong  to  the  human  species.  And  yet  we  have  only  to  recall  to 
our  minds  scenes  which  have  taken  place  in  highly-civilized  countries, 
and  almost  within  our  own  day,  when  Christian  men  have  been  put 
to  death  in  its  most  horrible  forms  by  those  who  professed  to  be 
Christians  themselves,  to  be  convinced  that,  when  not  restrained  by 
the  grace  and  providence  of  God,  there  is  nothing  too  devilish  for 
man  to  do. 

Some  remains  of  the  law,  written  originally  on  the  heart  of  man 
by  his  Creator,  are  to  be  found  even  among  the  Indian  tribes.  Cer- 
tain actions  are  considered  criminal  and  deserving  of  punishment ; 
others  are  reckoned  meritorious.  The  catalogue,  it  is  true,  of  accred- 
ited virtues  and  vices  is  not  extensive.  Among  the  men,  nothing 
can  atone  for  the  want  of  courage  and  fortitude.  The  captive  war- 
rior can  laugh  to  scorn  all  the  tortures  of  his  enemies,  and  sing  in 
the  very  agonies  of  death  inflicted  in  the  most  cruel  manner,  what 
may  be  termed  a  song  of  triumph,  rather  than  of  death !  The  nar- 
rations which  the  Jesuit  (French)  missionaries — who  knew  the  Indian 
character  better,  perhaps,  than  any  other  white  men  that  have  ever 
written  of  them — have  left  of  what  they  themselves  saw,  are  such  as 
no  civilized  man  can  read  without  being  perfectly  appalled  *  Roman 
fortitude  never  surpassed  that  displayed  in  innumerable  instances  by 
captured  Indian  warriors.  In  fact,  nothing  can  be  compared  with  it 
except  that  which  is  said  to  have  been  exhibited  by  the  Scandina- 
vians, in  their  early  wars  with  one  another  and  with  foreign  enemies ; 
and  of  which  we  have  many  accounts  in  their  Elder  and  Younger 
Eddas,  and  in  their  Sagas. 

Very  many  of  the  tribes  speak  dialects,  rather  than  languages, 
distinct  from  those  of  their  neighbors.     East  of  the  Mississippi  River, 

*  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  work  entitled  "  Relation  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe  en  la 
ETouvelle  France,"  in  1632,  and  the  years  following,  down  till  1660.  Also  to  the 
work  of  Creuxius,  and  the  Journal  of  Marest.  Much  is  to  be  found  on  the  same 
horrible  subject  in  Charlevoix's  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France ;"  Lepage  Dupratz's 
"  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane;"  Jefferson's  "  Notes  on  Virginia  ;"  "  Transactions  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,"  vol.  L;  and  the  volumes  of  the  late  excellent  Heck- 
ewelder,  who  was  for  forty  years  a  missionary  among  the  Delaware  Indians,  and 
whom  the  author  of  this  work  had  the  hn^piness  to  know  intimately. 


28  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

and  within  the  bounds  of  what  is  now  the  United  States,  when  the 
colonization  of  the  country  by  Europeans  commenced,  there  were 
eight  races,  or  families  of  tribes,  each  comprehending  those  most 
alike  in  language  and  customs,  and  who  constantly  recognized  each 
other  as  relatives.  These  were,  1.  The  Algonquins,  consisting  of 
many  tribes,  scattered  over  the  whole  of  the  New  England  States, 
the  southern  part  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  Virginia,  and  what  is  now  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  Michigan.  Being  the  most  numerous  of  all  the  tribes,  they 
occupied  about  half  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  south 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes.  2.  The  Sioux,  or  Dacotas,  liv- 
ing between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Mississippi.  These  were  a  small 
branch  of  the  great  tribe  of  the  same  name,  to  be  found  about  the 
higher  streams  of  that  river,  and  between  them  and  the  Oregon 
Mountains.  3.  The  Huron-Iroquois  nations,  who  occupied  all  the 
northern  and  western  parts  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  a  part  of  Upper  Canada.  The  most  important  of  these  tribes 
were  the  Five  Nations,  as  they  were  long  called,  viz.,  the  Mohawks, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  These  were  afterward 
joined  by  the  Tuscaroras  from  the  Carolinas,  a  branch  of  the  same 
great  family,  and  then  they  took  the  name  of  the  Six  Nations,  by 
which  title  they  are  better  known  to  history.  4.  The  Catawbas, 
who  lived  chiefly  in  what  is  now  South  Carolina.  5.  The  Chero- 
kees,  who  lived  in  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  two  Carolinas, 
Georgia,  and  Alabama.  Their  country  lay  in  the  southern  extreme 
of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  and  abounded  in  ridges  and  valleys. 
6.  The  Uchees,  who  resided  in  Georgia,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  site 
occupied  at  present  by  the  city  of  Augusta.  7.  The  Natchez,  so 
famous  for  their  tragical  end,  who  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  city  of  Natchez.  8.  The 
Mobilian  tribes,  or,  as  Mr.  Gallatin  calls  them,  the  Muskhogee- 
Choctaws,  who  occupied  the  country  which  comprises  now  the  States 
of  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Florida.  The  tribes  which  composed 
this  family,  or  nation,  are  well  known  by  the  names  of  the  Creeks, 
the  Chickasaws,  the  Choctaws,  and  the  Seminoles  ;  to  whom  may  be 
added  the  Yamasses,  who  formerly  lived  on  the  Savannah  River,  but 
exist  no  longer  as  a  separate  tribe. 

The  languages  of  these  eight  families  of  tribes  are  very  different, 
and  yet  they  are  marked  by  strong  grammatical  affinities.  It  is 
most  probable  that  the  people  who  first  settled  America,  come  whence 
they  might,  spoke  different,  though  remotely-related  languages.  All 
the  languages  of  the  aborigines  of  America  are  exceedingly  compli- 
cated, regular  in  the  forms  of  verbs,  irregular  in  those  of  nouns,  and 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   ABORIGINES    OF   NOETH   AMEEICA.  29 

admitting  of  changes  by  modifications  of  final  syllables,  initial  sylla- 
bles, and  even,  in  the  case  of  verbs,  by  the  insertion  of  particles,  in 
a  way  unknown  to  the  languages  of  Western  Europe.  They  exhibit 
demonstrative  proof  that  they  are  not  the  invention  of  those  who 
use  them,  and  that  they  who  use  them  have  never  been  a  highly- 
civilized  people.  Synthesis,  or  the  habit  of  compounding  words  with 
words,  prevails,  instead  of  the  more  simple  method  of  analysis,  which 
a  highly  cultivated  use  of  language  always  displays.*  The  old  En- 
glish was  much  more  clumsy  than  the  modern.  The  same  thing  is 
true  of  the  French  and  German ;  indeed,  of  every  cultivated  lan- 
guage. The  languages  of  the  tribes  bordering  upon  the  frontier  set- 
tlements of  the  United  States  begin  to  exhibit  visible  evidences  of 
the  effect  of  contact  with  civilization.  The  half-breeds  are  also  intro- 
ducing modifications,  which  show  that  the  civilized  mind  tends  to 
simplify  language  ;  and  the  labors  of  the  missionaries,  who  have  intro- 
duced letters  among  several  tribes,  are  also  producing  great  results, 
and  leading  to  decided  improvements. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  gradual  wasting 
away  and  disappearance  of  the  tribes  which  once  occupied  the  terri- 
tories of  the  United  States. 

It  is  not  intended  to  deny  that  several  tribes  which  figure  in  the 
history  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  country  by  Europeans  are  ex- 
tinct, and  that  several  more  are  nearly  so.  Nor  is  it  denied  that  this 
has  been  partly  occasioned  by  wars  waged  with  them  by  the  white 
or  European  population  ;  still  more  by  the  introduction  of  drunken- 
ness and  other  vices  of  civilized  men,  and  by  the  diseases  incident  to 
those  vices.  But  while  this  may  be  all  true,  still  the  correctness  of 
a  good  deal  that  has  been  said  on  this  subject  may  well  be  questioned. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  tribes  which  once  occu- 
pied the  country  now  comprised  within  the  United  States,  were,  at 
the  epoch  of  the  first  settlement  of  Europeans  on  its  shores,  grad- 
ually wasting  away,  and  had  long  been  so,  from  the  destructive  wars 
waged  with  each  other ;  from  the  frequent  recurrence  of  famine,  and 
sometimes  from  cold ;  and  from  diseases  and  pestilences  against 
which  they  knew  not  how  to  protect  themselves.  If  the  Europeans 
introduced  some  diseases,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  they  found  some 
formidable  ones  among  the  natives.  A  year  or  two  before  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  reached  the  coast  of  New  England,  the  very  territory 

*  The  reader  who  desires,  may  see  much  on  the  Indian  languages  in  Humboldt's 
Voyages ;  Vater's  Mithridates,  vol.  iii. ;  Baron  WilL  Humboldt ;  Publications  of  tho 
Berlin  Academy,  vol.  xliv. ;  Gallatin's  Analysis;  Duponceau's  Notes  on  Zeisberger; 
American  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  iii. ;  Heckewelder's  two  works  respecting  Indian 
manners,  customs,  etc. ;  and  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  publications. 


30  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

on  which  they  settled  was  swept  of  almost  its  entire  population  by  a 
pestilence.     Several  of  the  tribes  that  existed  when  the  colonists 
arrived  from  Europe  were  but  the  remnants,  as  they  themselves 
asserted,  of  once  powerful  tribes,  which  had  been  almost  annihilated 
by  war  or  by  disease.     This,  as  is  believed,  was  the  case  with  the 
Catawbas,  the  Uchees,  and  the  Natchez.     Many  of  the  branches  of 
the  Algonquin  race,  and  some  of  the  Huron-Iroquois,  used  to  speak 
of  the  renowned  days  of  their  forefathers,  when  they  were  a  power- 
ful people.     It  is  not  easy,  indeed,  to  estimate  what  was  the  probable 
number  of  the  Indians  who  occupied,  at  the  time  of  its  discovery, 
the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
comprising  what   is  still  the  most   settled   portion  of  the  United 
States ;  and  from  which  the  Indian  race  has  disappeared,  in  conse- 
quence of  emigration  or  other  causes.     But  I  am  inclined  to  think, 
with  Mr.   Bancroft,   to   whose   diligent   research  in  his   admirable 
work  on  the  United  States  I  am  greatly  indebted  on  this  subject, 
as  well  as  on  many  others  which  are  treated  in  this  work,  that 
there  may  have  been  in  all  not  far  from  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand   souls.*     That   a  considerable  number  were  slain   in  the 
numerous   wars   carried    on   between   them   and  the    French    and 
English    during   our   colonial   days,    and    in    our   wars   with  them 
after   our  independence,    and    that    ardent    spirits,    also,   have  de- 
stroyed many  thousands,    can   not    be    doubted.      But    the   most 
fruitful    source   of   destruction   to   these    poor    "  children    of   the 
wood"  has  been  the  occasional  prevalence  of  contagious  and  epi- 
demic diseases,  such  as  the  small-pox,  which  some  years  since  cut 
off,  in  a  few  months,  almost  the  whole  tribe  of  the  Mandans,  on  the 
Missouri. 

Of  the  Algonquin  race,  whose  numbers,  two  hundred  years  ago, 
were  estimated  at  ninety  thousand  souls,  only  a  few  small  tribes,  and 
remnants  of  tribes,  remain,  probably  not  exceeding  twenty  thousand 
persons.  Of  the  Huron-Iroquois,  probably  not  more  than  two  or 
three  thousand  remain  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  The 
greater  part  who  survive  are  to  be  found  in  Canada.  The  Sioux 
have  not  diminished.  The  Cherokees  have  increased.  The  Cataw- 
bas are  nearly  extinct  as  a  nation.  The  remains  of  the  Uchees  and 
Natchez  have  been  absorbed  among  the  Creeks  and  Choctaws  ;  and, 
indeed,  it  is  certain,  that  not  only  straggling  individuals,  but  also 
large  portions  of  tribes,  have  united  with  other  tribes,  and  so  exist 
in  a  commingled  state  with  them.  It  has  happened  that  an  entire 
conquered  tribe  has  been  compelled  to  submit  to  absorption  among 
the  conquerors.  And,  finally,  the  Mobilian  or  Muskhogee-Choctaw 
*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  iii.  p.  253. 


CHAP.  III.]        DISCOVERT   AND   ATTEMPTED    COLONIZATION.  31 

tribes,  taken  as  a  whole,  have  decidedly  increased,  it  is  believed, 
within  the  last  twenty-five  years.  They,  with  the  Cherokees,  and  the 
remains  of  several  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  race,  are  almost  all  col- 
lected together,  in  the  district  of  country  assigned  to  them  by  the 
General  Government,  west  of  the  States  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri. 
Respecting  this  plan,  as  well  as  touching  the  general  policy  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  toward  the  Indians,  I  shall  speak 
fully  in  another  place. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate,  with  any  thing  like  absolute  precision,  the 
number  of  Indians  that  now  remain  as  the  descendants  of  the  tribes 
that  once  occupied  the  country  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Without 
pretending  to  reckon  those  who  have  sought  refuge  with  tribes  far  in 
the  West,  we  may  safely  put  it  down  at  one  hundred  and  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  souls.  The  entire  number  of  Indians  within  the 
present  limits  of  the  United  States  is  estimated  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Indian  Affairs  at  400,764,  of  whom  123,000  are  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Of  what  is  doing  to  save  them  from  physical  and  moral 
ruin,  I  shall  speak  hereafter. 

The  most  plausible  opinion  respecting  the  origin  of  the  Aborigines 
of  America  is,  that  they  are  of  the  Mongolian  race ;  and  that  they 
came  to  America  from  Asia,  either  by  way  of  the  Polynesian  world,* 
or  by  Behring's  Straits,  or  by  the  Aleutian  Islands,  Mednoi  Island, 
and  the  Behring  group.  Facts  well  attested  prove  this  to  have  been 
practicable.  That  the  resemblance  between  the  Aborigines  of  America 
and  the  Mongolian  race  is  most  striking,  every  one  will  testify  who 
has  seen  both.  "  Universally  and  substantially,"  says  the  American 
traveler,  Ledyard,  respecting  the  Mongolians,  "they  resemble  the 
Aborigines  of  America." 


CHAPTER  III. 

DISCOVERT  OF  THAT  PART  OF  NORTH  AMERICA  WHICH   IS  COMPRISED  IN 

THE  LIMITS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. THE  EARLT  AND  UNSUCCESSFUL 

ATTEMPTS  TO  COLONIZE  IT. 

As  the  American  hemisphere  had  been  discovered  by  expeditions 
sent  out  by  Spain,  that  country  claimed  the  entire  continent,  as  well 
as  the  adjoining  islands;  and  to  it  a  pope,  as  the  vicegerent  of  God, 

*  Lang's  View  of  the  Polynesian  Nations.  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  315-318. 


32  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

undertook  to  cede  the  whole.  But  other  countries  having  caught  the 
spirit  of  distant  adventure  hi  quest  of  gold,  these  soon  entered  into 
competition  with  the  nation  whose  sovereign  had  won  the  title  of 
Most  Catholic  Majesty  •  and  since  at  that  day  all  Christendom  bowed 
its  neck  to  the  spiritual  dominion  of  the  Yicar  of  Christ,  as  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  claimed  to  be,  they  could  not  be  refused  a  portion  from  the 
"  holy  father,"  upon  showing  that  they  were  entitled  to  it.  On  the 
ground  that  Spain  could  not  justly  appropriate  to  herself  any  part  of 
the  American  Continent  which  she  had  not  actually  discovered,  by 
coasting  along  it,  by  marking  its  boundaries,  and  by  landing  upon  it, 
they  created  for  themselves  a  chance  of  obtaining  no  inconsiderable 
share. 

England  was  the  first  to  follow  in  the  career  of  discovery.  Under 
her  auspices,  the  continent  itself  was  first  discovered,*  June  24,  1497, 
by  the  Cabots,  John  and  Sebastian,  father  and  son,  the  latter  of  whom 
was  a  native  of  that  country,  and  the  former  a  merchant  adventurer 
from  Venice,  but  at  the  time  residing  in  England,  and  engaged  in  the 
service  of  Henry  VII.  By  this  event,  a  very  large  and  important 
part  of  the  coast  of  North  America  was  secured  to  a  country  which, 
within  less  than  half  a  century,  was  to  begin  to  throw  off  the  shackles 
of  Rome,  and  to  become,  in  due  time,  the  most  powerful  of  all  Prot- 
estant kingdoms.  He  who  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined 
the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation,"  had 
resolved  in  this  manner  to  prepare  a  place  to  which,  in  ages  then 
drawing  near,  those  who  should  be  persecuted  for  Christ's  sake,  might 
flee  and  find  protection,  and  thus  found  a  great  Protestant  empire. 
And  yet  how  nearly,  if  we  may  so  speak,  was  this  mighty  plan  de- 
feated !  Had  Columbus  given  to  the  exploration  of  the  northern 
side  of  Cuba  as  much  attention  as  he  gave  to  the  southern,  in  quest  of 
gold,  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  reach  Florida,  and  so  would 
have  discovered  and  claimed  for  Spain  and  Rome  the  Continent  of 
North  America.  And  if  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  who  reached  Florida 
in  latitude  30°  8',  thirteen  years  after  the  Cabots  reached  Labrador, 
and  twelve  after  Sebastian  Cabot  (in  1498)  had  sailed  along  the 
northern  coast  of  that  which  is  now  the  United  States,  had  turned  his 
prow  northward  instead  of  southward,  Spain  would  probably  have 
obtained  all  the  southern  coast  as  far  as  the  northern  boundary  of 
Virginia,  instead  of  obtaining  only  the  barren  peninsula  of  Florida ! 
How  different,  in  some  momentous  respects,  might  have  been  the 
state  of  the  world  at  this  day !     We  have  here  another  illustra- 

*  Columbus  had  not  at  that  epoch  touched  the  continent,  but  had  only  discovered 
the  West  India  Islands. 


CHAP.  III.]         DISCOVERY   AND    ATTEMPTED    COLONIZATION.  33 

tion  of  the  littleness  of  causes  with  which  the  very  greatest  of  human 
events  are  often  connected,  and  of  that  superintending  Providence 
which  rules  in  all  things. 

Spain,  however,  far  from  at  once  relinquishing  her  pretensions  to  a 
country  thus  discovered  by  England,  insisted  on  claiming  a  large  part 
of  it,  and  for  a  long  time  extended  the  name  of  the  comparatively 
insignificant  peninsula  of  Florida,  with  which  she  was  compelled  to  be 
contented  at  last,  over  the  whole  tract  reaching  as  far  north  as  the 
Chesapeake  Bay,  if  not  further.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not 
likely,  under  so  intelligent  and  ambitious  a  monarch  as  Francis  I.,  to 
remain  an  inactive  spectator  of  maritime  discoveries  made  by  the  na- 
tions on  both  sides  of  her.  Under  her  auspices,  Verrazzani,  in  1524, 
and  Cartier  ten  years  afterward,  made  voyages  in  search  of  new 
lands,  so  that  soon  she,  too,  had  claims  in  America  to  prosecute.  As 
the  result  of  the  former  of  those  two  enterprises,  she  claimed  the 
coast  lying  to  the  south  of  North  Carolina,  and  extending,  as  was 
truly  asserted,  beyond  the  furthest  point  reached  by  the  Cabots. 
Still  more  important  were  the  results  of  Cartier's  voyage.  Having 
gone  up  the  river  St.  Lawrence  as  far  as  the  island  on  which  Montreal 
now  stands,  he  and  Roberval  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  found  a 
colony,  composed  of  thieves,  murderers,  debtors,  and  other  inmates 
of  the  prisons  in  France,  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  Quebec.  Two 
other  unsuccessful  attempts  at  colonization  in  America  were  made  by 
France,  the  one  in  1598,  under  the  Marquis  de  la  Roche;  the  other 
in  1600,  under  Chauvin.  At  length,  in  1605,  a  French  colony  was 
permanently  established  under  De  Monts,  a  Protestant,  at  the  place 
now  called  Annapolis,  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  not  until  after  having  made 
an  abortive  attempt  within  the  boundaries  of  the  present  State  of 
Maine.  Quebec  was  founded  hi  1608,  under  the  conduct  of  Cham- 
plain,  who  became  the  father  of  all  the  French  settlements  in  North 
America.  From  that  point  the  French  colonists  penetrated  further 
and  further  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  until  at  length  parties  of  their  hunt- 
ers and  trappers,  accompanied  by  Jesuit  missionaries,  reached  the 
great  lakes,  passed  beyond  them,  and  descending  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  established  themselves  at  Fort  Du  Quesne,  Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia,  and  various  other  places.  Thus  the  greater  part  of  the 
immense  Central  Valley  of  North  America  fell,  for  a  time,  into  the 
hands  of  the  French. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  the  north  that  that  nation  sought  to  plant  col- 
onies. The  failure  of  the  French  Protestants  in  all  their  efforts  to 
secure  for  themselves  mere  toleration  from  their  own  government, 
naturally  suggested  the  idea  of  expatriation,  as  the  sole  means  that 

remained  to  them  of  procuring  liberty  to  worship  God  according  to 

3 


4  PRELIMINAEY    REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 


His  own  Word.  Even  the  Prince  of  Conde,  though  of  royal  blood, 
nobly  proposed  to  set  the  example  of  withdrawing  from  France,  rather 
than  be  the  occasion,  by  remaining  in  it,  of  perpetual  civil  war  with 
the  obstinate  partisans  of  Rome;  and  in  1562,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  brave  and  good  Coligny,  to  whom,  also,  the  idea  of  expatriation 
was  familiar,  two  attempts  were  made  by  the  Huguenots  to  establish 
themselves  on  the  southern  coast  of  North  America.  The  first  of 
these  took  place  on  the  confines  of  South  Carolina,  and  seems  at  once 
to  have  failed.  The  second,  which  was  on  the  River  St.  John's  in 
Florida,  survived  but  a  few  years.  In  1565,  it  was  attacked  by  the 
Spaniards,  under  Melendez,  that  nation  claiming  the  country  in  right 
of  discovery,  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  Ponce  de  Leon  had  landed 
upon  it  in  1512  ;  and  as  religious  bigotry  was  added  to  national  jealousy 
in  the  assailants,  they  put  almost  all  the  Huguenots  to  death  in  the 
most  cruel  manner,  "not  as  Frenchmen,"  they  alleged,  "but  as 
Lutherans."  For  this  atrocity  the  Spaniards  were  severely  punished 
three  years  afterward,  when  Dominic  de  Gourgues,  a  Gascon,  having 
captured  two  of  their  forts,  hanged  his  prisoners  upon  trees,  not  far 
from  the  spot  where  his  countrymen  had  suffered,  and  placed  over 
their  bodies  this  inscription :  "I  do  not  this  as  unto  Spaniards  or 
mariners,  but  as  unto  traitors,  robbers,  and  murderers." 

With  a  view  to  encourage  the  colonization  of  those  parts  of  North 
America  that  were  claimed  by  England,  several  patents  were  granted 
by  the  crown  of  that  country  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  enterprises,  however,  to  which  these  led,  universally  failed. 
The  most  famous  was  that  made  in  North  Carolina,  under  a  patent  to 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  others;  it  was  continued  from  1584  to  1588  ; 
but  even  the  splendid  talents  and  energy  of  its  chief  could  not  save 
his  colony  from  final  ruin.  Though  the  details  of  this  unsuccessful 
enterprise  fill  many  a  page  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  strange 
to  say,  we  are  in  absolute  ignorance  of  the  fate  of  the  few  remaining 
colonists  that  were  left  on  the  banks  of  the  Roanoke ;  the  most  prob- 
able conjecture  being  that  they  were  massacred  by  the  natives,  though 
some  affirm  that  they  were  incorporated  into  one  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
Two  monuments  of  that  memorable  expedition  remain  to  this  day : 
first,  the  name  of  Virginia,  given  by  the  courtier  to  the  entire  coast, 
in  honor  of  his  royal  "  virgin"  mistress,  though  afterward  restricted 
to  a  single  province ;  and,  next,  the  use  of  tobacco  in  Europe,  Sir 
Walter  having  successfully  labored  to  make  it  an  article  of  commerce 
between  the  two  continents. 

Some  of  the  voyages  made  from  England  to  America  in  that  cen- 
tury for  the  mere  purpose  of  traffic,  were  not  unprofitable  to  the  ad- 
venturers ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  following  century  that  any  attempt 


CHAP.  IV.]  EXTENT   AND    RESOURCES    OF   THE  COUNTRY.  35 

at  colonization  met  with  success.  In  this  no  one  who  loves  to  mark  the 
Hand  of  God  hi  the  affairs  of  men,  and  who  has  studied  well  the  his- 
tory of  those  times,  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  display  it  presents 
of  the  Divine  wisdom  and  goodness.  For,  be  it  observed,  England 
was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  work  of  colonization,  and  could  not  then 
have  planted  the  noble  provinces  of  which  she  was  to  be  the  mother- 
country  afterward.  The  mass  of  her  population  continued,  until 
far  on  in  the  sixteenth  century,  attached  to  Rome;  her  glorious 
Constitution  was  not  half  formed  until  the  century  that  followed. 
The  Reformation,  together  with  the  persecutions,  the  discussions,  and 
the  conflicts  that  followed  in  its  train,  were  all  required,  in  order  that 
minds  and  hearts  might  be  created  for  the  founding  of  a  free  empire, 
and  that  the  principles  and  the  forms  of  the  government  of  England 
might  in  any  proper  sense  be  lit  for  the  imitation  of  her  colonies. 

England,  when  she  first  discovered  America,  thought  only,  as 
other  nations  had  done,  of  enriching  herself  from  mines  of  the 
precious  metals  and  gems.  Undeceived  by  time,  she  indulged 
for  a  while  the  passion  that  followed  for  trafficking  with  the 
natives.  But  the  commercial,  as  well  as  the  golden  age,  if  we  may 
so  speak,  had  to  pass  away,  before  men  could  be  found  who  should 
establish  themselves  on  that  great  continent  with  a  view  to  agricul- 
ture as  well  as  commerce,  and  who  should  look  to  the  promotion  of 
Christianity  no  less  than  to  their  secular  interests/  To  this  great 
and  benevolent  end,  God  was  rapidly  shaping  events  in  the  Old 
World. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    POSITION    AND    EXTENT    OF   THE  UNITED     STATES NATURE    AND 

RESOURCES    OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

The  United  States  constitute  a  broad  zone  of  North  America, 
stretching  across  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and 
extending  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  on  the  south,  up  to  the  great 
lakes  which  separate  that  country  from  British  America,  on  the 
north.  The  forty-ninth  degree  of  north  latitude  forms  the  western 
half  of  the  northern  boundary,  while  the  eastern  part  of  that  bound- 
ary lies,  in  the  greatest  part  of  its  extent,  to  the  southward  of  that 
degree.  On  the  south,  the  peninsula  of  Florida  projects  almost  down 
to  latitude  24°,  and  the  south-western  part  of  Texas  nearly  as  far ; 
31°  20'  forms  a  considerable  part  of  the  southern  boundary.     Taking 


36  PEELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

away  the  projections  just  referred  to,  the  shape  of  the  United  States 
is  almost  a  complete  trapezium ;  and  if  we  were  to  say  that  the 
zone  of  eighteen  degrees  of  latitude,  between  31°  and  49°,  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  equal  to  it  in  area,  and  almost  coincident 
with  it,  we  should  not  be  far  from  the  exact  truth. 

The  area  of  the  United  States  is  now  but  little  less  than  three 
millions  of  English  square  miles,*  which  is  more  than  one  third  part 
of  North  America,  and  is  more  than  threefold  greater  than  it  was  at 
the  epoch  of  Independence.  The  accessions  have  been,  of  Louisiana 
(899,579  square  miles)  in  1803  ;  of  Florida  (66,900  square  miles)  in 
1819  ;  of  Oregon  (308,052  square  miles)  in  1846  ;  of  Texas  (318,000 
square  miles)  in  the  same  year;  of  California,  New  Mexico,  etc. 
(522,955  square  miles)  in  1848  and  1854. 

No  continental  country  in  the  world,  of  equal  extent,  can  compare 
with  the  United  States  in  regard  to  advantages  for  commerce.  On 
the  north,  the  great  lakes,  and  their  outlet,  the  St.  Lawrence,  drain 
portions  of  ten  States  and  Territories,  which  include  112,649  square 
miles  ;  on  the  east,  fifteen  States  touch  the  Atlantic,  and  the  portion 
of  the  country  which  slopes  in  that  direction  contains  514,416  square 
miles  ;  the  Pacific  slope  contains  766,000  square  miles,  and  has  already 
one  State  and  two  organized  Territories ;  while  the  four  States  and 
a  half  which  border  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  contain  325,537  square 
miles.  This  leaves  to  the  great  Central  Basin,  drained  by  the  Missis- 
sippi and  its  branches,  no  less  than  1,217,562  square  miles,  in  which 
are  already  to  be  found  many  of  the  largest  and  most  rapidly  increas- 
ing States  and  Territories,  and  at  least  10,000,000  inhabitants. 

It  has  been  calculated  at  the  office  of  the  United  States'  Coast  Sur- 
vey, that  the  total  main  shore-line  of  the  United  States  (exclusive  of 
bays,  sounds,  islands,  etc.)  is  12,609  statute  (English)  miles.  If  all 
these  be  allowed,  and  the  rivers  ascended  to  the  head  of  tide-water, 
the  total  shore-line  will  be  increased  to  33,069  miles. 

It  has  also  been  calculated  that  the  extent  of  navigable  rivers  is 
more  than  40,000  miles. 

Of  the  resources  of  the  country  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  a 
word.  Its  products,  which  are  those  of  the  temperate  zones,  and 
some  that  are  intertropical,  whether  in  the  form  of  grains,  of  fruits, 
or  of  vegetables ;  its  boundless  forests  and  prairies ;  its  inexhausti- 
ble mines  of  coal,  of  iron,  of  gold,  and  other  minerals :  combine,  with 
a  climate  that  is  almost  everywhere  salubrious,!  to  fit  it  for  the  abode 

*  The  exact  extent  of  the  United  States,  since  the  last  acquisition  (that  of  Mesilla 
Valley)  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  is  2,963,663  English  square  miles. 

f  The  census  of  1850  shows  that,  although  there  is  a  great  variety  in  the  salu- 
brity of  the  United  States,  estimated  by  the  number  of  deaths,  yet,  taken  as  a  whole, 


CHAP.  V.]  COLONIZATION   FINALLY    ACCOMPLISHED.  37 

of  many  millions  of  the  human  race  ;  and  for  such  a  use  it  was,  as  it 
were,  kept  for  long  ages  in  reserve,  till  the  arrival  of  that  period 
when,  in  the  wonderful  plans  of  the  Almighty,  it  was  to  be  brought 
into  requisition. 


CHAPTER    V. 

COLONIZATION     OP    THE     COUNTRY     NOW     CONSTITUTING    THE     UNITED 

STATES   AT  LENGTH   ACCOMPLISHED. 

The  first  permanent  colony  planted  by  the  English  in  America, 
was  Virginia.  Even  in  that  instance,  what  was  projected  was  a  fac- 
tory for  trading  with  the  natives,  rather  than  a  fixed  settlement  for 
persons  expatriating  themselves  with  an  eye  to  the  future  advantage 
of  their  offspring,  and  looking  for  interests  which  might  reconcile 
them  to  it  as  their  home.  It  was  founded  in  1607,  by  a  company  of 
noblemen,  gentlemen,  and  merchants  in  London,  by  whom  it  was 
regarded  as  an  affair  of  business,  prosecuted  with  a  view  to  pecuniary 
profit,  not  from  any  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  colonists.  These, 
consisting  of  forty-eight  gentlemen,  twelve  laborers,  and  a  few  me- 
chanics, reached  the  Chesapeake  Bay  in  April,  1607,  and  having 
landed,  on  the  13th  of  May,  on  a  peninsula  in  the  James  River, 
there  they  planted  their  first  settlement,  and  called  it  Jamestown, 
in  honor  of  James  I.,  then  the  reigning  monarch  of  England — an 
honor  to  which  his  claims  were  more  than  doubtful.  There  had  been 
bestowed  upon  the  company,  by  royal  charter,  a  zone  of  land  extend- 
ing from  the  thirty-fourth  to  the  thirty-eighth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude, and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  together  with 
ample  powers  for  administering  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  but  reserv- 
ing to  the  king  the  legislative  authority,  and  a  control  over  appoint- 
ments ;  a  species  of  double  government,  under  which  few  political 
privileges  were  enjoyed  by  the  colonists. 

What  from  the  wilderness-state  of  the  country,  the  unfriendliness 
of  the  Aborigines,  the  insalubrity  of  the  climate,  the  arbitrary  con- 
duct of  the  company,  and  the  unfitness  of  most  of  the  settlers  for 
their  task,  the  infant  colony  had  to  contend  with  many  difficulties. 

it  is  quite  equal  to  the  most  favored  countries  of  the  world.  The  number  of  persons 
whose  age  was  a  hundred  years  or  more,  was  2.555.  A  colored  female  in  the  par- 
ish of  Lafayette,  in  Louisiana,  was  returned  as  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old. 
North  Carolina  stands  high  as  regards  the  longevity  of  its  inhabitants ;  an  Indian 
female  residing  in  that  State  was  reported  as  having  reached  the  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  years. 


38  PEELIMIXAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

Yet  not  only  did  it  gain  a  permanent  footing  in  the  country,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  disastrous  wars  with  the  Indians,  insurrectionary 
attempts  on  the  part  of  turbulent  colonists,  misunderstandings  with 
the  adjacent  colony  of  Maryland,  changes  in  its  own  charter,  and 
other  untoward  circumstances,  it  had  become  a  powerful  province 
long  before  the  establishment  of  American  Independence.  By  a 
second  charter,  granted  in  1609,  all  the  powers  that  had  been  reserved 
by  the  first  to  the  king  were  surrendered  to  the  company ;  but  in 
1624  that  second  charter  was  recalled,  the  company  dissolved,  and 
the  government  of  the  colony  assumed  by  the  crown,  which  con- 
tinued thereafter  to  administer  it  in  a  general  way,  though  the  inter- 
nal legislation  of  the  colony  was  left,  for  the  most  part,  to  its  own 
legislature. 

Massachusetts  was  settled  next  in  the  order  of  time,  and  owed  its 
rise  to  more  than  one  original  colony.  The  first  planted  within  the 
province  was  that  of  New  Plymouth,  founded  on  the  south-west 
coast  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1620;  but  although  it  spread  by  de- 
grees into  the  adjacent  district,  yet  it  never  acquired  much  extent. 
It  originated  in  a  grant  of  land  from  the  Plymouth  Company  in 
England,  an  incorporation  of  noblemen,  gentlemen,  and  burgesses, 
on  which  King  James  had  bestowed  by  charter  all  the  territories 
included  within  the  forty-first  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  north  latitude, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  That  company  having  un- 
dergone several  modifications,  much  more  important  settlements  were 
made  under  its  auspices — in  1628  at  Salem,  and  in  1630  at  Boston, 
from  which  two  points  colonization  spread  extensively  into  the  sur- 
rounding country,  and  the  province  soon  became  populous  and  pow- 
erful. A  colony  was  planted  in  New  Hampshire  in  1631,  and  some 
settlements  had  been  made  in  Maine  a  year  or  two  earlier ;  but  for 
a  long  time  the  progress  of  these  was  slow.  In  1636,  the  celebrated 
Roger  Williams,  having  been  banished  from  Massachusetts,  retired 
to  Narragansett  Bay,  and  by  founding  there,  in  1638,  the  city  of 
Providence,  led  to  the  plantation  of  a  new  province,  now  forming  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island.  In  1635,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  and  John 
Haynes  having  led  a  colony  into  Connecticut,  settled  at  the  spot 
where  the  city  of  Hartford  now  stands,  and  rescued  the  Valley  of  the 
Connecticut  from  the  Dutch,  who,  having  invaded  it  from  their  prov- 
ince of  New  Netherlands,  had  erected  the  fort  called  Good  Hope  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  river.  Three  years  thereafter,  the  colony  of 
New  Haven  was  planted  by  two  Puritan  Nonconformists,  the  Rev. 
John  Davenport  and  Theophilus  Eaton,  who  had  first  retired  to  Hol- 
land on  account  of  their  religious  principles,  and  then  left  that  country 
for  Boston  in  1637.     Thus,  with  the  exception  of  Vermont,  which 


CHAP.  V.]  COLONIZATION   FINALLY   ACCOMPLISHED.  $9 

originated  in  a  settlement  of  much  later  date,  made  chiefly  from  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  Hampshire,  we  see  the  foundation  of  all  the 
New  England  States  laid  within  twenty  years  from  the  arrival  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  at  Plymouth. 

Meanwhile,  Maryland,  so  called  in  honor  of  Henrietta  Maria, 
daughter  of  Henry  IY.  of  France,  and  wife  of  Charles  I.,  had  been 
colonized.  The  territory  forming  the  present  State  of  that  name, 
though  included  in  the  first  charter  of  Virginia,  upon  that  being  can- 
celed and  the  company  dissolved,  reverted  to  the  king,  and  he,  to 
gratify  his  feelings  of  personal  regard,  bestowed  the  absolute  pro- 
prietorship of  the  whole  upon  Sir  Charles  Calvert,  the  first  Lord  Bal- 
timore, and  his  legal  heirs  in  succession.  Never  was  there  a  more 
liberal  charter.  The  statutes  of  the  colony  were  to  be  made  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  colonists,  thus  securing  to  the  people  a  legis- 
lative government  of  their  own.  Sir  Charles  was  a  Roman  Catholic, 
but  his  colony  was  founded  on  principles  of  the  fullest  toleration ; 
and  though  he  died  before  the  charter  in  his  favor  had  passed  the 
great  seal  of  the  kingdom,  yet  all  the  royal  engagements  being  made 
good  to  his  son  Cecil,  who  succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates,  the 
latter  sent  out  a  colony  of  about  two  hundred  persons,  most  of  whom 
were  Roman  Catholics,  and  many  of  them  gentlemen,  accompanied 
by  his  brother  Leonard.  Maryland,  though  subjected  to  many  vicis- 
situdes, proved  prosperous  upon  the  whole.  Though  the  Roman 
Catholics  formed  at  first  the  decided  majority,  the  Protestants  be- 
came by  far  the  more  numerous  body  in  the  end,  and,  with  shame  be 
it  said,  enacted  laws  which  for  a  thne  deprived  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  all  political  influence  in  the  colony,  and  tending  to  prevent  their 
increase. 

The  first  colony  in  the  State  of  New  York  was  that  planted  by 
the  Dutch,  about  the  year  1614,  on  the  southern  point,  it  is  supposed, 
of  the  island  where  the  city  of  New  York  now  stands.  The  illustri- 
ous English  navigator,  Hudson,  being  in  the  employment  of  the 
Dutch  at  the  time  of  his  discovering  the  river  that  bears  his  name, 
Holland  claimed  the  country  bordering  upon  it,  and  gradually  formed 
settlements  there,  the  first  of  which  was  situated  on  an  island  imme- 
diately below  the  present  city  of  Albany.  Hudson  being  supposed 
to  have  been  the  first  European  that  sailed  up  the  Delaware,  the 
Dutch  claimed  the  banks  of  that  river  also.  But  their  progress  as 
colonists  in  America  was  slow.  Though  Holland  was  nominally  a 
republic,  yet  she  did  not  abound  in  the  materials  proper  for  making 
good  colonists.  The  country  presenting  but  a  limited  scope  for  agri- 
culture, the  people  were  mostly  engaged  in  trade,  or  in  the  arts. 

Pursuing  in  the  New  World  the  same  selfish  principles  which  made 


40 


PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK   I. 


the  Dutch  mercantile  aristocracy  the  worst  enemies  of  their  country 
in  the  Old,  the  New  Netherlands  colonists  were  allowed  little  or  no 
share  in  the  government,  and  accordingly,  notwithstanding  the  great- 
est natural  advantages,  the  progress  of  the  colony  was  very  slow. 
New  Amsterdam,  which,  in  consequence  of  such  advantages,  might 
have  been  expected  even  to  outstrip  the  mother-city,  as  she  has  since 
done  under  the  name  of  New  York,  remained  but  an  inconsiderable 
village.     The  vicinity  of  New  England  provoked  comparisons  that 
could  not  fail  to  make  the  Dutch  colonists  discontented  with  their 
institutions.     At  length,  in  1064,  the  English  took  possession   of  all 
the  Dutch  colonies  in  North  America,  which,  by  that  time,  in  addi- 
tion to  their  settlements  on  the  Hudson,  extended  to  the  eastern  part 
of  New  Jersey,  Staten  Island,  and  the  western  extremity  of  Long 
Island  (besides  a  detached  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware), 
with  a  population  not  exceeding  in  all  ten  thousand  souls.    New  Neth- 
erlands was  granted  by  Charles  II.  to  his  brother  the  Duke  of  York, 
from  whom  the  colony  and  its  capital  took  the  name  of  New  York. 
The  voice  of  the  people  was  now,  for  the  first  time,  heard  in  its  legis- 
lature ;  it  began  thenceforth  to  advance  rapidly  in  population,  and, 
notwithstanding  occasional  seasons  of  trial  and  depression,  gave  early 
promise  of  what  it  was  one  day  to  become. 

New  Jersey  was  likewise  granted  to  the  Duke  of  York,  who,  in 
1664,  handed  it  over  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  both 
proprietors  of  Carolina.  Difficulties,  however,  having  arisen  between 
the  colonists  and  the  lords-superior,  with  regard  to  the  quit-rents  pay- 
able by  the  former,  that  province  was  gladly  surrendered  by  the  lat- 
ter, upon  certain  conditions,  to  the  crown,  and  was  for  some  time 
attached  to  New  York,  within  twenty  years  after  all  the  other  Dutch 
possessions  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  West  Jersey 
was  afterward  purchased  by  a  company  of  Friends,  or  Quakers :  and 
a  few  years  later,  in  1680,  William  Penn,  previous  to  his  undertaking 
to  plant  a  colony  on  a  larger  scale  in  Pennsylvania,  purchased  East 
Jersey,  with  the  view  of  making  it  an  asylum  for  his  persecuted  co- 
religionists. Finally,  East  and  West  Jersey  being  united  as  one 
province  under  the  direct  control  of  the  crown,  obtained  a  legislature 
of  its  own,  and  enjoyed  a  gradual  and  steady  prosperity  down  to  the 
Revolution  by  which  the  colonies  were  severed  from  England. 

Pennsylvania,  as  indicated  by  its  name,  was  founded  by  the  distin- 
guished philanthropist  we  have  just  mentioned ;  but  he  was  not  the 
first  to  colonize  it.  This  was  done  by  a  mixture  of  Swedes,  Dutch, 
and  English,  who  had  for  years  before  occupied  the  right  bank  of  the 
Delaware,  both  above  the  point  where  Philadelphia  now  stands,  and 
many  miles  below.     The  charter  obtained  by  William  Penn  from 


CHAP.  V.]  COLONIZATION   FINALLY   ACCOMPLISHED.  41 

Charles  II.  dates  from  1681.  On  the  27th  of  October  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  the  father  of  the  new  colony,  having  landed  on  his  vast  do. 
main  in  America,  immediately  set  about  the  framing  of  a  constitution, 
and  began  to  found  a  capital,  which  was  destined  to  become  one  of ' 
the  finest  cities  in  the  western  hemisphere.  The  government,  like 
that  established  by  the  Quakers  in  New  Jersey,  was  altogether  pop- 
ular. The  people  were  to  have  their  own  Legislature,  whose  acts, 
however,  were  not  to  conflict  with  the  just  claims  of  the  proprietor, 
and  were  to  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  crown  alone.  The  col- 
ony soon  became  prosperous.  The  true  principles  of  peace,  principles 
that  form  so  conspicuous  a  part  of  the  Quaker  doctrines,  distinguished 
every  transaction  in  which  the  Aborigines  were  concerned.  It  is  the 
glory  of  Pennsylvania  that  it  never  did  an  act  of  injustice  to  the 
Indians. 

The  territory  belonging  to  the  State  of  Delaware,  was  claimed  by 
Penn  and  his  successors,  as  included  in  the  domain  described  hi  their 
charter ;  and  for  a  time  formed  a  part  of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  title 
of  the  Three  Lower  Counties.  But  the  mixed  population  of  Swedes, 
Dutch,  and  English,  by  which  it  was  occupied,  were  never  reconciled 
to  this  arrangement,  and  having  at  last  obtained  a  government  of  its 
own,  Delaware  became  a  separate  province. 

The  settlement  of  the  two  Carolinas  began  with  straggling  emi- 
grants from  Virginia,  who  sought  to  better  their  fortunes  in  regions 
further  south,  and  were  afterward  joined  by  others  from  New  En- 
gland, and  also  from  Europe.  At  length,  in  1663,  the  entire  region 
lying  between  the  thirty-sixth  degree  of  north  latitude  and  the  River 
St.  John's  in  Florida,  was  granted  to  a  proprietary  company  in  En- 
gland, which  was  invested  with  most  extraordinary  powers.  The  pro- 
prietors, eight  in  number,  were  Lord  Ashley  Cooper,  better  known 
as  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  Clarendon,  Monk,  Lord  Craven,  Sir  John 
Colleton,  Lord  John  and  Sir  William  Berkeley,  and  Sir  George 
Carteret.  Their  grand  object  was  gain,  yet  the  celebrated  John 
Locke,  at  once  a  philosopher  and  a  Christian,  was  engaged  to  make 
"  Constitutions,"  or  a  form  of  government,  for  an  empire  that  was  to 
stretch  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  result  of  the  philosoph- 
ical law-giver's  labors  was  such  as  the  world  had  never  before  seen 
the  like  of.  The  proprietors  were  to  form  a  close  corporation ;  the 
territory  was  to  be  partitioned  out  into  counties  of  vast  extent,  each 
of  which  was  to  have  an  Earl  or  Landgrave,  and  two  Barons  or 
Caciques,  who,  as  lords  of  manors,  were  to  have  judicial  authority 
within  their  respective  estates.  Tenants  of  ten  acres  were  to  be  at- 
tached as  serfs  to  the  soil,  to  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  their 
lords  without  appeal,  and  their  children  were  to  continue  in  the  same 


42  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

degradation  forever !  The  possession  of  at  least  fifty  acres  of  land 
was  to  be  required  in  order  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  elective  franchise ; 
and  of  five  hundred  acres  to  render  a  man  eligible  as  a  member  of  the 
colonial  Parliament  or  Legislature.  These  "  Constitutions,"  into  the 
further  details  of  which  we  can  not  enter,  were  attempted  to  be  in- 
troduced, but  were  soon  rejected  in  North  Carolina;  and  after  a  few 
years'  struggle,  were  thrown  aside  also  in  South  Carolina,  which 
had  been  separated  from  the  Northern  province.  The  colonists 
adopted  for  themselves  forms  of  government  analogous  to  those  of 
the  other  colonies ;  the  proprietary  company  was  after  awhile  dis- 
solved ;  the  Carohnas  fell  under  the  direct  control  of  the  crown,  but 
were  governed  by  then  own  Legislatures.  Their  prosperity  was  slow, 
having  been  frequently  interrupted  by  serious  wars  with  the  native 
tribes,  particularly  the  Tuscaroras,  which,  as  they  were  the  most  pow- 
erful, were  for  a  long  time  also  the  most  hostile. 

Last  of  all  the  original  thirteen  provinces,  in  the  order  of  time, 
came  Georgia,  which  was  settled  as  late  as  1*732,  by  the  brave  and 
humane  Oglethorpe.  The  colonists  were  of  mixed  origin,  but  the 
English  race  predominated.  Although  it  had  difficulties  to  encounter 
almost  from  the  first,  yet,  notwithstanding  wars  with  the  Spaniards  in 
Florida,  hostile  attacks  from  the  Indians,  and  internal  divisions, 
Georgia  acquired  by  degrees  a  considerable  amount  of  strength. 

Such  is  a  brief  notice  of  the  thirteen  original  North  American 
provinces,  which  by  the  Revolution  of  1775-1783,  were  transformed 
into  as  many  States.  They  all  touch  more  or  less  on  the  Atlantic,  and 
stretch  to  a  greater  or  less  distance  into  the  interior.  Virginia, 
Georgia,  Pennsylvania,  and  North  Carolina,  are  the  largest ;  Rhode 
Island  and  Delaware  are  the  smallest. 

We  now  proceed  to  notice  the  colonization  of  the  territories  added 
since  the  epoch  of  Independence. 

In  1803,  the  French  colony  of  Louisiana,  now  the  State  of  that 
name,  together  with  the  Territories  since  comprised  in  the  States  of 
Arkansas  and  Missouri,  and  an  almost  indefinite  tract  lying  west- 
ward of  these,  was  purchased  by  the  United  States  for  fifteen  millions 
of  dollars.  In  1819,  the  Spanish  colony  of  Florida,  comprising  the 
peninsula  which  used  to  be  called  East  Florida,  and  a  narrow  strip  of 
land  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  called  West  Florida,  was  purchased  by 
the  same  government  for  five  millions  of  dollars.  Both  purchases 
now  form,  of  course,  part  of  the  great  North  American  Republic. 

Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  were  originally  settled  by  the 
Spanish ;  but  these  colonies  never  flourished  while  under  the  Spanish 
dominion ;  nor  was  their  progress  much  greater  under  that  of  the 
Republic  of  Mexico.     The  Spanish  population  in  the  first  and  last 


CHAP.  VI.]  INTERIOR   COLONIZATION    OF   THE   COUNTRY.  43 

named  is  at  present  wholly  inconsiderable,  having  become  almost  ab- 
sorbed by  the  American.  Oregon  (now  divided  into  the  Oregon  and 
Washington  Territories),  and  Utah  have  been  colonized  by  the  white 
race  only  since  they  were  annexed  to  the  United  States. 

Such  was  the  original  colonization  of  what  is  now  the  United  States 
of  North  America. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

INTERIOR     COLONIZATION     OF     THE     COUNTRY. 

After  the  short  account  which  we  have  given  of  the  first  planting 
of  the  original  provinces,  by  successive  arrivals  of  colonists  from 
Europe,  on  the  sea-coast  and  the  banks  of  the  larger  streams,  we  pro- 
ceed to  say  something  of  the  progress  of  colonization  in  the  interior 
of  the  country. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  elapsed 
between  the  foundation  of  the  first  and  the  last  of  the  original  thirteen 
provinces ;  also,  that,  with  the  exception  of  New  York  and  Delaware, 
which  received  their  first  European  inhabitants  from  Holland  and 
Sweden,  they  were  all  originally  English ;  but,  eventually,  these  two 
were  likewise  included  in  English  patents,  and  their  Dutch  and  Swed- 
ish inhabitants  merged  among  the  English. 

All  these  colonies  were  of  slow  growth ;  ten,  even  twenty  years 
being  required,  in  several  instances,  before  they  could  be  regarded  as 
permanently  established.  That  of  Virginia,  the  earliest,  was  more 
than  once  on  the  point  of  being  broken  up.  Indeed,  we  may  well  be 
surprised  that,  when  the  colonists  that  survived  the  ravages  of  dis- 
ease, and  attacks  from  the  Indians,  were  still  further  reduced  in  their 
number  by  the  return  of  a  part  of  them  to  England,  the  remainder 
did  not  become  disheartened,  and  abandon  the  country  in  despair. 
The  Plymouth  colonists  lost,  upon  the  very  spot  where  they  settled, 
half  their  number  within  six  mouths  after  their  arrival ;  and  terrible, 
indeed,  must  have  been  the  sorrows  of  the  dreary  winter  of  1620-21, 
as  endured  by  those  desolate  yet  persevering  exiles.  But  they  had  a 
firm  faith  in  God's  goodness ;  they  looked  to  the  future ;  they  felt 
that  they  had  a  great  and  glorious  task  to  accomplish ;  and  that, 
although  they  themselves  might  perish  in  attempting  it,  yet  their 
children  would  enjoy  the  promised  land. 

Stout  hearts  were  required  for  such  enterprises.  Few  of  the  col- 
onists were  wealthy  persons,  and  as  those  were  not  the  days  of 


44  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

steamships,  or  of  fine  packets,  and  large  and  well-appointed  merchant 
vessels,  the  voyages  had  to  be  made  in  small  and  crowded  ships. 
The  inconveniences,  to  say  nothing  of  the  sickness  that  attended 
them,  were  but  ill  calculated  to  nerve  the  heart  for  coming  trials  ; 
and  as  the  colonists  approached  the  coast,  the  boundless  and  solemn 
forests  that  stretched  before  them,  the  strangeness  of  every  object 
that  filled  the  scene,  the  absence  of  all  tillage  and  cultivation,  and  of 
a  village  or  house  to  give  them  shelter,  and  the  uncouth  and  even 
frightful  aspect  of  the  savage  inhabitants,  must  have  damped  the 
boldest  spirits.  In  the  case  of  Plymouth  and  some  others,  the  settlers 
arrived  during  winter,  when  all  nature  wore  her  gloomiest  attire. 
The  rudest  hovels  were  the  only  abodes  that  could  be  immediately 
prepared  for  then*  reception,  and  for  weeks  together  there  might  only 
be  a  few  days  of  such  weather  as  would  permit  their  proceeding  with 
the  operations  required  for  their  comfort.  Not  only  conveniences 
and  luxuries,  such  as  the  poorest  in  the  mother-country  enjoyed,  but 
even  the  necessaries  of  life  were  often  wanting.  Years  had  to  be 
passed  before  any  considerable  part  of  the  forest  could  be  cleared, 
comfortable  dwellings  erected,  and  pleasant  gardens  planted.  Mean- 
while, disease  and  death  would  enter  every  family ;  dear  friends  and 
companions  in  the  toils  and  cares  of  the  enterprise  would  be  borne, 
one  after  another,  to  the  grave.  To  these  causes  of  depression  there 
were  often  added  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare,  by  which  some  of 
the  colonies  were  repeatedly  decimated,  and  during  which  the  poor 
settler,  for  weeks  and  months  together,  could  not  know,  on  retiring 
to  rest,  whether  he  should  not  be  awakened  by  the  heart-quailing 
war-whoop  of  the  savages  around  his  house,  or  by  finding  the  house 
itself  in  flames.  Ah,  what  pen  can  describe  the  horror  that  fell  upon 
many  a  family,  hi  almost  all  the  colonies,  not  once,  but  often,  when 
aroused  by  false  or  real  alarms !  Who  can  depict  the  scenes  in  which 
a  father,  before  he  received  the  fatal  blow  himself,  was  compelled  to 
see  his  wife  and  children  fall  by  the  tomahawk  before  his  eyes,  or  be 
dragged  into  a  captivity  worse  than  death !  With  such  depressing 
circumstances  to  try  the  hearts  of  the  colonists — circumstances  that 
can  be  fully  understood  by  those  only  who  have  passed  through  them, 
or  who  have  heard  them  related  with  the  minute  fidelity  of  an  eye- 
witness— who  can  wonder  that  the  colonies  advanced  but  slowly  ? 

Still,  as  I  have  said,  they  gradually  gained  strength.  At  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688,  in  England,  that  is,  eighty-one  years  after  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Virginia,  and  sixty-eight  after  that  of  Plymouth,  the  population 
of  the  colonies,  then  twelve  in  number,  was  estimated  at  about  two 
hundred  thousand,  which  might  be  distributed  thus :  Massachusetts, 
including  Plymouth  and  Maine,  may  have  had  forty-four  thousand ; 


CHAP.  VI.]  INTERIOR   COLONIZATION    OF   THE   COUNTRY.  45 

New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island,  including  Providence,  six  thou- 
sand each ;  Connecticut,  from  seventeen  to  twenty  thousand ;  making 
uj)  seventy-five  thousand  for  all  New  England :  New  York,  not  less 
than  twenty  thousand ;  New  Jersey,  ten  thousand ;  Pennsylvania 
and  Delaware,  twelve  thousand;  Maryland,  twenty-five  thousand; 
Virginia,  fifty  thousand ;  and  the  two  Carolinas,  which  then  included 
Georgia,  probably  not  fewer  than  eight  thousand  souls. 

After  having  confined  their  settlements  for  many  years  within  a 
short  distance,  comparatively  speaking,  from  the  coast,  the  colonists 
began  to  penetrate  the  inland  forests,  and  to  settle  at  different 
points  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  in  proportion  as  they  consid- 
ered themselves  strong  enough  to  occupy  them  safely.  Where  hos- 
tility on  the  part  of  the  Aborigines  was  dreaded,  these  settlers  kept 
together  as  much  as  possible,  and  established  themselves  in  villages. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  New  England,  where,  the  soil  being 
less  favorable  to  agriculture,  colonization  naturally  assumed  the  com- 
pact form  required  for  the  pursuits  of  trade  and  the  useful  arts, 
as  well  as  for  mutual  assistance  when  exposed  to  attack.  As  the 
New  England  colonists  had  all  along  devoted  themselves  much  to 
the  fisheries  and  other  branches  of  commerce,  their  settlements  were 
for  a  long  time  to  be  found  chiefly  on  the  coast,  and  at  points  afford- 
ing convenient  harbors.  But  it  was  much  otherwise  in  the  South. 
In  Virginia,  particularly,  the  colonists  were  induced  to  settle  along 
the  banks  of  rivers  to  very  considerable  distances,  their  main  occupa- 
tion being  the  planting  of  tobacco,  and  trading  to  some  extent  with 
the  Indians.  In  the  Carolinas,  again,  most  hands  being  employed  in 
the  manufacture  of  tar,  turpentine,  and  rosin,  or  in  the  cultivation  of 
rice,  indigo,  and,  eventually,  of  cotton,  the  colonial  settlements  took 
a  considerable  range  whenever  there  was  peace  with  the  Indians  in 
their  vicinity.  Where  there  was  little  or  no  commerce,  and  agricul- 
tural pursuits  of  different  kinds  were  the  chief  occupation  of  the 
people,  there  could  be  few  towns  of  much  importance ;  and  so  much 
does  this  hold  at  the  present  day,  that  there  is  not  a  city  of  40,000 
inhabitants  in  all  the  five  Southern  Atlantic  States,  with  the  exception 
of  Baltimore  in  Maryland,  Richmond  in  Virginia,  and  Charleston  in 
South  Carolina. 

Even  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  1775, 
the  colonies  had  scarcely  penetrated  to  the  Allegheny  or  Appalachian 
Mountains  in  any  of  the  provinces  that  reached  thus  far,  and  their 
whole  population  was  confined  to  the  strip  of  land  interposed  between 
those  mountains  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  is  true,  that  immediately 
after  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  by  which  England  acquired  the 
Canadas   and  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi — excepting  Louisiana, 


46  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

which  remained  with  France,  or,  rather,  was  temporarily  ceded  to 
Spain — a  few  adventurers  began  to  pass  beyond  the  mountains,  and 
this  emigration  westward  continued  during  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. But  when  peace  came,  hi  1783, 1  much  doubt  if  there  were 
20,000  Anglo-Americans  in  western  Pennsylvania,  western  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  These  were  but  the  advanced  posts  of  the 
immense  host  about  to  follow,  and,  for  many  years  after  the  peace, 
the  colonization  of  the  interior  was  slower  than  might  be  supposed. 
The  population  of  the  thirteen  provinces  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolution  is  not  positively  known,  but  it  certainly  did  not  ex- 
ceed 3,000,000,  slaves  included.  No  doubt  the  population  of  the  sea- 
board increased  thenceforth  with  considerable  rapidity,  and  Vermont 
was  not  long  in  being  added  to  the  original  thirteen  States,  making 
fourteen  in  all  upon  the  Atlantic  slope.  They  amount  now  to  fifteen ; 
Maine,  which  was  long  a  sort  of  province  to  Massachusetts,  having 
become  a  separate  State  in  1820.  After  the  establishment  of  Inde- 
pendence, danger  from  the  Aborigines  ceased  to  be  apprehended, 
throughout  the  whole  country  situated  between  the  Allegheny  Mount- 
ains and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  remains  of  the  numerous  tribes, 
its  former  inhabitants,  had,  with  some  exceptions  in  New  England, 
New  York,  and  the  Carolinas,  retired  to  the  West,  and  there  they 
either  existed  apart,  or  had  become  merged  in  other  and  kindred 

tribes. 

But  it  was  far  otherwise  in  the  great  region  to  the  west  of  the 
Appalachian  range.  There,  many  of  the  Indian  tribes  occupied  the 
country  in  all  their  pristine  force,  and  were  the  more  to  be  dreaded 
by  settlers  from  the  eastern  States ;  inasmuch  as  they  were  supposed 
to  be  greatly  under  the  influence  of  the  British  Government  in  Can- 
ada, and  as  unkindly  feelings  long  subsisted  between  the  Ameri- 
cans and  their  English  neighbors:  each  charging  the  other,  prob- 
ably not  without  justice,  with  exciting  the  Indians,  by  means 
of  their  respective  agents  and  hunters,  to  commit  acts  of  violence. 
Excepting  in  some  parts  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  eastern  Ten- 
nessee, there  was  little  security  for  American  settlers  in  the  West, 
from  1783  until  1795.  The  first  emigrants  to  Ohio  suffered  greatly 
from  the  Indians  ;  two  armies  sent  against  them,  in  the  western  part 
of  that  State,  under  Generals  Harmar  and  St.  Clair,  were  defeated 
and  shockingly  cut  to  pieces,  and  not  until  they  had  received  a  dread- 
ful defeat  from  General  Wayne,  on  the  River  Miami-of-the-lake,*  was 
there  any  thing  like  permanent  peace  established.  But,  as  a  prelude 
to  the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  which  com- 

*  Or  the  Miami  which  flows  into  Lake  Erie,  and  so  called  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  Miami  that  falls  into  the  Ohio. 


CHAP.  VI.]  INTERIOR    COLONIZATION    OF   THE   COUNTRY.  47 

menced  in  1812  and  ended  in  1815,  the  Indian  tribes  again  became 
troublesome,  particularly  in  Indiana  and  in  the  south-eastern  part  of 
the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  forming  now  the  State  of  Alabama. 
The  Creeks,  a  powerful  tribe  of  the  Muskhogee  race,  then  occupied 
that  country,  and  it  was  not  until  defeated  in  many  battles  and  skir- 
mishes, that  they  were  reduced  to  peace.  In  pomt  of  fact,  perfect 
security  from  Indian  hostilities  has  prevailed  throughout  the  "  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi"  only  since  1815  ;  since  then,  there  have  been  the 
insignificant  war  with  Black  Hawk,  a  Sioux  chief,  which  took  place  a 
few  years  ago,  and  the  still  more  recent  war  with  the  Seminoles  in 
Florida — exceptions  not  worth  special  notice,  as  they  in  nowise 
affected  the  country  at  large. 

It  is  now  (1856)  about  seventy-two  years  since  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion from  the  Atlantic  States  set  fairly  into  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  and  though  no  great  influx  took  place  in  any  one  year  during 
the  first  half  of  that  period,  it  has  wonderfully  increased  during  the 
last.  When  this  emigration  westward  first  commenced,  all  the  neces- 
saries that  the  emigrants  required  to  take  with  them  from  the  East 
were  to  be  carried  on  horseback,  no  roads  for  wheeled  carriages  hav- 
ing been  opened  through  the  mountains.  On  arriving  at  the  last 
ridge  overlooking  the  plains  to  the  west,  a  boundless  forest  lay 
stretched  out  before  those  pioneers  of  civilization,  like  an  ocean  of 
living  green.  Into  the  depths  of  that  forest  they  had  to  plunge. 
Often  long  years  of  toil  and  suffering  rolled  away  before  they  could 
establish  themselves  hi  comfortable  abodes.  The  climate  and  the 
diseases  peculiar  to  the  different  localities  were  unknown.  Hence, 
fevers  of  a  stubborn  type  cut  many  of  them  off.  They  were  but 
partially  acquainted  with  the  mighty  rivers  of  that  vast  region,  be- 
yond knowing  that  their  common  outlet  was  in  the  possession  of  a 
foreign  nation,  which  imposed  vexatious  regulations  u{>on  their  infant 
trade.  The  navigation  of  those  rivers  could  be  carried  on  only  in 
flat-bottomed  boats,  keels,  and  barges.  To  descend  them  was  not 
unattended  with  danger,  but  to  ascend  by  means  of  sweeps  and  oars, 
by  poling,  warping,  bush-whacking*  and  so  forth,  was  laborious  and 
tedious  beyond  conception. 

*  The  word  bush-ivhacJcing  is  of  "Western  origin,  and  signifies  a  peculiar  mode  of 
propelling  a  boat  up  the  Mississippi,  Ohio,  or  any  other  river  in  that  region,  when 
the  water  is  very  high.  It  is  this :  instead  of  keeping  in  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
the  "boat  is  made  to  go  along  close  to  one  of  the  banks,  and  the  men  who  guide  it, 
by  catching  hold  of  the  boughs  of  the  trees  which  overhang  the  water,  are  enabled 
to  drag  the  boat  along.  It  is  an  expedient  resorted  to  more  by  way  of  change  than 
any  thing  else.  Sometimes  it  is  possible,  at  certain  stages  of  the  rivers,  to  go  along 
for  miles  in  this  way.  Even  to  this  day  the  greater  portion  of  the  banks  of  the  riv- 
ers of  the  "West  are  covered  with  almost  uninterrupted  forests. 


iS  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

Far  different  are  the  circumstances  of  those  colonists  now  !  The 
mountains,  at  various  points,  are  traversed  by  substantial  highways, 
and,  still  further  to  augment  the  facilities  for  intercourse  with  the 
vast  Western  Valley,  several  canals  and  railroads  have  been  made, 
and  others  are  in  progress.  It  is  accessible,  also,  from  the  south,  by 
vessels  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  from  the  north  by  the 
lakes,  on  whose  waters  more  than  a  hundred  steamboats  now  pur- 
sue their  foaming  way.  As  for  the  navigable  streams  of  the  valley 
itself,  besides  boats  of  all  kinds  of  ordinary  construction,  many  hun- 
dreds of  steamboats  ply  upon  their  waters.  And  now,  instead  of 
being  a  boundless  forest,  uninhabited  by  civilized  men,  as  it  was 
seventy  or  eighty  years  ago,  the  West  contains  no  fewer  than  four- 
teen regularly-constituted  States,  and  five  Territories  which  will  soon 
be  admitted  as  States  into  the  Union,  the  population  having,  mean- 
while, advanced  from  10,000  or  20,000  Anglo-American  inhabitants, 
to  above  13,000,000* 

Generally  speaking,  the  various  sections  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, may  be  said  to  have  been  colonized  from  the  parts'  of  the 
Atlantic  coast  which  correspond  with  them  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
point  of  latitude.  This  is  easily  accounted  for  :  emigrants  from  the 
East  to  the  West  naturally  wish  to  keep  as  much  as  they  can  within 
the  climate  which  birth  and  early  life  have  rendered  familiar  and 
agreeable,  though  a  regard  to  their  health  may  compel  some  of  them 
to  seek  a  change  by  passing  to  the  south  or  north  of  their  original 
latitude.  The  New  England  tide  of  emigration,  in  its  westward 
course,  penetrated  and  settled  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  advancing  still  further  in  the  direction  of 
the  setting  sun,  entered  the  northern  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illi- 
nois, extended  over  the  whole  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  and 
is  stretching  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  That  from  the  southern 
counties  of  New  York,  from  New  Jersey,  and  eastern  Pennsylvania, 
first  occupied  western  Pennsylvania,  and  then  extended  into  the 
central  districts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The  Maryland  and 
Virginia  column  colonized  western  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  and  then 
dispersed  itself  over  the  southern  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois ; 

*  The  names  of  these  States  and  Territories  are  as  follows: 

STATES. 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  Iowa. 

TERRITORIES. 

Minnesota,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Utah,  and  New  Mexico. 

This  enumeration  leaves  out  Indian  Territory,  because  it  is  not  organized  as  such, 
nor  are  its  inhabitants  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 


CHAP.  VII.]      ANGLO-SAXON   QUALIFICATIONS   FOR   COLONIZATION.  49 

while  that  from  North  Carolina,  after  having  colonized  Tennessee,  is 
reaching  into  Missouri  and  Iowa.  The  South  Carolina  column,  min- 
gling with  that  of  Georgia,  after  having  covered  Alabama  and  a 
great  part  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  is  now  extending  itself  into 
Arkansas  and  Texas. 

This  account  of  the  progress  of  colonization  in  the  great  central 
valley,  furnishes  a  better  key  to  the  political,  moral,  and  religious 
character  of  the  West  than  any  other  that  can  be  given.  The 
West,  in  fact,  may  be  regarded  as  the  counterpart  of  the  East,  after 
allowing  for  the  exaggeration,  if  I  may  so  speak,  which  a  life  in 
the  wilderness  tends  to  communicate  for  a  time  to  manners  and  char- 
acter, and  even  to  religion,  but  which  disappears  as  the  population 
increases,  and  as  the  country  acquires  the  stamp  of  an  older  civiliza- 
tion. Stragglers  may,  indeed,  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the  West  from 
almost  all  parts  of  the  East ;  and  many  emigrants  from  Europe,  too, 
Germans  especially,  enter  by  New  Orleans,  and  from  that  city  find 
their  way  by  steamboats  into  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Wisconsin, 
and  Iowa.  But  all  these  form  exceptions  that  hardly  invalidate  the 
general  statement. 

The  colonists  of  Oregon  and  Washington  Territories  are  chiefly 
from  the  north-western  States ;  those  of  California  are  from  all  the 
States,  together  with  many  foreigners.  The  Mormons  in  Utah  are 
mostly  from  the  eastern  States  and  from  Europe. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

PECULIAR  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXON   RACE   FOR  THE  WORK 

OF  COLONIZATION. 

Wholly  apart  from  considerations  of  a  moral  and  religious  char- 
acter, and  the  influence  of  external  circumstances,  we  may  remark, 
that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  possesses  qualities  peculiarly  adapted  for 
successful  colonization.  The  characteristic  perseverance,  the  spirit 
of  personal  freedom  and  independence,  that  have  ever  distinguished 
that  race,  admirably  fit  a  man  for  the  labor  and  isolation  necessary  to 
be  endured  before  he  can  be  a  successful  colonist.  Now,  New  En- 
gland, together  with  the  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
and  Pennsylvania,  with  the  exception  of  Dutch  and  Swedish  elements, 
which  were  too  inconsiderable  to  affect  the  general  result,  were  all 
colonized  by  people  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  And  assuredly  they  have 
displayed  qualities  fitting  them  for  their  task,  such  as  the  world  has 

4 


50  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

never  witnessed  before.  No  sooner  have  the  relations  between  the 
colonies  and  the  Aborigines  permitted  it  to  be  done  with  safety  (nor  has 
this  always  been  waited  for),  than  we  find  individuals  and  families  ready 
to  penetrate  the  wilderness,  there  to  choose,  each  for  himself  or  for  them- 
selves, some  fertile  spot  for  a  permanent  settlement.  If  friends  could 
be  found  to  accompany  him  and  settle  near  him,  so  much  the  better ; 
but  if  not,  the  bold  emigrant  would  venture  alone  far  into  the  track- 
less forest,  and  surmount  every  obstacle  single-handed,  like  a  fisher- 
man committing  himself  to  the  deep,  and  passing  the  live-long  day  at 
a  distance  from  the  shore.  Such  was  the  experience  of  many  of  the 
first  colonists  of  New  England ;  such  was  that  of  the  earliest  settlers 
in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania ;  such,  in  our 
own  day,  has  been  the  case  with  many  of  the  living  occupants  of  Ohio. 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  and 
Nebraska ;  and  thus  is  colonization  advancing  in  all  those  States  and 
Territories  at  the  present  moment. 

Living  on  the  lands  which  they  cultivate,  the  agricultural  inhab- 
itants of  the  New  England  and  Middle  States  are  very  much  dis- 
persed ;  the  country,  far  and  wide,  is  dotted  over  with  the  dwellings 
of  the  landholders,  and  those  who  assist  them  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  For  almost  every  landowner  tills  his  property  himself,  assisted 
by  his  sons,  by  young  men  hired  for  that  purpose,  or  by  tenants  who 
rent  from  him  a  cottage  and  a  few  acres.  Field  work  in  all  those 
States  is  performed  by  men  alone ;  a  woman  is  never  seen  handling 
the  plough,  the  hoe,  the  axe,  the  sickle,  or  the  scythe,  unless  in  the  case 
of  foreign  emigrants,  who  have  not  yet  adopted  American  usages  in 
this  respect. 

Now  it  is  in  this  isolated  and  independent  mode  of  life  that  our 
men  best  fitted  to  penetrate  and  settle  in  the  wilderness  are  trained ; 
and  from  this  what  may  be  emphatically  called  our  frontier  race  has 
sprung,  and  is  recruited  from  time  to  time. 

Take  the  folio  whig  case  as  an  illustration  of  the  process  that  is  con- 
tinually going  on  in  the  frontier  settlements.  A  man  removes  to  the 
West,  he  purchases  a  piece  of  ground,  builds  a  house,  and  devotes 
himself  to  the  clearing  and  tillage  of  his  forest  acres.  Before  long  he 
has  rescued  a  farm  from  the  wilderness,  and  has  reared  a  family  upon 
it.  He  then  divides  his  land  among  his  sons,  if  there  be  enough  for 
a  farm  for  each  of  them ;  if  not,  each  receives  money  enough  to  buy 
one  as  he  comes  of  age.  Some  may  settle  on  lands  bestowed  upon  them 
by  their  father ;  others,  preferring  a  change,  may  dispose  of  their 
portion,  and  proceed,  most  commonly  unmarried,  to  "  the  new  coun- 
try," as  it  is  called,  that  is,  to  those  parts  of  the  West  where  the 
public  lands  are  not  yet  sold.    There  he  chooses  out  as  much  as  he 


CHAP.  Vn.]      ANGLO-SAXON   QUALIFICATIONS   FOE   COLONIZATION.  51 

can  conveniently  pay  for,  receiving  a  title  to  it  from  the  District  Land 
Office,  and  proceeds  to  make  for  himself  a  home.  This  is  likely  to  be 
in  the  spring. 

Having  selected  a  spot  for  his  dwelling,  generally  near  some  foun- 
tain, or  where  water  may  be  had  by  digging  a  well,  he  goes  round 
and  makes  the  acquaintance  of  his  neighbors  residing  within  the 
distance,  it  may  be,  of  several  miles.  A  time  is  fixed  for  building 
him  a  house,  upon  which  those  neighbors  come  and  render  him  such 
efficient  help,  that  in  a  single  day  he  will  find  a  log-house  constructed, 
and  perhaps  covered  with  clap-boards,  and  having  apertures  cut  out 
for  the  doors,  windows,  and  chimney.  He  makes  his"  floor  at  once  of 
rough  boards  riven  from  the  abundant  timber  of  the  surrounding 
forest,  constructs  his  doors,  and  erects  a  chimney.  Occupying  him- 
self, while  interrupted  in  out-door  work  by  rainy  weather,  in  com- 
pleting his  house,  he  finds  it  in  a  few  weeks  tolerably  comfortable,  and 
during  fair  weather  he  clears  the  underwood  from  some  ten  or  fifteen 
acres,  kills  the  large  trees  by  notching  them  around  so  as  to  arrest  the 
rise  of  the  sap,  and  plants  the  ground  with  Indian  corn,  or  maize,  as 
it  is  called  in  Europe.  He  can  easily  make,  buy,  or  hire  a  plough,  a 
harrow,  and  a  hoe  or  two.  If  he  find  time,  he  surrounds  his  field 
with  a  fence.  At  length,  after  prolonging  his  stay  until  his  crop  is 
beyond  the  risk  of  serious  injury  from  squirrels  and  birds,  or  from 
the  growth  of  weeds,  he  shuts  up  his  house,  commits  it  to  the  care 
of  some  neighbor,  living  perhaps  one  or  two  miles  distant,  and  re- 
turns to  his  paternal  home,  which  may  be  from  one  to  three  hundred 
miles  distant  from  his  new  settlement.  There  he  stays  until  the 
month  of  September,  then  marries,  and  with  his  young  wife,  a  wagon 
and  pair  of  horses  to  carry  their  effects,  a  few  cattle  or  sheep,  or  none, 
according  to  circumstances,  sets  out  to  settle  for  life  in  the  wilderness. 
On  arriving  at  his  farm,  he  sows  wheat  or  rye  among  his  standing 
Indian  corn,  then  gathers  in  this  last,  and  prepares  for  the  winter. 
His  wife  shares  all  the  cares  incident  to  this  humble  beginning.  Ac- 
customed to  every  kind  of  household  work,  she  strives  by  the  dili- 
gence of  her  fingers  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  going  to  the  merchant, 
who  has  opened  his  store  at  some  village  among  the  trees,  perhaps 
some  miles  off,  and  there  laying  out  the  little  money  they  may  have 
left.  With  economy  and  health,  they  gradually  become  prosperous. 
The  primitive  log-house  gives  place  to  a  far  better  mansion,  constructed 
of  hewn  logs,  or  of  boards,  or  of  brick  or  stone.  Extensive  and 
well-fenced  fields  spread  around,  ample  barns  stored  with  grain,  stalls 
filled  with  horses  and  cattle,  flocks  of  sheep,  and  herds  of  hogs,  all 
attest  the  increasing  wealth  of  the  owners.  Their  children  grow  up, 
perhaps  to  pursue  the  same  course,  or,  as  their  inclinations  may  lead, 


52  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

to  choose  some  other  occupation,  or  to  enter  one  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. 

This  sketch  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  mode  in  which 
colonization  advances  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  of  the  Middle 
and  New  England  States  of  America.  Less  Anglo-Saxon  in  their 
orio-in,  and  with  institutions  and  customs  modified  by  slavery,  the 
Southern  States  exhibit  colonization  advancing  in  a  very  different 
style.  When  an  emigrant  from  those  States  removes  to  the  "  Far 
"West,"  he  takes  with  Mm  his  wagons,  his  cattle,  his  little  ones,  and  a 
troop  of  slaves,  resembling  Abraham  when  he  moved  from  place  to 
place  in  Canaan.'  When  he  settles  in  the  forest,  he  clears  and  culti- 
vates the  ground  with  the  labor  of  his  slaves.  Every  thing  goes  on 
heavily.  Slaves  are  too  stupid  and  improvident  to  make  good  col- 
onists. The  country,  under  these  disadvantages,  never  assumes  the 
garden-like  appearance  that  it  already  wears  in  the  New  England  and 
Middle  States,  and  which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  northern  parts  of  the 
great  Central  Valley. 

Next  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  from  the  British  shores,  the  Scotch 
make  the  best  settlers  in  the  great  American  forests.  The  Irish  are 
not  so  good ;  they  know  not  how  to  use  the  plough,  or  how  to  manage 
the  horse  and  the  ox,  having  had  but  little  experience  of  either  in 
their  native  land.  None  can  handle  the  spade  better,  nor  are  they 
wanting  in  industry.  But  when  they  first  arrive  they  are  irresolute, 
dread  the  forest,  and  hang  too  much  about  the  large  towns,  looking 
around  for  such  work  as  their  previous  mode  of  life  has  not  disqual- 
ified them  for.  Such  of  them  as  have  been  bred  to  mechanical  trades 
might  find  sufficient  employment  if  they  would  let  ardent  spirits 
alone,  but  good  colonists  for  the  forests  they  will  never  be.  Their 
children  may  do  better  in  that  career.  The  few  Welsh  to  be  found 
in  America  are  much  better  fitted  than  the  Irish  for  the  fife  and  pur- 
suits of  a  farmer. 

The  perseverance  and  frugality  of  the  German,  joined  to  other  good 
qualities  which  he  has  in  common  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  enable 
him  to  succeed  tolerably  well  even  in  the  forest,  but  he  finds  it  more 
to  his  advantage  to  settle  on  a  farm  bought  at  second-hand  and  par- 
tially cultivated.  The  Swiss  are  much  the  same  with  the  Germans. 
The  French  and  Italians,  on  the  other  hand,  are  totally  unfit  for 
planting  colonies  in  the  woods.  Nothing  could  possibly  be  more 
alien  to  the  ordinary  habits  of  a  Frenchman.  The  population  of 
France  is  almost  universally  collected  in  cities,  towns,  villages,  and 
hamlets,  and  thus,  from  early  habit  as  well  as  constitutional  disposi- 
tion, Frenchmen  love  society,  and  can  not  endure  the  loneliness  and 
isolation  of  the  settlements  we  have  described.     When  they  attempt 


CHAP.  VIII.]        ALLEGED    WANT    OF   NATIONAL   CHARACTER.  53 

to  form  colonies,  it  is  by  grouping  together  in  villages,  as  may  be  seen 
along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  the  Lower  Mississippi. 
Hence  their  settlements  are  seldom  either  extensive  or  vigorous. 
They  find  themselves  happier  in  the  cities  and  large  towns.  If  re- 
solved to  establish  themselves  hi  the  country,  they  should  go  to  com- 
paratively well-settled  neighborhoods,  not  to  the  forests  of  the 
Far  West. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

ON  THE   ALLEGED    WANT    OF    NATIONAL   CHARACTER    IN  AMERICA. 

Foreigners  who  have  written  about  the  United  States,  have  often 
asserted  that  it  is  a  country  without  a  national  character.  Were  this 
the  mere  statement  of  an  opinion,  it  might  be  suffered  to  pass  unno- 
ticed, like  many  other  things  emanating  from  authors  who  undertake 
to  speak  about  countries  which  they  have  had  only  very  partial,  and 
hence  very  imperfect,  opportunities  of  knowing.  But  as  the  allega- 
tion has  been  made  with  an  air  of  considerable  pretension,  it  becomes 
necessary  that  we  should  submit  it  to  the  test  of  truth. 

If  oneness  of  origin  be  essential  to  the  formation  of  national  char- 
acter, it  is  clear  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  can  make  no 
pretension  to  it.  No  civilized  nation  was  ever  composed  of  inhab- 
itants derived  from  such  a  variety  of  sources :  for  in  the  United 
States  we  find  the  descendants  of  English,  Welsh,  Scotch,  Irish, 
Dutch,  Germans,  Norwegians,  Danes,  Swedes,  Poles,  French,  Ital- 
ians, and  Spaniards  ;*  and  there  is  even  a  numerous  and  distinguished 
family  in  which  it  is  admitted,  with  p*ide,  that  the  blood  of  an  Indian 
princess  mingles  with  that  of  the  haughty  Norman  or  Norman-Saxon. 
Many  other  nations  are  of  mixed  descent,  but  where  shall  we  find 
one  derived  from  so  many  distinct  races  ? 

Neither,  if  national  character  depends  upon  the  existence  of  but 
one  language,  can  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  make  any  claim 
to  it :  for  the  colonists  from  whom  they  are  descended  brought  with 
them  the  languages  of  the  different  countries  whence  they  came, 
and  these  are  retained  in  some  instances  to  the  present  day.  At  least 
eleven  of  the  different  languages  of  Europe  have  been  spoken  by 
settlers  in  the  United  States. 

*  Even  China  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  are  furnishing  their  contingent,  also, 
to  California. 


54  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.     ,  [BOOK  I. 

But  let  us  examine  these  two  points  somewhat  more  minutely,  and 
we  can  not  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  facts  which  will  be  presented  to 

our  view. 

And  in  the  first  place,  never  has  there  been  witnessed  so  rapid  a 
blending  of  people  from  different  countries,  and  speaking  different 
languages,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  United  States.   "Within  the  last  two 
hundred  years,  people  have  been  arriving  from  some  eleven  or  twelve 
different  countries,  and  distinguished  by  as  many  different  tongues. 
Yet  so  singular  a  fusion  has  taken  place,  that  in  many  localities,  where 
population  is  at  all  compact,  it  would  puzzle  a  stranger  to  determine 
the  national  origin  of  the  people  from  any  peculiarity  of  physiognomy 
or  dialect,  far  less  of  language.     Who  can  distinguish  in  New  York 
the  mass  of  persons  of  Dutch  descent  from  those  of  Anglo-Saxon 
origin,  unless,   perhaps,   by  their   retaining  Dutch  family   names? 
Where  discover,  by  the  indices  of  language,  features  or  manners,  the 
descendants  of  the  Swedes,  the  Welsh,  with  a  few  exceptions  the 
Poles,  Norwegians,  the  Danes,  or  the  great  body  of  French  Hugue- 
nots ?     Almost  the  only  exceptions  to  this  universal  amalgamation  and 
loss  of  original  languages  are  to  be  found  in  the  Germans  and  French ; 
and  even  in  regard  to  these,  had  it  not  been  for  comparatively  recent 
arrivals  of  emigrants  caused  by  the  French  Revolution,  the  St.  Do- 
mingo massacres,  and  various  events  in  Germany,  both  the  French 
and  German  languages  would  have  been  extinct  ere  now  in  the  United 
States.     The  former  is  spoken  only  by  a  few  thousands  in  the  large 
cities,  and  some  tens  of  thousands  in  Louisiana.     In  the  cities,  English 
as  well  as  French  is  spoken  by  most  of  the  French ;  and  in  Louisiana, 
the  only  portion  of  the  Union  which  the  French  language  has  ever 
ventured  to  claim  for  itself,  it  is  fast  giving  place  to  English.    German, 
also,  spoken  although  it  be  by  many  thousands  of  emigrants  arriving 
yearly  from  Europe,  is  fast  disappearing  from  the  older  settlements. 
The  children  of  these  Germans  almost  universally  acquire  the  English 
tongue  in  their  infancy,  and  where  located,  as  generally  happens,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  settlers  who   speak   English  as  their  mother 
tongue,  learn  to  speak  it  well.     Indeed,  over  nearly  the  whole  vast 
extent  of  the  United  States,  English  is  spoken  among  the  well-educated 
with  a  degree  of  purity  to  which  there  is  no  parallel  in  the  British 
realm*     There,  on  a  space  not  much  larger  than  a  sixth  part  of  the 
United  States  territory,  no  fewer  than  three  or  four  languages  are 
spoken ;  and  in  England  alone,  I  know  not  how  many  dialects  are  to 
be  found  which  a  person  unaccustomed   to  them  can  hardly  at  all 
comprehend,  however  familiar  he  may  be  with  pure  English.     As  for 

*  We  speak  of  the  "British  Isles"— Great  Britain  and  Ireland— which  have  less 
than  110,000  square  miles  of  surface,  and  about  27,500,000  inhabitants. 


CHAP.  VIII.]       ALLEGED   WANT   OP    A   NATIONAL    CHARACTER.  55 

France,  with  its  Gascon,  Breton,  and  I  know  not  how  many  other 
remains  of  the  languages  sj)oken  by  the  ancient  races  which  were  once 
scattered  over  its  territory,  the  case  is  still  worse.*  Nor  does  either 
Germany  or  Italy  present  the  uniformity  of  speech  that  distinguishes 
the  millions  of  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of  the  newly- 
arrived  foreigners :  an  uniformity  that  extends  even  to  pronunciation, 
and  the  absence  of  provincial  accent  and  phraseology.  A  well-edu- 
cated American  who  has  seen  much  of  his  country  may,  indeed,  dis- 
tinguish the  Southern  from  the  Northern  modes  of  pronouncing 
certain  vowels;  he  may  recognize  by  certain  shades  of  sound,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  the  Northern  or  Southern  origin  of  his  coun- 
trymen :  but  these  differences  are  too  slight  to  be  readily  perceived 
by  a  foreigner. 

Generally  speaking,  the  pronunciation  of  well-educated  Americans 
is  precisely  that  given  in  the  best  orthoepical  authorities  of  England ; 
and  our  best  speakers  adopt  the  well-established  changes  in  pronun- 
ciation that  from  time  to  time  gain  ground  there.  A  few  words, 
however,  are  universally  pronounced  in  a  manner  different  from  what 
prevails  in  England.  Either  and  neither,  for  example,  are  pronounced 
eether  and  neether,  not  Uher  and  nlther,  nor  will  our  lawyers  probably 
ever  learn  to  say  lien  for  leen.  There  is  a  very  perceptible  difference 
of  accent  between  the  English  and  Americans,  particularly  those  of 
the  Eastern  or  New  England  States.  There  is  also  a  difference  of 
tone ;  in  some  of  the  States  there  is  more  of  a  nasal  inflexion  of  the 
voice  than  one  hears  in  England. 

English  literature  has  an  immense  circulation  in  America ;  a  cir- 
cumstance which  may  be  an  advantage  in  one  sense,  and  a  disad- 
vantage in  another.  We  are  not  wanting,  however,  in  authors  of 
unquestionable  merit  in  every  branch  of  literature,  art,  and  science. 
Still,  if  a  literature  of  our  own  creation  be  indispensable  to  the  pos- 
session of  a  national  character,  we  must  abandon  all  claim  to  it. 

It  may  be  added,  that  we  have  no  fashions  of  our  own.  We  follow 
the  modes  of  Paris.  But  in  this  respect,  Germans,  Russians,  Italians, 
and  English,  without  any  abatement  of  their  claims  to  national  char- 
acter, do  the  same. 

Amalgamation  takes  place,  also,  by  intermarriages,  to  an  extent 
elsewhere  quite  unexampled ;  for  though  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has 
an  almost  undisputed  possession  of  the  soil  in  New  England,  people 
are  everywhere  else  to  be  met  with  in  whose  veins  flows  the  mino-led 
blood  of  English,  Dutch,  German,  Irish,  and  French. 

*  I  have  been  informed  that  there  are  twelve  distinct  languages  and  patois  spoken 
in  France,  and  that  interpreters  are  needed  in  courts  of  justice  within  a  hundred 
miles  of  Paris ! 


56  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

Nor  has  the  assimilation  of  races  and  languages  been  greater  than 
that  of  manners,  customs,  religion,  and  political  principles.  The  man- 
ners of  the  peoj:>le,  in  some  places  less,  in  others  more  refined,  are  es- 
sentially characterized  by  simplicity,  sincerity,  frankness,  and  kindness. 
The  religion  of  the  overwhelming  majority,  and  which  may  therefore 
be  called  national,  is,  in  all  essential  points,  what  was  taught  by  the 
great  Protestant  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century.  With  respect 
to  politics,  with  whatever  warmth  we  may  discuss  the  measures  of  the 
government,  but  one  feeling  prevails  with  regard  to  our  political  in- 
stitutions themselves.  We  are  no  propagandists :  we  hold  it  to  be 
our  duty  to  avoid  meddling  with  the  governments  of  other  countries ; 
and  though  we  prefer  our  own  political  forms,  would  by  no  means  in- 
sist on  others  doing  so  too.  That  government  we  believe  to  be  the 
best  for  any  people,  under  which  they  live  most  happily,  and  are  best 
protected  in  their  right  of  person,  property,  and  conscience;  and 
we  would  have  every  nation  to  judge  for  itself  what  form  of  govern- 
ment is  best  suited  to  secure  for  it  these  great  ends. 

Assuredly  there  is  no  country  that  possesses  a  press  more  free,  or 
where,  notwithstanding,  public  opinion  is  more  powerful;  but  on 
these  points  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

The  American  people,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  mainly  characterized 
by  perseverance,  earnestness,  kindness,  hosjDitality,  and  self-reliance, 
that  is,  by  a  disposition  to  depend  upon  their  own  exertions  to  the 
utmost,  rather  than  look  to  the  government  for  assistance.  Hence, 
there  is  no  country  where  the  government  does  less,  or  the  people 
more.  In  a  word,  our  national  character  is  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  which  still  predominates  among  us  in  consequence  of  its  original 
preponderancy  in  the  colonization  of  the  country,  and  of  the  energy 
which  forms  its  characteristic  distinction. 

Has  the  reader  ever  heard  Haydn's  celebrated  oratorio  of  the 
Creation  performed  by  a  full  orchestra  ?  If  so,  he  can  not  have  for- 
gotten how  chaos  is  represented  at  the  commencement  by  all  the 
instruments  sounded  together  without  the  least  attempt  at  concord. 
By-and-by,  however,  something  like  order  begins,  and  at  length  the 
clear  notes  of  the  clarionet  are  heard  over  all  the  others,  controlling 
them  into  harmony.  Something  like  this  has  been  in  America  the 
influence  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  language,  laws,  institutions,  and  char- 
acter. 

But  if,  when  it  is  alleged  that  we  have  no  national  character,  it  be 
meant  that  we  have  not  origmated  any  for  ourselves,  it  may  be  asked, 
What  nation  has?  All  owe  much  to  those  from  whom  they  have 
sprung  ;  this,  too,  has  been  our  case,  although  what  we  have  inher- 
ited from  our  remote  ancestors  has  unquestionably  been  much  mod- 


CHAP.  IX.]  THE  EOYAL  CHARTERS.  57 

ified  by  the  operation  of  political  institutions  which  we  have  been  led 
to  adopt  by  new  circumstances,  and  which,  probably,  were  never 
contemplated  by  the  founders  of  our  country. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


THE     ROYAL     CHARTERS, 


Few  points  in  the  colonial  history  of  the  United  States  are  more 
interesting  to  the  curious  inquirer,  than  the  royal  charters,  under 
which  the  first  settlement  of  the  original  thirteen  States  took  place. 

These  charters  were  granted  by  James  I.,  Charles  I.,  Charles  II., 
James  II.,  William  and  Mary,  and  George  I.  They  were  very  di- 
verse, both  in  form  and  substance.  Some  were  granted  to  companies, 
some  to  single  persons,  others  to  the  colonists  themselves.  Most  of 
them  preceded  the  foundation  of  the  colonies  to  which  they  referred  : 
but  in  the  cases  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  the  territories 
were  settled  first ;  while  Plymouth  colony  had  no  crown  charter  at 
all,  nor  had  it  even  a  grant  from  the  Plymouth  Company  in  En- 
gland, until  the  year  after  its  foundation. 

The  ordinary  reader  can  be  interested  only  in  the  charters  granted 
by  the  crown  of  England ;  those  from  proprietary  companies  and 
individuals,  to  whom  whole  provinces  had  first  been  granted  by  the 
crown,  can  interest  those  readers  only  who  would  study  the  innumer- 
able lawsuits  to  which  they  gave  occasion.  Such  in  those  days  was 
the  utter  disregard  for  the  correct  laying  down  of  boundaries,  that 
the  same  district  of  country  was  often  covered  with  two  or  more 
grants,  made  by  the  same  proprietors,  to  different  individuals  ;  thus 
furnishing  matter  for  litigations,  which  lasted  in  some  colonies  more 
than  a  century ;  and  sometimes  giving  rise  to  lawsuits  even  at  the 
present  day. 

The  royal  charters  afford  us  an  amusing  idea  of  the  notions  with 
resj:>ect  to  North  American  geography,  entertained  in  those  days 
by  the  sovereigns  of  England,  or  by  those  who  acted  for  them. 
The  charter  of  Virginia  included  not  only  those  vast  regions  now 
comprised  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan :  but 
the  northern  and  southern  bounding  fines,  if  extended  according 
to  the  terms  of  the  charter,  would  have  terminated,  the  one  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  other  in  Hudson's  Bay ;  yet,  by  the  same 
charter,  they  were  both  to  terminate  at  the  "  South  Sea,"  as  the 
Pacific  Ocean  was  then  called. 


58  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

The  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  charters  conveyed  to  the  colonists 
provinces  that  were  to  extend  westward  to  the  "  South  Sea." 

The  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  charters  also  made  these  col- 
onies reach  to  the  South  Sea ;  for  it  appears  never  to  have  entered  the 
royal  head  that  they  must  thus  have  interfered  with  the  claims  of  Vir- 
ginia. New  York,  which  they  must  also  have  traversed,  seems  not 
to  have  been  thought  of,  though  claimed  and  occupied  at  the  time  by 
the  Dutch.  Indeed,  considering  the  descriptions  contained  in  their 
charters,  it  is  marvelous  that  the  colonies  should  ever  have  ascertained 
their  boundaries.  Looking  at  the  charter  of  Massachusetts,  for  ex- 
ample, and  comparing  it  with  that  State  as  laid  down  on  our  maps, 
we  are  amazed  to  think  by  what  possible  ingenuity  it  should  have 
obtained  its  existing  boundaries,  especially  that  on  the  north-east. 
Still  more  confounding  does  it  seem  that  Massachusetts  should  have 
successfully  claimed  the  territory  of  Maine,  and  yet  have  had  to  re- 
linquish that  of  New  Hampshire. 

The  charter  granted  to  William  Penn  for  Pennsylvania  was  the 
clearest  of  all,  yet  it  was  long  matter  of  dispute  whether  or  not  it 
included  Delaware.  On  the  other  hand  Delaware  was  claimed  by 
Maryland,  and  with  justice,  if  the  charter  of  the  latter  province  were 
to  be  construed  literally.     Still,  Maryland  did  not  obtain  Delaware. 

Such  charters,  it  will  be  readily  supposed,  must  have  led  to  serious 
and  protracted  disputes  between  the  colonies  themselves.  Many  of 
these  disputes  were  still  undetermined  at  the  commencement  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution ;  several  remained  unadjusted  long  after  the 
achievement  of  the  national  independence ;  and  it  was  only  a  few 
years  ago  that  the  last  of  the  boundary  questions  was  brought  to  a 
final  issue,  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

After  the  Revolution,  immense  difficulties  attended  the  settlement 
of  the  various  claims  preferred  by  the  Atlantic  States  to  those  parts 
of  the  "West  which  they  believed  to  have  been  conveyed  to  them  by 
their  old  charters,  and  into  which  the  tide  of  emigration  was  then 
beginning  to  flow.  Had  Virginia  successfully  asserted  her  claims, 
she  would  have  had  "an  empire  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  suf- 
ficient, at  some  future  day,  to  counterbalance  almost  all  the  other 
States  put  together.  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  also  laid  claim  to 
territories  of  vast  extent.  The  claims  of  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts directly  conflicted  with  those  of  Virginia.  Hence  it  required  a 
great  deal  of  wisdom  and  patience  to  settle  all  these  claims,  without 
endangering  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  confederacy.  All,  at  length, 
were  adjusted,  except  that  of  Georgia,  and  it,  too,  was  arranged  at  a 
later  date.  Virginia  magnanimously  relinquished  all  her  claims  in 
the  West ;  a  spontaneous  act,  which  immediately  led  to  the  estab- 


CHAP.  IX.]  THE  ROYAL  CHARTERS.  59 

lishment  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  followed  in  due  time  by  the 
foundation  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wis- 
consin, in  what  was  called  the  North-western  Territory.  The  relin- 
quishment by  North  Carolina  of  her  claims  west  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains,  led  to  the  creation  of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  But  Con- 
necticut refused  to  abandon  her  claim  to  the  north-eastern  part  of 
Ohio,  often  called  to  this  day  New  Connecticut,  without  receiving 
from  the  General  Government  a  handsome  equivalent  in  money,  which 
has  been  safely  invested,  and  forms  the  basis  of  a  large  capital,  set 
apart  for  the  support  of  the  common  schools  of  the  State.*  Georgia 
also  ceded  her  claims  in  the  West  to  the  General  Government,  on  the 
condition  that  it  should  obtain  for  her  from  the  Indians  a  title  to 
their  territory  lying  to  the  east  of  the  Chattahoochee  River,  now  the 
western  boundary  of  that  State.  Out  of  the  cession  thus  made  by 
Georgia,  have  been  formed  the  States  of  Alabama,  and  Mississippi. 

The  United  States  have  had  to  struggle  with  still  more  serious  dif- 
ficulties, originating  in  the  old  royal  charters.  Little  regard  was 
paid  to  the  prior  claims  of  the  Indians,  in  the  extensive  grants  made 
by  those  charters,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  colonists.  The  pope 
had  set  the  example  of  giving  away  the  Aborigines  with  the  lands 
they  occupied,  or,  rather,  of  giving  away  the  land  from  under  them ; 
and  although,  in  all  the  colonies  founded  by  our  English  ancestors  in 
America,  there  was  a  sort  of  feeling,  that  the  Indians  had  some  claims 
on  the  ground  of  prior  occupation,  yet  these,  it  was  thought,  ought 
to  give  place  to  the  rights  conferred  by  the  royal  charters.  The  col- 
onists were  subject  to  the  same  blinding  influence  of  selfishness  that 
affects  other  men,  and  to  this  we  are  to  ascribe  the  importunity  with 
which  they  urged  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  the  lands  con- 
veyed by  the  royal  charters,  and  which  they  had  long  been  wont  to 
consider  and  to  call  their  own.  In  no  case,  indeed,  did  the  new- 
comers seize  upon  the  lands  of  the  aboriginal  occupants,  without 
some  kind  of  purchase  ;  yet  unjustifiable  means  were  often  employed 
to  induce  the  latter  to  cede  their  claims  to  the  former,  such  as  exces- 
sive importunity,  the  bribery  of  the  chiefs,  and  sometimes  even 
threats.  Thus,  although  with  the  exception  of  lands  obtained  by 
right  of  conquest  in  war,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  whatever  was  ob- 
tained without  something  being  given  in  exchange  for  it,  yet  I  fear 
that  the  golden  rule  was  sadly  neglected  in  many  of  those  trans- 
actions. In  Pennsylvania  and  New  England^  unquestionably,  greater 
fairness  was  shown  than  in  most,  if  not  all  the  other  colonies  ;  yet  even 
there,  full  justice,  according  to  that  rule,  was  not  always  practised. 
Indeed,  in  many  cases,  it  was  difficult  to  say  what  exact  justice  inrplied. 
*  Amounting  to  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars. 


60  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

To  savages  roaming  over  vast  tracts  of  land  which  they  did  not  cul- 
tivate, and  which,  even  for  the  purposes  of  the  chase,  were  often 
more  extensive  than  necessary, — for  them  to  part  with  hundreds,  or 
even  thousands  of  square  miles,  could  not  be  thought  a  matter  of 
much  importance,  and  thus  conscience  was  quieted.  But  although 
our  forefathers  may  not  have  done  full  justice  to  the  poor  Indians,  it 
is  by  no  means  certain  that  others  in  the  same  circumstances  would 
have  done  better. 

The  impatience  of  the  colonists  to  obtain  possession  of  lands  which 
their  charters,  or  arrangements  consequent  thereon,  led  them  to  re- 
gard as  their  own,  has  at  times  thrown  the  General  Government 
into  much  embarrassment  and  difficulty.  Thus,  in  the  conflict  be- 
tween it  and  the  State  of  Georgia,  a  few  short  years  ago,  Congress 
had  agreed  to  buy  the  claims  of  the  Indians  still  remaining  within 
that  State,  and  to  provide  for  their  removal  beyond  its  limits,  in  re- 
turn for  the  relinquishment  of  its  claims  in  the  West.  But  this 
removal  of  the  Indians,  it  had  been  expressly  stipulated,  was  to  be 
effected  peaceably,  and  with  their  own  consent.  Time  rolled  on,  the 
population  of  Georgia  increased,  the  settlements  of  the  white  men 
had  begun  to  touch  those  of  the  red  men,  and  the  latter  were  urged 
to  sell  their  lands  and  to  retire  further  to  the  west.  But  to  this  they 
would  not  consent.  Thereupon  the  General  Government  was  called 
on  to  fulfill  its  engagement.  It  exerted  itself  to  the  utmost  to  per- 
suade the  Indians  to  sell  their  lands ;  but  it  would  neither  employ 
force  itself,  nor  allow  Georgia  to  do  so  :  though  much  was  done  by 
the  colonists,  and  something,  too,  by  the  State,  indirectly,  to  worry 
the  Indians  into  terms.  The  chiefs,  however,  long  held  back.  But 
at  length  the  lands  were  sold  at  a  great  price,  and  their  occupants 
received  others  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  have  removed  to  these. 
There,  I  doubt  not,  they  will  do  better  than  in  their  former  abode. 

To  rid  itself  of  such  embarrassments  created  by  the  old  charters, 
the  General  Government,  at  the  instance  of  great  and  good  men, 
adopted,  some  years  ago,  the  plan  of  collecting  all  the  tribes  still  to 
be  found  within  the  confines  of  any  of  the  States,  upon  an  extensive 
district  to  the  west  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri,  claimed  by  no  State, 
and,  therefore,  considered  as  part  of  the  public  domam.  There  it 
has  already  collected  the  Cherokees,  the  Choctaws,  the  Chickasaws, 
the  Creeks,  and  several  smaller  tribes.  Soon  the  territories  of  all 
the  States  will  be  cleared  of  them,  except  in  so  far  as  they  may 
choose  to  remain  and  become  citizens.  Nor  can  I  avoid  cherishing 
the  hope  that  the  great  Indian  community  now  forming,  as  I  have 
said,  west  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  will  one  day  become  a  State 
itself,  and  have  its  proper  representatives  in  the  great  council  of  the 


CHAP.  X.]       A  CORRECT  KNOWLEDGE  OP  AMERICA,  HOW  ATTAINED.         61 

nation.  I  may  conclude  these  remarks  by  observing,  that  the  pain- 
ful dispute  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  so  happily 
terminated,  a  few  years  since,  relative  to  the  boundaries  between  the 
State  of  Maine  on  the  one  hand,  and  Lower  Canada  and  New  Bruns- 
wick on  the  other,  originated  in  the  geographical  obscurity  of  certain 
limits,  described  in  one  of  these  old  charters. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HOW  A  CORRECT  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE,  THE  NATURE 
OF  THEIR  GOVERNMENT,  AND  THEIR  NATIONAL  CHARACTER,  MAY 
REST  BE   ATTAINED. 

He  who  would  obtain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  their  national  character,  the  nature  of  their  govern- 
ment, and  the  spirit  of  their  laws,  must  go  back  to  the  earliest  ages 
of  the  history  of  England,  and  study  the  character  of  the  various 
races  that  from  early  times  have  settled  there.     He  must  carefully 
mark  the  influences  they  exerted  on  each  other,  and  upon  the  civil 
and  political  institutions  of  that  country.     He  must  study  the  Saxon 
Conquest,  followed  by  the  introduction  of  Saxon  institutions,  and 
Saxon  laws  and  usages ;  the  trial  of  an  accused  person  by  his  peers ; 
the  subdivision  of  the  country  into  small  districts,  called  townships 
or  hundreds ;  the  political  influence  of  that  arrangement ;  and  the 
establishment  of  seven  or  eight  petty  kingdoms,  in  which  the  au- 
thority of  the  king  was  shared  by  the  people,  without  whose  con- 
sent no  laws  of  importance  could  be  made,  and  who  often  met  for 
legislation  in  the  open  fields,  or  beneath  the  shade  of  some  wide- 
spreading  forest,  as  their  Scandinavian  kinsmen  met,  at  a  much 
later  period,  round  the  Mora  stone.*    He  must  next  study  the  modi- 
fications afterward  introduced  during  the  subjugation  of  the  Saxons 
by  the  Northmen  or  Danes,  lasting  through  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  years,!  and  which,  though  both  partial  in  its  extent,  and  inter- 
rupted in  its  continuance,  left  not  a  feAv  monuments  of  its  existence, 
and  gave  a  name  to  one  of  the  orders  of  the  English  nobility. J 

*  On  the  plains  of  Upsala  in  Sweden.  The  Mora  stone  signifies  the  stone  on  the 
moor. 

f  From  a.  d.  181  to  a.  d.  1048. 

X  That  of  Earl,  from  the  Danish  and  Norwegian  Jarl,  who  was  at  once  the  ciyil 
aud  military  governor  of  a  province. 


62  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

But,  above  all,  he  must  study  the  influence  of  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, which  was  completed  within  twenty  years  from  the  battle  of 
Hastings,  fought  a.  d.  1066.  Without  extirpating  all  the  Saxon  in- 
stitutions, that  event  reduced  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  England  to  the 
condition  of  serfs ;  gave  their  lands  to  sixty  thousand  warriors,  com- 
posing the  conqueror's  army ;  established  an  absolute  monarchy, 
surrounded  by  a  powerful  landed  aristocracy ;  and  thus  introduced 
an  order  of  things  wholly  new  to  the  country,  and  foreign  to  its 
habits. 

He  must  attentively  mark  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Norman  races  upon  each  other,  during  the  period  that 
has  since  elapsed,  of  nearly  eight  hundred  years ;  and  he  will  there 
find  a  clue  to  many  transactions  that  appear  wholly  unintelligible 
in  the  common  histories  of  England.  The  reciprocal  hatred  of  the 
two  races  will  explain  the  quarrel  of  Becket,  the  first  archbishop  of 
the  Saxon  race  after  the  Conquest,  and  Henry  II.,  the  fifth  of  the 
Norman  kings ;  that  national  animosity  leading  Becket  to  resist  the 
demands  of  the  king,  as  calculated  to  extend  the  tyranny  of  the 
hated  race  of  conquerors,  and  the  king  to  humble  the  conquered  by 
crushing  their  haughty  representative.  That  this,  and  not  the  dim- 
inution of  the  power  of  the  pope,  as  is  commonly  believed,  was 
Henry's  object,  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  of  his  being  no  less  earn- 
est in  calling  for  assistance  from  Rome,  than  was  Becket  hi  invoking 
her  protection. 

He  will  perceive  this  mutual  animosity  manifesting  itself  in  innu- 
merable instances  and  in  apparently  contradictory  conduct.  At  one 
time  the  Anglo-Saxons  sided  with  the  nobility  against  the  monarch, 
as  in  the  wars  between  the  barons  and  King  John,  and  also  Henry 
III.,  not  because  they  loved  the  barons,  who  were  of  the  same  de- 
tested Norman  race,  but  because  they  dreaded  the  consequences  to 
themselves  of  another  conquest,  by  a  king  who  had  invited  over  the 
Poitevins,  the  Aquitains,  and  the  Provencals,  to  help  him  against  his 
own  subjects  in  England.  At  other  times  they  sided  with  the  king 
against  the  barons,  when  they  saw  that  the  triumph  of  the  latter  was 
likely  to  augment  their  burdens. 

And  although,  as  M.  Thierry  remarks,*  the  bitter  hostility  which 
had  lasted  for  four  centuries  seemed  to  become  extinct  in  the  fif- 
teenth, when  the  wars  between  the  Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster 
ranged  the  two  races  promiscuously  on  either  side :  yet  traces  of  their 
distinct  existence  are  to  be  found  at  this  day,  in  the  language,  in  the 
customs,  and  in  the  institutions  of  England.  Although  the  monarch 
no  longer  employs  the  ancient  formula,  as  it  occurs  in  royal  ordi- 
*  "  Conquete  de  l'Angleterre,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  366-368,  Brussels  edition. 


CHAP.  X.]       A  CORRECT  KNOWLEDGE  OF  AMERICA,  HOW  ATTAINED.        63 

nances  and  proclamations  for  four  hundred  years  after  the  Conquest 
such  as  "  Henry  V.,  Henry  VII.,  of  that  name  since  the  Conquest,"* 
yet  to  tins  day  a  Norman  phraseology  is  sometimes  employed  by  the 
monarch,  as,  for  instance,  le  roy  le  veult  /  le  roy  s^  adviser  a  ;  le  roy 
mercie  ses  loyaux  sujets.\  To  this  day  the  nobility  of  England, 
though  recruited  from  time  to  time  from  the  rich,  the  talented,  and 
the  ambitious  commoners  of  Saxon  blood,  remains  essentially  Nor- 
man in  spirit  and  in  character.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  gen- 
try, or  proprietors  of  landed  estates ;  whereas  the  great  bulk  of  the 
remaining  population  is  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin.];  In  Wales,  and  in 
Ireland,  the  races  of  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered  appear  still 
more  distinct,  and  in  the  latter,  mutual  antipathy  is  far  from  having 
ceased.  In  Scotland,  there  is  comparatively  little  Norman  blood, 
the  Normans  never  having  conquered  that  country.§ 

To  the  resistance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  England  to  the  dom- 
ination of  the  Norman  aristocracy,  that  kingdom  was  ultimately  in- 
debted for  the  free  institutions  it  now  enjoys.  The  oppressions  of 
the  nobility  and  of  the  crown  were  checked  by  the  cities  and 
boroughs,  in  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  commons  became  more  and 
more  concentrated,  with  the  advance  of  civilization  and  population. 
The  nobles  themselves,  on  occasions  when  they,  too,  had  to  contend 
for  their  rights  and  privileges  against  the  sovereign,  gave  a  helping 
hand  to  the  people ;  and  in  later  times  especially,  after  the  people 
had  established  the  power  of  their  Commons,  or  third  estate,  on  an 
immovable  foundation,  aided  the  sovereign  against  alleged  encroach- 
ments on  the  part  of  the  people.  Thus  the  cause  of  liberty  gained 
ground  both  among  the  nobility  and  the  commonalty. 

With  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,  the  strife  between  the  two 
races  became  exasperated:  the  nobility  and  gentry  desiring  little 
more  than  the  abatement  or  rejection  of  the  papal  usurpation ;  the 
Saxon  race,  led  by  men  whose  hearts  were  more  deeply  interested 

*  Henry  VIII.  was  the  last  monarch  who  used  this  formula  in  his  proclamations, 
and  styled  himself  Henry,  Eighth  of  the  name  since  the  Conquest. 

f  "The  king  wills;"  "the  king  will  take  counsel;"  "the  king  thanks  his  loyal 
subjects." 

%  Even  in  our  day,  the  language  of  the  Chronicle  of  Robert  of  Gloucester  holds  true 
in  no  inconsiderable  degree  in  regard  to  the  population  of  England : 

*  "  The  folk  of  Normandie 
Among  us  woneth  yet,  and  shalleth  evermore. 
Of  Normans  beth  these  high  men  that  beth  in  this  land, 
And  the  low  men  of  Saxons." 
§  In  fact,  however,  there  is  not  a  little  Norman  blood  in  Scotland ;  but  what  of  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  aristocracy  came  by  intermarriages,  or  by  Normans  who  recom- 
mended themselves  by  their  talents  and  courage  to  the  favor  of  the  Scottish  mon- 
archs,  not  by  conquest. 


64  PEELIMINAET   KEMAKKS.  [BOOK   I. 

in  the  subject,  desiring  to  see  the  Church  rid  of  error  and  supersti- 
tion of  every  form.  From  the  discussion  of  the  rights  of  conscience, 
the  latter  went  on  to  examine  the  nature  and  foundations  of  civil 
government ;  and  being  met  with  violent  opposition,  they  proceeded 
to  lengths  they  had  never  dreamed  of  when  they  first  set  out.  In 
the  fearful  struggle  that  followed,  both  the  national  Church  and  the 
Monarchy  were  for  a  time  completely  overthrown: 

It  was  just  as  this  grand  opposition  of  sentiment  was  drawing  on 
to  a  direct  collision,  and  when  men's  minds  were  engrossed  with  the 
important  questions  which  it  pressed  upon  them,  that  the  two  colo- 
nies destined  to  exercise  a  predominant  influence  in  America  left 
the  British  shores.  The  first  of  the  two  in  point  of  date  sought  the 
coasts  of  southern,  the  second  sailed  to  those  of  northern  "Virginia, 
as  the  whole  Atlantic  slope  was  then  called.  The  one  settled  on 
James  River,  in  the  present  State  of  Virginia,  and  became,  in  a 
sense,  the  ruling  colony  of  the  South ;  the  other  established  itself 
in  New  England,  there  to  become  the  mother  of  the  six  Northern 
States.  Both,  however,  have  long  since  made  their  influence  felt  far 
beyond  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic,  and  are  continuing  to  extend  it 
toward  the  Pacific,  in  parallel  and  clearly-defined  lines ;  and  both 
retain  to  this  day  the  characteristic  features  that  marked  their  founders 
when  they  left  their  native  land. 

If  not  purely  Norman  in  blood,  the  Southern  colony  was  entirely 
Norman  in  spirit ;  whereas  the  Northern  was  Anglo-Saxon  in  char- 
acter, and  in  the  institutions  which  it  took  to  the  New  World. 
Both  loved  freedom  and  free  institutions,  but  they  differed  as  to 
the  extent  to  which  the  people  should  enjoy  them.  The  one  had 
sprung  from  the  ranks  of  those  in  England  who  pleaded  for  the 
prerogatives  of  the  crown  and  the  privileges  of  the  nobility ;  the 
other,  from  the  great  party  that  was  contending  for  popular  rights. 
The  one  originated  with  the  friends  of  the  Church  as  left  by  Queen 
Elizabeth ;  the  other,  with  those  who  desired  to  see  it  purified 
from  what  they  deemed  the  corruptions  of  antiquity,  and  shorn  of 
the  exorbitant  pretensions  of  its  hierarchy.  The  one,  composed  of 
a  company  of  gentlemen,  attended  by  a  few  mechanics  or  laborers, 
contemplated  an  extensive  traffic  with  the  natives ;  the  other,  com- 
posed, with  a  few  exceptions,  of  substantial  farmers  of  moderate 
means,  and  industrious  artisans,  contemplated  the  cultivation  of  the 
ground,  and  the  establishment  of  a  state  of  society  in  which  they 
might  serve  God  according  to  His  Word.  The  one  had  no  popular 
government  for  some  years  after  its  foundation ;  the  other  was  self- 
organized  and  self-governed  before  it  disembarked  upon  the  shores 
that  were  to  be  the  scene  of  its  future  prosperity.     Finally,  the  reli- 


CHAP.  X.]       A  CORRECT  KNOWLEDGE  OF  AMERICA,  HOW  ATTAINED.       65 

gion  of  the  one,  though  doubtless  sincere,  and,  so  far  as  it  went, 
beneficial  in  its  influence,  was  a  religion  that  clung  to  forms,  and  to 
an  imposing  ritual;  the  religion  of  the  other  was  at  the  farthest 
possible  remove  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  both  in  form  and  spirit, 
and  professed  to  be  guided  by  the  Scriptures  alone. 

Such  in  its  grand  origin  was  American  colonization.  But  widely 
different  has  been  the  subsequent  history  of  those  English  colonies, 
from  that  of  England  herself.  The  former  carried  out  to  their  legiti- 
mate extent  the  great  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which 
they  had  learned  in  England,  hi  the  school  of  oppression  and  of  long 
and  fierce  discussion.  The  latter,  after  rushing  on  for  a  time  in  the 
same  career,  carried  those  principles  to  such  a  length  as  to  subvert 
the  government,  and  plunge  the  country  into  all  the  horrors  of  revo- 
lution and  misrule,  ending,  at'  last,  in  the  despotism  of  a  military 
chief.  The  former  went  on  gradually  improving  the  forms  of  popu- 
lar government  which  they  had  originally  adopted,  in  the  face  of  all 
the  efforts  of  the  crown  of  England  to  destroy  them.  The  latter 
provoked,  by  the  wildest  excesses,  a  revulsion,  from  which,  even  after 
the  lapse  of  two  centuries,  she  is  still  suffering.  The  former,  although 
never  were  there  subjects  more  loyal  to  a  crown,  or  a  people  more 
sincerely  attached  to  their  fatherland,  were  compelled,  as  they  be- 
lieved, by  the  unkind  and  almost  unnatural  course  pursued  by  that 
fatherland,  to  sever  the  bonds  that  boimd  them  to  it,  and  to  establish 
an  independent  government  of  their  own.  The  latter  has  had  to  fight 
the  battles  of  liberty  over  and  over  again,  and  has  not  even  yet  ob- 
tained for  the  people  all  the  rights  which  are  considered,  in  America, 
their  proper  inheritance  from  the  hand  of  their  Creator. 

I  speak  not  here  of  the  form  of  government.  The  founders  of 
the  American  colonies,  and  their  descendants  for  several  generations, 
were  monarchists,  as  they  would  doubtless  have  been  to  this  day,  had 
they  not  been  compelled,  while  struggling  against  injustice  and  op- 
pression, to  dissolve  their  political  connection  with  the  mother-country. 
In  all  essential  points,  colonial  freedom  differed  not  from  that  which 
an  independent  existence  has  given  them;  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  enjoy  at  present  little  more  liberty  than  what  the 
fathers  of  the  Revolution  maintained  that  they  ought  to  have  enjoyed 
under  the  British  Constitution  and  Crown. 

5 


66  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER    XL 

HOW    TO    OBTAIN    A    CORRECT  VIEW  OF  THE   SPIRIT  AND  CHARACTER  OF 
THE  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Thus,  too,  if  we  would  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  spirit 
and  character  of  the  Religion  of  the  United  States,  we-  must  study 
the  history  of  religion  in  England  first,  and  then  in  those  other  coun- 
tries whose  religious  institutions  must  have  considerably  influenced 
those  of  America,  in  consequence  of  the  numerous  emigrants  from 
them  that  have  settled  there.  Indeed,  it  is  very  certain  that  the  re- 
ligious institutions  of  America  have  been  hardly  less  affected  than  the 
political,  by  colonists  from  Holland,  France,  and  other  parts  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  as  well  as  from  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

Men  of  speculative  habits  may  indulge  many  plausible  a  priori 
reasonings,  on  the  kind  of  religion  likely  to  find  favor  with  a  people 
of  democratic  feelings  and  institutions ;  but  their  conclusions  will 
probably  be  found  very  much  at  variance  with  facts.  M.  de  Tocque- 
ville  presents  a  strikmg  instance  of  this  in  the  first  few  chapters  of 
his  second  work  on  Democracy  in  America.*  A  purely  abstract  argu- 
ment, or,  rather,  a  mere  fanciful  conjecture,  might,  in  this  case,  inter- 
est by  its  ingenuity,  and  even  in  the  absence  of  facts  be  believed  as 
true.  But  when  this  author  proceeds  to  establish  an  hypothesis  by  an 
appeal  to  facts,  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  he  is  oftener  right  or  wrong. 
Take  one  or  two  paragraphs.  "  In  the  United  States,"  says  he,  "  the 
majority  undertakes  to  furnish  individuals  with  a  multitude  of  ready- 
made  opinions,  and  thus  to  relieve  them  of  the  necessity  of  forming 
then  own.     There  are  many  theories  in  philosophy,  morals,  and  poli- 

*  Both  of  M.  de  Tocqueville's  works,  entitled  "Democracy  in  America,"  unquest- 
ionably possess  great  merit ;  the  earlier  publication,  however,  is  much  superior  to  the 
later.  But  the  author's  great  fault  is,  that  he  puts  his  theory  uniformly  before  his 
facts,  instead  of  deducing,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Baconian  philosophy,  his 
theory  from  his  facts.  The  consequence  of  this  fatal  mistake  is,  that,  having  advanced 
a  theory,  and  shown  by  argument  its  plausibility,  he  immediately  goes  to  work  to 
support  it  by  facts,  and,  in  doing  so,  often  distorts  them  sadly.  For  the  object  for 
which  he  wrote,  that  of  arresting  the  progress  of  Democracy  in  Europe,  by  reading 
lectures  from  American  Democracy  as  from  a  text-book,  his  works  certainly  correspond 
to  his  purpose.  But,  however  able  they  may  be,  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  his  volumes 
give  a  just  view  of  American  institutions  on  all  points.  On  many  subjects  he  has 
said  some  excellent  things;  and,  indeed,  no  other  foreigner  has  come  so  near  to  com- 
prehending the  spirit  of  our  institutions.  But  no  man  ever  will,  no  man  ever  can, 
understand  them  perfectly,  unless  he  has  imbibed  their  spirit,  as  it  were,  with  his 
mother's  milk. 


CHAP.  XI.]       CORRECT   VIEW    OF   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  67 

tics,  which  every  one  there  adopts  without  examination  upon  the  faith 
of  public  opinion ;  and,  upon  a  closer  inspection,  it  will  be  found  that 
religion  itself  reigns  there  much  less  as  a  doctrine  of  revelation  than 
as  a  commonly-admitted  opinion."* 

Now,  Democratic  as  America  may  be,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
find  a  country  in  which  the  last  assertion  in  the  above  paragraph  is 
less  true  :  for  nowhere  do  people  demand  reasons  for  every  thing  more 
frequently  or  more  universally ;  nowhere  are  the  preachers  of  the 
Gospel  more  called  upon  to  set  forth,  in  all  their  variety  and  force, 
the  arguments  by  which  the  Divine  revelation  of  Christianity  is  es- 
tablished. 

Again,  he  says :  "-In  the  United  States  the  Christian  sects  are  in- 
finitely various,  and  incessantly  undergoing  modifications ;  but  Chris- 
tianity itself  is  an  established  and  irresistible  fact,  which  no  one 
undertakes  either  to  attack  or  to  defend." 

Again :  "  The  Americans,  having  admitted  without  examination 
the  main  dogmas  of  the  Christian  religion,  are  obliged,  in  like  man- 
ner, to  receive  a  great  number  of  truths  flowing  from  and  having 
relation  to  it."f 

Now  hardly  any  assertions  concerning  his  country  could  surprise  a 
well-informed  American  more  than  those  contained  in  these  paragraphs, 
nor  could  M.  de  Tocqueville  have  made  them,  had  he  not  been  carried 
away  by  certain  theories  with  respect  to  the  influence  of  Democratic 
institutions  upon  religion. 

M.  de  Tocqueville  does  not  forget  that  religion  gave  birth  to  Anglo- 
American  society,  but  he  does  forget  for  the  moment  what  sort  of 
religion  it  was ;  that  it  was  not  a  religion  that  repels  investigation,  or 
that  would  have  men  receive  any  thing  as  Truth,  where  such  mo- 
mentous concerns  are  involved,  upon  mere  trust  in  public  ojrinion. 
Such  has  never  been  the  character  of  Protestantism,  rightly  so  called, 
in  any  age. 

*  <:  Aux  Etats-Unis,  la  majorite  se  charge  de  fournir  aux  individus  une  foule 
d'opinions  toutes  faites,  et  les  soulage  ainsi  de  l'obligation  de  s'en  former  qui  leur 
soient  propres.  II  y  a  un  grand  nombre  de  theories  en  matiere  de  philosophie,  de 
morale,  ou  de  politique  que  chacun  y  adopte  ainsi  sans  examen,  sur  la  foi  du  public ; 
et  si  Ton  regarde  de  tres-pres,  on  verra  que  la  religion  elle  meme  y  regne  bien  moins 
comme  doctrine  revelee  que  comme  opinion  commune." — Democratie  en  Amerique, 
Seconde  Partie,  tome  i.,  chapitre  ii. 

•j-  "  Aux  Etats-Unis,  les  sectes  Chretiennes  varient  a  l'infini,  et  se  modifient  sans 
cesse ;  mais  le  Christianisme  lui-meme  est  un  fait  ctabli  et  irresistible  qu'on  n'entre- 
prend  point  d'attaquer  ni  de  defendre," 

"  Les  Americains,  ayant  admis  sans  examen  les  principaux  dogmes  de  la  religion 
Chretienne,  sont  obliges  de  recevoir  de  la  meme  maniere  un  grand  nombre  de  verites 
qui  en  decoulent  et  qui  y  tiennent." — Democratie  en  Amerique,  Seconde  Partie,  tome  i., 
chapitre  i. 


68  PEELIMINAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

Nor  is  this  distinguished  author  nearer  the  truth  when,  giving  way 
to  the  same  speculative  tendency,  he  asserts  that  "  the  human  mind 
in  Democratic  countries  must  tend  to  Pantheism."*  But  enough :  all 
that  I  have  wished  to  show  in  referring  to  M.  de  Tocqueville's  work, 
in  many  respects  an  admirable  one,  is,  that  the  religious  phenomena 
of  the  United  States  are  not  to  be  explained  by  reasonings  a  priori, 
however  plausible  and  ingenious. 

No :  we  must  go  back  to  the  times  when,  and  the  influences  under 
which,  the  religious  character  of  the  first  colonists  from  England  was 
formed,  and  then  trace  their  effects  upon  the  institutions  that  were 
established  by  those  colonists  in  the  New  "World. 

It  is  interesting  to  investigate  the  history  of  Christianity  in  England 
from  the  earliest  ages :  its  propagation  by  missionaries  from  Asia 
Minor ;  its  reception  by  the  Celtic  races ;  the  resistance  made  by  the 
British  Christians,  in  common  with  those  of  Ireland  and  France,  to 
the  claims  of  Rome ;  the  conquest  of  England  by  the  Saxons,  and 
the  advantage  taken  of  that  event  by  Rome  to  subdue  the  native 
Christians,  whom  it  accused  of  heresy ;  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  to  Christianity,  and  their  subsequent  dissatisfaction  with  the 
Romish  hierarchy;  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
popes  to  take  advantage  of  that  also,  in  seeking  to  establish  a  com- 
plete ascendancy  over  the  British  and  Irish  Christians ;  the  witnesses 
to  the  Truth  raised  up  by  God  from  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  churches ; 
the  influence  of  Wickliffe  and  other  opponents  of  Rome ;  and,  finally, 
the  dawn  of  the  Reformation.  That  event,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
was  connected,  in  the  providence  of  God,  with  the  long-continued  and 
faithful  resistance  of  the  ancient  churches  of  England  to  Error. 
Some  remains  of  Truth  had  doubtless  lain  concealed,  like  unextin- 
guished embers  beneath  the  ashes ;  but  the  clearing  away  of  the  ac- 
cumulated rubbish  of  ages,  and  the  contact  of  God's  Word,  sufficed 
to  revive  and  make  it  spread  anew  throughout  the  nation. 

But  the  grand  means  employed  by  God  in  preparing  a  people  who 
should  lay  the  foundation  of  a  Christian  empire  in  the  New  World, 
was  the  Reformation.  To  their  religion  the  New  England  colonists 
owed  all  their  best  qualities.  Even  their  political  freedom  they  owed 
to  the  contest  they  had  waged  in  England  for  religious  liberty,  and 
in  which,  long  and  painful  as  it  was,  nothing  but  their  faith  could  have 
sustained  them.  Religion  led  them  to  abandon  their  country,  rather 
than  submit  to  a  tyranny  that  threatened  to  enslave  their  immortal 
minds ;  and  made  them  seek  in  the  New  World  the  freedom  of  con- 
science that  was  denied  to  them  in  the  Old. 

They  have  been  justly  accused,  indeed,  of  not  immediately  carry- 
*  "Democratie  en  Amerique,"  Seconde  Partie,  tome  i.,  chapitre  vii. 


CHAP.  XI.]        CORRECT  VIEW   OF   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  69 

ing  out  their  principles  to  their  legitimate  results,  and  of  being 
intolerant  to  each  other.  Still,  be  it  remembered  to  their  honor, 
that  both  in  theory  and  in  practice,  they  were  in  these  respects  far  in 
advance  of  all  their  cotemporaries ;  still  more,  that  their  descendants 
have  maintained  this  advanced  position ;  so  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  of  America  now  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience  to  an  ex- 
tent unknown  in  any  other  country.  Persecution  led  the  Puritan 
colonists  to  examine  the  great  subject  of  human  rights,  the  nature 
and  just  extent  of  civil  government,  and  the  boundaries  at  which 
obedience  ceases  to  be  a  duty.  What  Sir  James  Mackintosh  has 
said  of  John  Bunyan  might  be  applied  to  them  :  "  The  severities  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected  had  led  Mm  to  revolve  in  his  own  mind 
the  principles  of  religious  freedom,  until  he  had  acquired  the  ability 
of  baffling,  in  the  conflict  of  argument,  the  most  acute  and  learned 
among  his  persecutors."  The  clear  convictions  of  then*  own  minds 
on  this  subject  they  transmitted  to  their  posterity,  nor  was  the  inher- 
itance neglected  or  forgotten. 

The  political  institutions  of  the  Puritan  colonies  of  New  England 
are  to  be  traced  to  their  religion,  not  their  religion  to  their  political 
institutions ;  and  this  remark  applies  to  other  colonies  also.  Now,  if 
the  reader  would  know  what  the  religious  character  of  those  Puritans 
was,  let  him  peruse  the  following  eloquent  eulogy  upon  them,  from  a 
source  which  will  not  be  suspected  of  partiality  to  their  religion, 
whatever  opinions  may  be  attributed  to  it  in  relation  to  their  political 
principles. 

"  The  Puritans  were  men  whose  minds  had  derived  a  peculiar 
character  from  the  daily  contemplation  of  superior  beings  and  eternal 
interests.  Not  content  with  acknowledging  in  general  terms  an  over- 
ruling Providence,  they  habitually  ascribed  every  event  to  the  will  of 
the  Great  Being  for  whose  power  nothing  was  too  vast,  for  whose  in- 
spection nothing  was  too  minute.  To  know  Him,  to  serve  Him,  to 
enjoy  Him  was  with  them  the  great  end  of  existence.  They  rejected 
with  contempt  the  ceremonious  homage  which  other  sects  substituted 
for  the  pure  worship  of  the  soul.  Instead  of  catching  occasional 
glimpses  of  the  Deity  through  an  obscuring  vail,  they  aspired  to  gaze 
full  on  the  intolerable  brightness,  and  to  commune  with  Him  face  to 
face.  Hence  originated  their  contempt  of  earthly  distinctions.  The 
difference  between  the  greatest  and  meanest  of  mankhid  seemed  to 
vanish,  when  compared  with  the  boundless  interval  which  separated 
the  whole  race  from  Him  on  whom  their  own  eyes  were  constantly 
fixed.  They  recognized  no  title  to  superiority  but  His  favor  ;  and, 
confident  of  that,  they  despised  all  the  accomplishments  and  all  the 
dignities  of  the  world.     If  their  names  were  not  found  in  the  regis- 


fO  PRELIMINARY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

ters  of  heralds,  they  felt  assured  that  they  were  recorded  in  the  Book 
of  Life.  If  their  steps  were  not  accompanied  by  a  splendid  train  of 
menials,  legions  of  ministering  angels  had  charge  over  them.  Their 
palaces  were  houses  not  made  with  hands  ;  their  diadems,  crowns  of 
glory  which  should  never  fade  away.  On  the  rich  and  the  eloquent, 
on  nobles  and  priests,  they  looked  down  with  contempt :  for  they 
esteemed  themselves  rich  in  a  more  precious  treasure,  and  eloquent 
in  a  more  sublime  language ;  nobles  by  the  right  of  an  earlier  crea- 
tion, and  priests  by  the  imposition  of  a  mightier  hand.  The  very 
meanest  of  them  was  a  being  to  whose  fate  a  mysterious  and  terrible 
importance  belonged ;  on  whose  slightest  action  the  spirits  of  light 
and  darkness  looked  with  anxious  interest ;  who  had  been  destined, 
before  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  created,  to  enjoy  a  felicity 
which  should  continue  when  heaven  and  earth  should  have  passed 
away.  Events,  which  short-sighted  politicians  ascribed  to  earthly 
causes,  had  been  ordained  on  his  account.  For  Ins  sake  empires  had 
risen,  and  nourished,  and  decayed.  For  his  sake  the  Almighty  had 
proclaimed  his  will,  by  the  pen  of  the  evangelist,  and  the  harp  of  the 
prophet.  He  had  been  rescued  by  no  common  Deliverer  from  the 
grasp  of  no  common  foe.  He  had  been  ransomed  by  the  sweat  of  no 
vulvar  agony,  by  the  blood  of  no  earthly  sacrifice.  It  was  for  him 
that  the  sun  had  been  darkened,  that  the  rocks  had  been  rent,  that 
the  dead  had  arisen,  that  all  nature  had  shuddered  at  the  sufferings 
of  her  expiring  God."* 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  BRIEF   NOTICE    OF   THE   FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT  IN   AMERICA. 

Some  knowledge  of  the  civil  and  political  structure  of  the  govern- 
ment, is  almost  indispensable  to  a  correct  investigation  of  the  religious 
economy  of  the  United  States ;  for  although  there  is  no  longer  a 
union  there  between  Church  and  State,  still  the  interests  of  religion 
come  into  contact,  in  many  ways,  with  the  political  organizations  of 
the  General  and  State  Governments. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  must  appear  extremely  com- 
plicated, to  a  foreigner  accustomed  to  the  unity  that  distinguishes 
most  monarchical  polities — and  complicated  it  is  in  fact.  We  shall 
endeavor  to  describe  its  leading  features  as  briefly  as  possible. 

The  whole  country,  then,  is  subject  to  what  is  called  the  National 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xlii.,  p.  339. 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE   FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT   IN   AMERICA.  71 

or  General  Government,  composed  of  three  branches:  1.  The  Ex- 
ecutive ;  2.  The  Legislative  ;  3.  The  Judicial. 

The  executive  power  is  lodged  in  one  man,  the  President :  who  is 
appointed  for  four  years,  by  electors  chosen  for  that  purpose,  each 
State  being  allowed  as  many  as  it  has  members  of  Congress.  These 
are  chosen  differently  in  different  States,  but  generally  by  districts, 
each  district  choosing  one  elector,  and  that  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
electing  the  President  and  Vice-President.  The  latter  presides  over 
the  Senate,  but  his  office  is  almost  nominal :  should  the  President  die, 
the  Vice-President  immediately  steps  into  his  place.  This  contin- 
gency has  already  twice  occurred. 

The  President  appoints  the  secretaries  of  state,  or  ministers  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  administration,  such  as  the  treasury,  navy, 
war-office,  etc.,  and,  directly  or  indirectly,  he  appoints  to  all  offices 
in  the  National  or  General  Government ;  in  the  case  of  the  more  im- 
portant ones,  however,  only  with  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
Senate. 

The  legislation  of  the  National  Government  is  committed  to  the 
Congress :  a  body  which  has  two  branches — the  Senate,  and  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  Senate  is  composed  of  two  persons  from  each 
State  in  the  Union,  chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  States  respec- 
tively, and  for  the  period  of  six  years.  The  House  of  Representa- 
tives is  chosen  by  the  people  of  the  States,  generally  by  districts,  and 
for  the  period  of  two  years.*  Their  number  is  from  time  to  time 
determined  by  law.  The  House  of  Representatives  represents  the 
People  ;  the  Senate  represents  the  States.  No  act  of  Congress  has 
the  force  of  law  without  the  President's  signature,  unless  when  two 
thirds  of  each  House  have  voted  in  favor  of  an  act  which  he  refuses  to 
sign.  All  matters  falling  within  the  legislative  jurisdiction  of  the 
Congress,  are  specified  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  such 
as  are  not  specifically  mentioned  there,  are  reserved  for  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  individual  States. 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  a  Supreme  Court,  consisting,  at 
present,  of  nine  judges,  appointed  by  the  President,  with  the  consent 
of  the  Senate.  They  can  be  removed  only  by  impeachment  before 
the  Senate,  and  hold  a  yearly  winter  session  at  Washington,  the  cap- 
ital of  the  United  States.  When  not  thus  united  there,  they  hold 
circuit  courts  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  whole  country 
is  divided  also  into  districts,  each  having  a  judge  appointed  by  the 
President,  for  the  decision  of  causes  that  fall  within  the  cognizance 
of  the  United  States'  courts,  and  from  whose  decisions  an  appeal  lies 

*  By  a  recent  law,  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  hereafter  to 
be  uniformly  chosen  by  districts. 


72  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

to  the  Supreme  Court.  That  court  decides  how  far  the  laws  passed 
by  the  National  Congress,  or  by  the  legislatures  of  the  different 
States,  are  consistent  with  the  Constitution ;  also,  all  questions  be- 
tween individual  States,  or  between  the  United  States  and  an  indi- 
vidual State,  and  questions  arising  between  a  foreigner  and  either  the 
United  States  or  any  one  State. 

The  government  of  the  States,  individually,  closely  resembles  that 
of  the  Confederation,  the  jurisdiction  of  each  being  confined,  of 
course,  to  its  own  territory.  Each  has  its  own  governor  and  its  own 
legislature  ;  the  latter,  in  all  cases,  consists  of  a  Senate  and  a  House 
of  Representatives,  besides  a  Supreme  Law  Court,  with  subordinate 
district  and  county  courts.  The  legislature  of  each  State  embraces 
a  vast  variety  of  subjects,  falling  within  the  compass  of  its  own  in- 
ternal interests.  The  different  States  vary  materially  on  several 
points,  such  as  the  term  during  which  the  governor  holds  office,  and 
the  extent  of  his  power  ;  the  terms  for  which  the  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives are  elected,  and  for  which  the  judges  are  appointed  ;  the 
salaries  of  those  functionaries,  and  so  forth. 

With  the  exception  of  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana,  in  which  the 
territorial  divisions  are  called  districts,  all  the  States  are  subdivided 
into  counties ;  having  courts  of  justice  attached  to  each,  and  officers, 
likewise,  for  a  great  many  local  objects,  such  as  maintaining  the  roads, 
providing  for  the  poor,  etc.,  etc.  These  counties  are  subdivided  into 
what  are  called  townships,  averaging  six  or  eight  miles  square,  in 
New  England,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  most  of 
the  States  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  in  Delaware  they  are 
called  Hundreds,  and  in  Louisiana  Parishes ;  while  in  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia,* the  two  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  the 
counties  form  the  smallest  territorial  divisions.  In  the  Territories, 
the  subdivision  into  townships  has  been  adopted. 

These  townships  form  important  political  and  civil  districts  and 
corporations ;  the  inhabitants  meet  once  a  year,  or  oftener,  for  local 
purposes,  and  for  the  appointment  of  local  officers  and  committees. 
At  these  primary  assemblies  the  people  acquire  habits  of  transacting 
public  business,  which  are  of  the  greatest  importance  in  fitting  them 
for  legislation  and  government  both  in  national  and  local  affairs.  As 
for  the  larger  towns,  they  are  incorporated  as  cities  and  boroughs, 
and  have  municipal  governments  of  a  threefold  kind — legislative,  ex- 
ecutive, and  judicial. 

The  separation  of  the  colonies  from  Great  Britain,  and  the  re-or- 

*  In  the  eastern  part  of  Virginia,  and  a  great  part  of  Maryland,  the  parochial  sub- 
divisions that  existed  previous  to  the  ^Revolution  are  still  retained  for  many  local 
purposes,  and  are  even  recognized  by  the  law. 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE  FOEM   OF   GOVERNMEOT  IN  AMERICA.  73 

ganization  of  their  respective  governments,  produced  changes  less 
essential  than  at  first  view  might  be  supposed.  The  King,  Parlia- 
ment, and  Justiciary  of  England  were  superseded  by  the  President, 
Congress,  and  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  the  nature  of  the 
government  remaining  essentially  the  same.  For  a  hereditary  sov- 
ereign, we  have  a  President,  chosen  once  in  four  years ;  for  a  here- 
ditary House  of  Peers,  a  Senate,  the  members  of  which  are  chosen 
for  six  years ;  the  powers  of  the  President  and  Senate  being  almost 
identical  in  most  things  with  those  of  the  corresponding  branches  of 
the  British  Constitution.  As  for  the  several  colonies,  these  the  Rev- 
olution transformed  into  States,  and  the  old  royal  charters  were 
superseded  by  constitutions.  Beyond  this  there  was  no  essential 
change,  and  but  little  alteration  even  in  forms.  Instead  of  being 
appointed  by  the  British  crown,  or  by  proprietary  companies  or  in- 
dividuals, the  governors  are  chosen  by  the  people  themselves.  The 
legislative  and  judicial  branches  underwent  very  little  modification. 

There  are  now  in  the  American  Union  thirty-one  organized  States, 
seven  Territories,  and  one  District.  The  Territories  are  under  the 
government  of  the  President  and  Congress  of  the  United  States,  but 
will  become  States  as  soon  as  the  amount  of  their  population  entitles 
them,  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  to  be  represented  in  the  National 
Legislature.  They  have  a  legislature  of  their  own,  but  their  gov- 
ernors are  appointed  by  the  President. 

Under  the  impression  that  the  National  Government  should  be 
removed  from  the  immediate  influence  of  any  one  State,  the  District 
of  Columbia  (at  first  ten  miles  square),  was  taken  from  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  and  set  apart  as  the  seat  of  the  National  Government ;  and 
to  it,  that  is,  to  the  President,  Congress,  and  Supreme  Court,  it  is 
immediately  subject.  Experience  has  hardly  approved  of  this  meas- 
ure as  either  wise  or  necessary.  No  part  of  the  country  is  worse 
governed,  Congress  being  too  much  occupied  with  other  matters  to 
pay  much  attention  to  so  insignificant  a  Territory.* 

The  preceding  outline  will  suffice  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  prepare  him  for  under- 
standing many  things  which  might  otherwise  be  obscure  hi  the  fur- 
ther course  of  this  work. 

*  The  part  of  the  District  of  Columbia  taken  from  Virginia  has  been  receded  to 
that  State,  and  the  District  is  no  longer  ten  miles  square. 


74  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

A  BRIEF    GEOGRAPHICAL   NOTICE   OF   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

In  like  manner,  a  short  account  of  the  physical  character  and  re- 
sources of  the  United  States  will  be  found  useful  to  the  reader. 

Upon  a  survey  of  the  United  States,  that  country  will  be  found  to 
possess  physical  advantages  such  as  few  others  enjoy.     While,  with 
the  exception  of  Florida,  all  parts  of  it  comprise  a  large  proportion 
of  excellent  soil,  many  exhibit  the  most  astonishing   fertility.     It 
abounds  hi  the  most  valuable  minerals.     Iron  is  found  in  several 
States  hi  great  abundance.     At  various  points,  but  particularly  in 
the  Middle  States,  there  are  vast  deposits  of  coal,  which  is  easily  con- 
veyed by  water  carriage  to  other  parts  of  the  country.     Even  gold 
is  found  in  considerable  quantities  in  the  western  parts  of  North 
Carolina,  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and 
some  in  Virginia  and  Tennessee  ;  while  the  gold  mines  of  California 
are  world-renowned.     The  almost  boundless  forests  of  the  interior 
furnish  timber  suited  to  all  purposes.     Navigable  rivers  everywhere 
present  facilities   for  trade.      On  the  Atlantic  slope,  beginning  at 
the  east  and  advancing  southwest,  we  find  hi  succession  the  Penob- 
scot, the  Kennebec,  the  Merrimac,  the  Connecticut,  the  Hudson,  the 
Delaware,  the  Susquehanna,  the  Potomac,  the  Rappahannock,  the 
James  River,  the  Roanoke,  the  Neuse,  the  Fear,  the  Pedee,  the  San- 
tee,  the  Savannah,  the  Altamaha,  and  the  St:  John's,  without  reck- 
oning many  smaller  but  important  streams,  navigable  by  common 
boats  and  small  steamers.     Many  of  these  rivers,  such  as  the  Dela- 
ware, the  Potomac,  the  Rappahannock,  the  James,  and  the  Roanoke, 
expand  into  noble  estuaries  before  they  fall  into  the  ocean ;  and  the 
coast  is  indented,  also,  with  many  bays,  unrivalled  in  point  of  extent 
and  beauty.      Beginning  at  the   east,  we  have  Portland  or  Casco 
Bay,  Portsmouth  Bay,  Newburyport  Bay,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Buz- 
zard's Bay,  Narragansett  Bay,  New  York  Bay,  Amboy  Bay,  Dela- 
ware Bay,  Chesapeake  Bay  (into  which  twelve  wide-mouthed  rivers 
fall,)  Wilmington  Bay,  Charleston  Bay,  etc.,  etc. 

With  the  exception  of  part  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Connecticut,  a 
chain  of  islands,  some  inhabited,  many  not,  runs  parallel  to  the  shore, 
beginning  at  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  and  extending  to  the  southern 
extremity  of  Florida,  and  thence  round  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
along  its  coast,  beyond  the  western  limit  of  the  United  States. 
Thus  are  formed  some  of  the  finest  channels  for  an  extensive  coast- 


CHAP.  XIII.]  GEOGRAPHY   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  V5 

ing  trade,  such  as  Long  Island  Sound,  Albemarle  Sound,  Pamlico 
Sound,  and  many  others.  To  increase  these  facilities,  canals  and 
railroads  have  been  extended  along  the  coast,  from  Portland  in 
Maine,  almost  without  interruption  to  New  Orleans. 

Immediately  on  the  seacoast  of  the  western  part  of  New  Jersey,* 
there  commences  a  belt  of  sand,  which  extends  along  the  whole 
margin  of  the  Southern  States,  covered  with  an  almost  uninterrupted 
forest  of  pines,  and  enlarging,  as  it  advances  southward,  from  twenty 
to  nearly  a  hundred  miles  broad,  the  latter  being  its  width  in  the 
State  of  North  Carolina.  Between  this  sandy  tract  and  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains,  the  land  is  generally  fertile,  and  produces  various 
crops,  according  to  the  climate :  such  as  fine  wheat  and  the  other 
cereal  grains  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Vir- 
ginia ;  in  which  last  two  States  tobacco  is  also  largely  cultivated ; 
cotton  in  the  Carolinas  and  in  Georgia ;  and  on  the  rich  bottom  lands 
along  the  bays  and  streams  of  the  sandy  tract,  rice  and  indigo. 

As  we  advance  northward  along  this  fertile  tract  intervening  be- 
tween the  sand  and  the  mountains,  we  gradually  leave  the  region  of 
transition  and  secondary  rocks,  and  enter  on  that  of  granite  ;  so  that 
before  reaching  the  State  of  Maine,  primitive  rocks  abound  every- 
where, even  on  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

But  in  point  of  fertility  the  Atlantic  slope  bears  no  comparison 
with  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  embracing  a  territory  nearly  seven 
times  as  large  as  that  of  France,  and  likely,  ere  long,  to  be  the  abode 
of  many  millions  of  the  human  race.  Seventy  years  ago  it  contained 
little  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants ;  the  population  of 
the  settled  part  of  it  amounted,  in  1840,  to  above  six  millions;  and 
this,  it  is  calculated  from  the  data  supplied  in  the  last  forty  years, 
will  have  increased,  in  twenty  years  hence,  to  not  much  under  thirty 
millions.  By  the  end  of  the  present  century  it  will  probably  be  not 
less  than  fifty  or  sixty  millions. 

Let  us  now  look  for  a  moment  to  the  natural  resources  of  this 
great  valley.  The  State  of  Ohio,  lying  between  the  beautiful  river 
of  that  name  and  Lake  Erie,  comprises  40,260  square  miles,  and  a 
population  of  above  a  million  and  a  half.  As  England  and  Wales 
have  57,929  square  miles,  and  18,000,000  inhabitants,  Ohio,  at  the 
same  ratio,  would  have  more  than  15,000,000.  With  the  exception 
of  a  part  of  it  in  the  southeast,  on  the  Hockhocking  River,  there  is 
little  poor  land  in  the  State.  Vast  forests  cover  the  greater  part  of 
it  to  this  day.  Lake  Erie  on  the  north,  the  river  Ohio  on  the  south, 
and  several  navigable  streams  flowing  from  the  interior,  both  to  the 
north  and  south,  give  it  great  natural  advantages  for  commerce ;  in 
*  Strictly  speaking,  it  begins  in  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island. 


76  PEELIMINAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

addition  to  which,  four  important  artificial  lines  of  communication, 
made  at  great  expense,  traverse  it  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio. 
Cincinnati,  its  commercial  capital,  has  a  population  of  not  much  less 
than  200,000  inhabitants. 

Indiana  and  Illinois  are  scarcely,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  Ohio  in  natural 
advantages ;  and  considering  its  proportion  of  first-rate  land,  Michigan 
is,  perhaps,  the  best  State  in  the  Union.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
abound  both  in  good  land  and  in  mineral  resources. 

Missouri,  one  of  the  largest  States  in  the  Union,  possesses  a  vast 
extent  of  excellent  land,  besides  rich  mines  of  iron  and  of  lead.  Iowa 
and  Wisconsin,  lying  northward  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  the  former 
on  the  west,  and  the  latter  on  the  east  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  are 
large  and  fertile  States,  abounding  also  in  lead  mines.  Both  are  evi- 
dently destined  to  become  great  States.  Arkansas  having  a  great 
deal  of  inferior,  as  well  as  of  fertile  land,  is  considered  one  of  the 
poorest  States  on  the  Mississippi.  The  large  State  of  Alabama,  with 
the  exception  of  a  small  part  in  the  south,  about  Mobile,  and  another 
part  in  the  north,  near  the  Tennessee  River,  was,  in  1815,  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  Creek,  Choctaw,  and  Chickasaw  Indians,  chiefly  the  first 
of  those  tribes,  but  is  now  rapidly  increasing  in  population.  The 
State  of  Mississippi  has  also  much  land  of  the  very  best  quality,  and 
although  its  financial  affairs  were  for  a  long  thne  in  a  deplorable  condi- 
tion, from  bad  legislation,  it  is  emerging  from  its  embarrassments.  And 
as  for  Louisiana,  the  rich  alluvial  soil  of  the  banks  of  its  rivers,  and  its 
advantages  for  commerce,  derived  from  its  position  in  the  lowest  part 
of  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  must  eventually  make  it  a  rich 
and  powerful  State.  But  it  would  require  the  perseverance  shown  in 
similar  circumstances  by  the  people  of  Holland,  to  defend  with  dikes 
the  southern  portion  of  the  Delta  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  make  of 
it  the  valuable  country  into  which  it  might  be  converted. 

An  immense  tract  of  ahnost  unexplored  country  lies  to  the  north- 
west of  the  States  of  Missouri,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin,  much  of  which 
is  believed  to  be  fertile.  It  includes  the  Territories  of  Kansas,  Ne- 
braska, and  Minnesota. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  this  vast  valley  is  drained  by  one  great  river, 
and  its  branches,  of  which  no  fewer  than  fifty-seven  are  navigable  for 
steamboats.  Indeed,  the  Missouri,  the  Arkansas,  the  Red  River,  and 
the  White  River,  flowing  from  the  west,  and  the  Illinois,  the  Ohio, 
the  Cumberland,  and  the  Tennessee,  from  the  north  and  east,  are 
themselves  great  rivers.  On  the  north  the  great  lakes,  and  on  the 
south  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  form  openings  into  this  vast  region  for  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  But  besides  these  two  great  inlets  from  the 
north  and  south,  communication  with  the  Atlantic  slope  has  been 


CHAP.  XIV.]  OBSTACLES   TO  THE   VOLUNTARY    SYSTEM.  77 

opened  up  at  various  points  of  the  Allegheny  chain,  by  means  of  sub- 
stantial roads  of  the  ordinary  construction,  and  also  by  canals  and 
railways.  Thus  a  railway,  above  six  hundred  miles  in  length,  unites 
the  town  of  Buffalo  on  Lake  Erie  with  Boston ;  a  canal  and  two  rail- 
roads unite  it  with  Albany  and  with  New  York.  Buffalo  communi- 
cates, again,  with  all  the  northern  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
and  Illinois,  and  with  the  eastern  side  of  Wisconsin,  by  steamboats 
which  ply  between  it  and  the  ports  of  those  regions.  To  all  these 
advantages  we  must  ascribe  the  rapid  appearance  of  so  many  large 
cities  in  this  great  Western  Valley,  such  as  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis, 
Louisville,  Cincinnati,  and  Pittsburgh,  to  say  nothing  of  smaller  towns 
on  spots  which,  with  the  exception  of  New  Orleans,  may  be  said  to 
have  been  covered  by  the  forest  only  seventy  years  ago. 

I  conclude  this  chapter  by  remarking  for  a  moment  on  the  kind 
and  wise  Providence  which  kept  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
from  the  possession,  and  almost  from  the  knowledge  of  the  colonists 
of  the  United  States,  for  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  By 
that  time,  they  had  so  far  occupied  and  reduced  to  cultivation  the 
less  fertile  hills  of  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  there  had  acquired  that 
hardy,  industrious,  and  virtuous  character,  which  better  fitted  them 
to  carry  civilization  and  religion  into  the  vast  plains  of  the  West.  So 
that,  at  this  day,  the  New  England  and  other  Atlantic  States,  while 
increasing  in  population  themselves,  serve,  at  the  same  time,  as  nur- 
series, from  which  the  West  derives  many  of  the  best  plants  that  are 
transferred  to  its  noble  soil. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

OBSTACLES  WHICH  THE  VOLUNTARY  SYSTEM  IN  SUPPORTING  RELIGION 
HAS  HAD  TO  ENCOUNTER  IN  AMERICA!  1.  FROM  THE  ERRONEOUS  OPIN- 
IONS ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  RELIGIOUS  ECONOMY  WHICH  THE  COLONISTS 
BROUGHT  WITH  THEM. 

Some  persons  in  Europe  entertain  the  idea,  that  if  the  "  American 
plan"  of  supporting  religion,  by  relying,  under  God's  blessing,  upon 
the  efforts  of  the  people,  rather  than  upon  the  help  of  the  govern- 
ment, has  succeeded  in  that  country,  it  has  been  owing,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  fact  that  the  country  presented  an  open  field  for  the 
experiment ;  that  every  thing  was  new  there ;  that  no  old  establish- 
ments had  to  be  pulled  down ;  no  deep-rooted  prejudices  to  be  eradi- 


78  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

catecl ;  no  time-honored  institutions  to  be  modified ;  but  that  all  was 
favorable  for  attempting  something  new  under  the  sun.  Now  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  entertain  an  idea  more  remote  from  the  truth  than 
this. 

What  follows  will  demonstrate  that,  so  far  from  committing  religion 
to  the  spontaneous  support  of  persons  cordially  interested  in  its 
progress,  the  opposite  course  was  pursued  almost  from  the  first,  in  all 
the  colonies.  In  the  greater  number  of  the  colonies,  in  fact,  men 
looked  to  the  civil  government  for  the  support  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry and  worship.  Now  what  we  have  here  to  consider  is  not  the 
question  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong  in  doing  so,  but  the  sim- 
ple fact  that  they  actually  did  so ;  and,  accordingly,  that  so  far  from 
what  has  been  called  the  Voluntary  Principle  having  had  an  open  field 
in  America,  in  those  very  parts  of  the  country  which  now,  perhaps, 
best  illustrate  its  efficiency,  it  had  long  to  struggle  with  establishments 
founded  on  the  opposite  system,  and  with  strong  prepossessions  hi  their 
favor. 

In  all  such  parts  of  the  country,  many  obstacles  were  opposed  to 
the  abandonment  of  the  old  system.  Good  and  great  men  made  no 
secret  of  their  fears  that  the  cause  of  religion  would  thus  be  ruined ; 
that  the  churches  would  be  forsaken  by  the  people,  whose  unaided 
efforts  would  prove  unequal  to  the  expense  of  maintaining  them,  and 
that  they  could  never  be  induced  to  attempt  it.  In  fact,  as  they  had 
never  been  accustomed  to  rely  upon  their  own  exertions  in  that  mat- 
ter, and  were  not  aware  how  much  they  could  do,  they  were  at  first 
timid  and  discouraged.  Another  obstacle  lay  in  the  unwillingness  of 
those  who  had  enjoyed  the  influence  and  ascendancy  conferred  by  the 
old  system,  to  surrender  those  advantages.  Such  persons  were  prone 
to  believe,  and  naturally  sought  to  impress  others  with  the  conviction, 
no  doubt  very  sincerely,  that  their  resistance  to  the  proposed  change 
was  the  legitimate  fruit  of  their  zeal  for  the  cause  of  God,  and  of 
their  dread  lest  that  cause  should  suffer. 

Other  obstacles,  and  those  not  inconsiderable,  had  to  be  encoun- 
tered, all  resulting  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  old  system.  It  will 
be  shown,  in  due  time,  that  some  of  the  worst  heresies  in  the  United 
States  were  originated  and  propagated  by  measures  arising  out  of  the 
old  system.  What  I  mean  to  say  is,  that  Truth  has  there  encountered 
powerful  obstacles,  which  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  would  not 
have  existed  but  for  the  imion  of  Church  and  State.  Other  evils 
there  might  have  been  in  the  absence  of  any  such  union ;  but,  be  that 
as  it  may,  with  the  obstacles  to  which  I  refer,  it  could  not  be  said 
that  the  field  was  entirely  new,  far  less  that  it  was  open. 

Still  more :  some  of  the  greatest  obstacles  which  the  u  American 


CHAP.  XIV.]         OBSTACLES. — EKKONEOUS    OPINIONS,    ETC.  79 

plan"  of  supporting  religion  had  to  overcome,  arose  from  the  erroneous 
views  of  the  colonists  on  the  subject  of  religious  liberty.  The  volun- 
tary system  rests  on  the  grand  basis  of  perfect  religious  freedom.  I 
mean  a  freedom  of  conscience  for  all ;  for  those  who  believe  Chris- 
tianity to  be  true,  and  for  those  who  do  not ;  for  those  who  prefer 
one  form  of  worship,  and  for  those  who  prefer  another.  This  is  all 
implied,  or,  rather,  it  is  fully  avowed,  at  the  first  step  in  supporting 
religion  upon  this  plan. 

Now  it  so  happened — nor  ought  we  to  wonder  at  it,  for  it  would 
have  been  a  miracle  had  it  been  otherwise — that  very  many  of  the 
best  colonists  who  settled  in  America  had  not  yet  attained  to  correct 
ideas  on  the  subject  of  religious  toleration  and  the  rights  of  con- 
science. It  required  persecution,  and  that  thorough  discussion  of  the 
subject  which  persecution  brought  in  its  train,  both  in  the  colonies 
and  hi  England  and  other  European  countries,  to  make  them  under- 
stand it.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  those  who  first  understood  it  had 
learned  it  in  the  school  of  persecution.  Such  was  Roger  Williams ; 
such  were  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  Catholics  who  settled  in  Mary- 
land ;  such  was  William  Penn.  Accordingly,  the  three  colonies  which 
they  founded,  Rhode  Island,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania,  including 
Delaware,  were  the  first  communities,  either  in  the  New  or  in  the 
Old  World,  that  enjoyed  religious  liberty  to  the  fullest  extent. 

I  am  sure,  indeed,  that,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  founders  of  the 
first  American  colonies,  and  those  of-  New  England  in  particular,  did 
as  much  for  freedom  of  conscience  as  could  have  been  expected,  and 
were  in  that  respect  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  If 
they  were  intolerant,  so  were  others.  If  they  would  not  allow  Roman 
Catholics  to  five  among  them,  the  most  dreadful  examples,  be  it  re- 
membered, of  Roman  Catholic  intolerance  were  forced  upon  their 
attention,  and  their  policy  was  merciful  in  the  extreme  compared 
with  that  of  Roman  Catholic  countries  in  those  days.  They  merely 
refused  to  receive  them  or  to  allow  them  to  remain  among:  them, 
whereas  the  poor  Huguenots  of  France  were  not  permitted  so  much 
as  to  retire  from  amid  their  enemies.  If,  in  some  of  the  colonies, 
Quakers  were  treated  with  great  harshness  and  shocking  injustice, 
what  treatment  did  the  members  of  that  sect  receive  at  the  same 
period  in  England  ?  If  the  colonists  burned  witches,  was  not  that 
done  also  in  Scotland,  England,  and  other  countries  ? 

I  may  therefore  repeat,  that  the  colonists  were  in  advance  of  their 
cotemporaries,  in  their  views  of  almost  all  questions  relating  to  human 
rights,  and  that  they  maintained  this  advance  is  attested  by  the  insti- 
tutions that  arose  among  them.  But  the  intolerance  with  which  they 
were  chargeable  at  first,  may  be  traced  to  their  opinions  with  regard 


80  PEELIMINAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

to  the  relations  which  the  Church  ought  to  sustain  toward  the  State. 
And  their  erroneous  views  on  that  subject  created  obstacles  which 
were  with  difficulty  overcome  by  the  principle  of  leaving  religion,  not 
to  the  support  as  well  as  protection  of  the  State,  but  to  the  hearts 
and  hands  of  persons  who  have  truly  received,  and  are  willing  to  sus- 
tain it.  These  remarks  will  suffice  to  show,  that  the  field  was  not  so 
open  to  that  principle  in  America  as  some  have  thought. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


OBSTACLES  WHICH  THE  VOLUNTAEY  SYSTEM  HAS  HAD  TO  ENCOUNTEE 
IN  AMEEICA I  2.  FEOM  THE  NEWNESS  OP  THE  COUNTEY,  THE  THIN- 
NESS OF  THE  POPULATION,  AND  THE  UNSETTLED  STATE  OF  SOCIETY. 

A  second  class  of  obstacles  which  the  voluntary  system,  or,  I  should 
rather  say,  religion  in  general,  has  had  to  encounter  hi  America, 
comprehends  such  as  are  inseparable  from  its  condition  as  a  new 
country. 

From  its  very  nature,  the  life  of  a  colonist  presents  manifold  temp- 
tations to  neglect  the  interests  of  the  soul.  There  is  the  separation 
of  himself  and  his  family,  if  he  has  one,  from  old  associations  and  in- 
fluences ;  and  the  removal,  if  not  from  abundant  means  of  grace,  at 
least  from  the  force  of  that  public  opinion  which  often  powerfully 
restrains  from  the  commission  of  open  sin.  Now  though  many  of 
the  American  colonists  fled  from  persecution  and  from  abounding 
iniquity,  such  was  not  the  case  with  all.  Then,  there  is  the  entering 
into  new  and  untried  situations ;  the  forming  of  new  acquaintances, 
not  always  of  the  best  kind ;  and  even  that  engrossment  with  the 
cares  and  labors  attending  a  man's  removal  into  a  new  country,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  the  many  who  have  to  earn  their  bread  by  their 
own  strenuous  exertions.  All  these  things  hinder  the  growth  of  piety 
in  the  soul,  and  form  real  obstacles  to  its  promotion  in  a  community. 

And  if  such  hinderances  had  a  baneful  effect  at  the  outset,  they 
have  never  ceased  to  operate  injuriously  down  to  this  day.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  foreigners  who  come,  year  after  year,  to  the  American 
shores  on  their  way  to  the  Far  West,  thousands  of  the  natives  of  the 
Atlantic  slope  annually  leave  their  homes  to  settle  amid  the  forests 
of  that  vast  western  region.  In  their  case  there  is  peculiar  exposure 
to  evil ;  their  removal  almost  always  withdraws  them  from  the  pow- 
erful influence  of  neighborhoods  where  true  religion  more  or  less 
flourishes.     Such  of  them  as  are  not  decidedly  religious  in  heart  and 


CHAP.  XV.]         OBSTACLES. NEWNESS    OF   THE   COUNTRY,    ETC.  81 

life,  greatly  risk  losing  any  good  impressions  they  may  have  brought 
with  them,  amid  the  engrossing  cares  and  manifold  temptations  of 
their  new  circumstances;  circumstances  in  which  even  the  estab- 
lished Christian  will  find  much  need  of  redoubled  vigilance  and 
prayer. 

The  comparative  thinness,  also,  of  the  population  in  the  United 
States,  is  now,  and  must  long  continue  to  be,  a  great  obstacle  to  the 
progress  of  religion,  at  least  in  the  newer  portions  of  it.     I  have  al- 
ready stated,  that  the  area  of  all  the  territory  claimed  by  its  govern- 
ment is  2,963,663  square  miles.    The  population  is,  at  the  time  of  this 
writing  (January,  1856),  probably  all  of  27,000,000.     If  we  deduct 
250,000  as  the  population  of  the  seven  Territories,  we  have  26,750,000 
inhabitants  in  the  thirty-one  organized  States,  whose  area  is  1,464,105 
square  miles ;  that  is,  1 8£  souls  to  each  square  mile.    If  this  popula- 
tion were  equally  diffused  over  the  entire  surface  of  the  organized 
States,  even  then  it  would  be  difficult  enough  to  establish  and  main- 
tain churches  and  other  religious  institutions  among  so  sparse  a  popu- 
lation.   Still,  perhaps,  it  could  be  done.    A  parish  of  thirty-six  square 
miles,  which  would  be  large  enough  in  point  of  extent,  would  contain 
657  souls.     One  twice  as  large  would  contain  1,314  souls.     But  al- 
though a  country  would  be  considered  well  supplied  if  it  had  a  pastor 
for  every  1,314  souls,  still  the  dispersion  of  these  over  seventy-two 
square  nriles  would  necessarily  very  much  curtail  the  pastor's  oppor- 
tunity for  doing  good,  and  prevent  the  souls  under  his  charge  from 
enjoying  the  full  influence  of  the  Gospel.     But  the  population  of  the 
United  States  is  far  from  being  thus  equally  distributed.     Some  of 
the  older  States  are  pretty  densely  settled ;  not  more,  however,  than 
is  necessary  for  the  easy  maintenance  of  churches,  and  of  a  regular 
and  settled  ministry.     Massachusetts,  the  most  densely  settled  of 
them  all,  had,  in  1850,  126^-  souls  to  the  square  mile;  some  others, 
such  as  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  had  from  eighty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve ;  others,  such  as  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
and  New  York,  average  from   sixty  to  seventy-five.     Taking  the 
whole  Atlantic  slope,  with  the  exception  of  Florida,  which  is  but 
little  inhabited,  the  average  was  thirty-one,  while  in  the  fourteen 
States  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  it  is  less  than  twelve  souls  to 
the  square  mile. 

The  population  of  California  and  Florida  (now  States),  and  of  the 
Territories  of  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Utah,  New  Mexico, 
Oregon  and  Washington,  was  very  inconsiderable  in  1850,  and  the 
population  of  the  United  States  entire  was  then  not  eight  persons,  on 
an  average,  to  the  square  mile. 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  while  the  population  of  a  large  pro- 

6 


82  PRELIMINARY   REMARKS.  [BOOK  I. 

portion  of  the  Atlantic  States,  and  of  parts  of  the  older  ones  in  the 
West,  is  hardly  dense  enough  to  render  the  support  of  Gospel  ordi- 
nances easy,  the  difficulty  of  effecting  this  is  immensely  increased  in 
many  quarters,  but  especially  in  the  West,  by  the  fact  that  the 
inhabitants  are  much  more  widely  scattered.  I  shall  show  in  another 
place  how  this  difficulty  is,  in  a  good  measure,  at  least,  overcome ; 
here  it  is  enough  that  I  point  to  its  existence. 

Personal  experience  alone  can  give  any  one  a  correct  idea  of  the 
difficulties  attending  the  planting  and  supporting  of  churches  and 
pastors  in  that  vast  frontier  country  in  the  West,  where  the  popula- 
tion, treading  on  the  heels  of  the  Indians,  is,  year  after  year,  advanc- 
ing into  the  forests.  A  few  scattered  families,  at  wide  intervals,  are 
engaged  in  cutting  down  the  huge  trees,  and  clearing  what  at  first 
are  but  little  patches  of  ground.  In  a  year  or  two  the  number  is 
doubled.  In  five  or  six  years  the  country  begins  to  have  the  appear- 
ance of  being  inhabited  by  civilized  men.  But  years  more  must  roll 
away  before  the  population  will  be  dense  enough  to  support  churches 
at  convenient  distances  from  each  other,  and  to  have  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  to  preach  in  them  every  Sabbath.  Yet  this  work  must  be 
done,  and  it  is  doing  to  an  extent  which  will  surprise  many  into 
whose  hands  this  book  may  fall. 

But  if  the  thinness  of  the  population  be  an  obstacle,  how  great 
must  be  that  of  its  rapid  increase  in  the  aggregate  ?  I  say  in  the 
aggregate,  for  it  is  manifest  that  its  increase  in  the  thinly-settled  dis- 
tricts must  so  far  be  an  advantage.  But  with  this  increase  diffusing 
itself  into  new  settlements,  we  have  a  double  difficulty  to  contend 
with — the  increase  itself  demanding  a  great  augmentation  of  churches 
and  ministers,  and  its  continued  dispersion  rendering  it  difficult  to 
build  the  one  and  support  the  other,  even  were  a  sufficiency  of  pas- 
tors to  be  found.  This  difficulty  would  be  quite  appalling,  if  long 
contemplated  apart  from  the  vast  efforts  made  to  meet  and  over- 
come it.  The  population  of  the  United  States  was,  in  1790,  3,929,827 ; 
in  1800,  5,305,925;  in  1810,  7,239,814;  in  1820,  9,638,131;  in  1830, 
12,866,920;  in  1840, 17,062,566  ;  and  in  1850,  23,191,876.  The  reader 
may  calculate  for  himself  the  average  annual  increase  during  each  of 
the  six  decades  which  have  elapsed  since  1790.  But  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  ascertain  the  precise  yearly  increase.  From  1830  to  1840  the 
whole  increase  was  4,201,746,  being  at  the  average  rate  of  420,174 
souls  per  annum.  During  the  decade  from  1840  to  1850,  it  was 
6,129,310,  or  an  average  annual  increase  of  612,931. 

Now  to  provide  churches  and  pastors  for  such  an  increase  as  this, 
is  no  very  easy  matter;  yet  it  must  either  be  done,  or,  sooner  or  later, 
the  great  bulk  of  the  nation,  as  some  have  predicted,  will  sink  into 


CHAP.  XVI.]  OBSTACLES — SLAVERY.  83 

heathenism.  How  far  this  is  likely,  judging  from  what  has  been 
done  and  is  now  doing,  we  shall  see  in  another  place.  Here  I  simply 
state  the  magnitude  of  the  difficulty. 

Finally,  the  constant  emigration  from  the  old  States  to  the  new, 
and  even  from  the  older  to  the  newer  settlements  in  the  latter,  is  a 
great  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  religion  in  all  places  from  which  a 
part  of  the  population  is  thus  withdrawn.  It  occasionally  happens  in 
one  or  other  of  the  Atlantic  States,  that  a  church  is  almost  broken 
up  by  the  departure,  for  the  Western  States,  of  families  on  whom  it 
mainly  depended  for  support.  Most  commonly,  however,  this  emi- 
gration is  so  gradual,  that  the  church  has  time  to  recruit  itself  from 
other  families,  who  arrive  and  take  the  place  of  those  who  have  gone 
away.  Thus,  unless  where  a  church  loses  persons  of  great  influence, 
the  loss  is  soon  repaired.  In  the  cities  of  the  East,  and  their  subur- 
ban quarters  especially,  the  population  being  of  so  floating  a  character, 
this  evil  is  felt  quite  as  much  as  in  the  country. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  what  is  an  evil  in  the  East,  by 
withdrawing  valuable  support  from  the  churches  there,  proves  a  great 
blessing  to  the  West,  by  transferring  thither  Christian  families,  to 
originate  and  support  new  churches  in  that  quarter. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

OBSTACLES   WHICH  THE  VOLUNTARY   SYSTEM   HAS    HAD   TO   ENCOUNTER 

IN  AMERICA:    3.  FROM   SLAVERY. 

That  the  co-existence  in  one  country  of  two  such  different  races  as 
the  Caucasian  and  the  African,  standing  to  each  other  in  the  relation 
of  masters  and  slaves,  should  retard  the  progress  of  true  religion 
there,  it  requires  but  little  knowledge  of  human  nature  to  believe. 

Slavery  has  been  a  great  evil  in  all  past  time,  and  by  no  possibility 
can  it  be  otherwise.  It  naturally  fosters  a  proud,  arrogant,  and  un- 
feeling spirit  in  the  master,  and  leads  to  servility  and  meanness,  to 
deceitfulness  and  dishonesty,  hi  the  slave.  Either  way  it  is  injurious 
to  true  religion. 

But  I  have  no  intention  to  speak  here  of  the  nature  of  slavery,  its 
history,  condition,  or  prospects  in  the  United  States.  My  object  is 
simply  to  show  how  it  operates  as  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to 
the  promotion  of  religion ;  and,  as  such,  militates  against  the  success 
of  the  voluntary  system  there.  Slavery,  indeed,  may  easily  be  shown 
to  be  peculiarly  an  obstacle  to  that  system. 


84  PEELIMINAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

I  might  mention  that  the  reluctance  of  slaves  to  worship  in  the 
same  congregation  with  their  masters,  is  unfavorable  to  the  interests 
of  true  piety.  That  there  is  such  a  reluctance,  every  one  knows  who 
has  had  much  to  do  with  the  institution  of  slavery.  It  often  shows 
itself  in  the  hesitation  of  slaves  to  come  to  the  family  altar,  even  in 
families  which  are  known  to  treat  them  with  kindness. 

This  fact  is  easily  accounted  for.  Human  nature,  however  de- 
graded, and  whether  wearing  a  black  or  a  white  skin,  has  still  some 
remains  of  pride,  or,  rather,  some  consciousness  of  what  is  due  to 
itself;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  it  avoids,  as  much  as  possible, 
coming  into  contact  with  persons,  however  worthy  and  kind  they 
may  be,  to  whom  it  feels  itself  placed  in  ignoble  subjection.  There- 
fore it  is  that  the  negro  of  our  Southern  States  prefers  going  to  a 
church  composed  of  people  of  his  own  color,  and  where  no  whites 
appear.  Slaves,  also,  sometimes  prefer  places  of  worship  where  greater 
latitude  is  allowed  for  noisy  excitement,  to  whatever  denomination 
of  Christians  they  may  belong,  than  would  be  tolerated  in  the  relig- 
ious assemblies  of  white  people. 

I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  exaggerated,  as  some  may  think,  the 
repugnance  of  the  slaves  to  join  in  religious  worship  with  their  mas- 
ters. One  thing  is  certain,  that,  whether  from  such  repugnance,  or 
some  other  cause,  the  slaves  like  better  to  meet  by  themselves,  wher- 
ever allowed  to  do  so. 

That  the  separation  of  the  two  classes  thus  occasioned  is  injurious 
to  the  spiritual  interests  of  both,  must  be  evident  from  a  moment's 
consideration.  So  long  as  slavery  exists  in  the  world,  the  Gospel 
enjoins  upon  both  masters  and  slaves  their  appropriate  duties,  and 
they  should  be  made  to  hear  of  those  duties  in  each  other's  presence. 
This  should  be  done  kindly,  but  also  faithfully.  And  no  Christian 
master  can  excuse  himself  from  doing  the  duty  which  he  owes  to  his 
slave,  in  relation  to  his  spiritual  and  immortal  interests,  by  saying  that 
he  permits  him  to  go  he  hardly  knows  whither,  and  to  be  taught  those 
things  which  concern  his  highest  happiness  by  he  knows  not  whom. 
Where,  indeed,  the  master  himself  is  wholly  indifferent  to  the  subject 
of  religion,  as,  alas  !  is  too  often  the  case,  it  is  well  that  the  slave  is 
allowed  and  disposed  to  seek  religious  instruction  anywhere. 

But  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  slavery,  as  respects  the  mainte- 
nance of  Christian  institutions,  is,  that  it  creates  a  state  of  society 
extremely  unfavorable  to  the  providing  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
churches  and  pastors  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  all  classes — rich  and 
poor,  slaves  and  free.  This  holds  especially  in  the  case  of  large  landed 
estates,  with  many  hundred  slaves  in  the  possession  of  a  small  number 
of  rich  proprietors.    In  such  circumstances,  a  church  capable  of  con- 


CHAP.  XVI.]  OBSTACLES — SLAVERY.  85 

taining  one  or  two  hundred  persons  might,  perhaps,  accommodate 
all  the  masters  and  their  families  within  the  compass  of  a  very  large 
parish  ;  whereas  an  immense  edifice  would  be  required  for  the  accom- 
modation of  all  their  slaves.  Now,  where  this  is  the  state  of  things, 
there  is  danger  that  the.  landowners,  being  few  in  number,  may  grudge 
the  expense  of  maintaining  a  church  and  pastor  at  all,  however  well 
able  to  do  so  ;  or  that,  with  horses  and  carriages  at  their  command, 
all  the  rich  within  one  vast  district  will  join  in  having  public  worship 
at  some  central  point,  where  few,  comparatively,  of  the  slaves  and 
laboring  white  population  will  find  it  possible  to  attend.  Where  even 
a  few  of  the  rich  proprietors  are  religious  men,  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  having  the  Gospel  brought,  not  only  to  their  own  doors,  but  also 
to  those  of  their  slaves  and  other  dependants.  But  where  they 
are  indifferent,  or  opposed  to  religion,  then  not  only  does  the  Gospel 
fail  to  reach  them,  but  if  it  reaches  their  slaves  it  must  be  with  great 
difficulty,  and  often  very  irregularly.  For,  be  it  remembered  that  a 
slave  population  is  generally  too  poor  to  contribute  much  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Gospel.  Blessed  be  God,  there  is  a  way,  as  I  shall  show 
hereafter,  by  which  some  of  the  evils  here  spoken  of  may  be  miti- 
gated ;  and  that  is  by  the  system  of  itinerant  preaching,  employed 
in  the  United  States,  so  extensively,  and  so  usefully,  by  the  Meth- 
odists. 

Contemplating  these  difficulties,  we  shall  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  if,  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  the  support  of  the  Gospel 
by  taxation,  enforced  by  law,  is  better  adapted  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  people  than  the  voluntary  plan,  it  is  in  the  seaboard  counties 
of  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Louisiana,  and  Texas.  Still,  it  will  be  found  that  even  there  the  vol- 
untary system  has  not  been  wholly  inefficient,  but  that,  through  the 
ministry  either  of  fixed  or  of  itinerant  preachers,  it  has  carried  the 
Gospel  to  the  inhabitants  of  all  classes,  to  an  extent  which,  under 
such  adverse  circumstances,  might  seem  impracticable. 

It  must  be  noted  that  while  such  are  the  difficulties  that  oppose 
the  maintenance  of  a  Christian  ministry  in  the  slaveholding  States, 
there  is  a  special  necessity  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  there.  It 
is  emphatically  by  the  "  hearing"  of  the  Word,  that  the  slaves  can  be 
expected  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  salvation.  A  most  unwise  and 
unjust  legislation  has,  in  ten  of  those  States,  forbidden  the  public  teach- 
ing of  the  slaves  to  read.  And  although,  doubtless,  a  considerable 
number  of  slaves  are  privately  taught  to  read,  yet  it  is  from  the  voice 
of  the  living  teacher  that  the  great  bulk  of  that  class  in  the  United 
States  must  receive  instruction  in  divine  things.  Thanks  be  to  God  ! 
no  legislature  in  any  State  has  forbidden  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 


86  PEELIMINAEY   EEMABKS.  [BOOK  I. 

to  those  who  are  in  the  bonds  of  slavery ;  and  many  thousands  of 
them,  it  is  believed,  have  not  heard  it  in  vain. 

I  conclude  by  stating  that  slavery  exists  in  fifteen  States — those 
which  form  the  southern  half  of  the  Union — and  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  It  does  not  exist  in  the  other  sixteen,  nor  in  the  seven 
Territories.  The  States  in  which  it  exists  are  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Ten- 
nessee, Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida, 
and  Texas. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

OBSTACLES  WHICH  THE  VOLLTSTAEY  SYSTEM  HAS  HAD  TO  ENCOITNTEE  IN 

ameeica:    4.  peom  the  vast  immigeation"  peom  foeeign  couisr- 

TEIES. 

It  is  superfluous  to  say  that  the  immigration  from  Europe  of  per- 
sons so  excellent  as  were  many  of  those  who  founded  the  American 
colonies,  or  who  joined  them  in  the  days  of  their  infancy,  could  not 
fail  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  country.  But  the  emigration  to  the 
United  States  at  the  present  day  is  for  the  most  part  of  a  very  different 
character.  Whatever  violent  persecution  for  conscience'  sake  there 
may  have  been  in  Europe  within  the  last  seventy  years,  has  been 
limited  in  extent,  and  of  short  duration :  so  that  the  emigration  from 
the  Old  World  to  America,  during  that  period,  must  be  referred  to 
worldly  considerations,  not  to  the  force  of  religious  convictions  lead- 
ing men  to  seek  for  the  enjoyment  of  religious  liberty.  In  fact,  to 
improve  their  temporal  condition,  to  provide  a  home  for  their  children 
in  a  thriving  country,  to  rejoin  friends  who  have  gone  before  them, 
or  to  escape  from  what  they  have  deemed  civil  oppression  in  Europe 
— such,  generally,  have  been  the  motives  that  have  prompted  the  re- 
cent emigrations  to  America.  To  these  we  must  add  a  different  class 
— that  of  men  who  have  left  their  country,  as  has  been  said,  "  for 
their  country's  good  ;"  nor  is  the  number  of  such  inconsiderable. 

The  emigration  of  people  from  Europe  to  the  United  States  steadily 
increased,  till  it  reached,  in  1854,  the  enormous  figure  of  460,000, 
more  than  one  half  of  whom  were  from  Germany  and  other  countries 
of  the  Continent,  and  the  rest  were  from  the  British  Isles.  There 
was  a  considerable  immigration  of  Chinese.  In  1855  the  immigration 
fell  off  immensely. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  the  foreigners  who 
come  to  the  United  States  are  emigrants.     Many  come  only  to  make 


CHAP.  XVII.]  OBSTACLES — FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION.  87 

a  longer  or  shorter  stay,  as  merchants  and  traders ;  and  some,  hav- 
ing arrived  with  the  intention  of  remaining,  become  dissatisfied,  and 
return  to  their  native  country. 

Now,  although  among  these  emigrants  there  are  many  respectable 
people,  and  some  who  bring  with  them  no  inconsiderable  amount  of 
property,  truth  compels  me  to  say,  that  very  many  of  them  are  not  only 
very  poor,  but  ignorant,  also,  and  depraved.  Of  the  Germans,  like- 
wise, a  great  many  are  poor,  and  some  are  of  improvident  and  depraved 
habits ;  although,  in  the  mass,  they  are  much  superior  to  the  Irish  in 
point  of  frugality  and  sobriety.  Many  of  the  Germans  have  of  late 
years  brought  with  them  considerable  sums  of  money  ;  and  though  a 
good  many  are  Roman  Catholics,  yet  the  majority  are  Protestants. 
A  large  proportion  of  them  now  come  from  the  kingdoms  of  Wurt- 
emberg  and  Bavaria,  and  from  the  Duchy  of  Baden ;  whereas,  in 
former  times,  they  came  chiefly  from  the  eastern  and  northern  parts 
of  Germany.  Within  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  a  considerable 
immigration  of  oppressed  Protestants  from  Sweden,  Norway,  and 
Holland. 

Although,  beyond  doubt,  the  mortality  among  these  emigrants 
from  Europe,  caused  by  exposure,  anxiety,  fatigue,  and  diseases  in- 
cident to  a  strange  climate,  is  far  greater  than  among  native  Ameri- 
cans, yet  the  yearly  accession  of  so  many  people,  ignorant  in  a  degree 
of  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  about  half  of  them  unable  to  speak 
English,  and  nearly  half  of  them,  also,  Roman  Catholics,  must  impose 
upon  the  churches  a  heavy  responsibility,  and  a  great  amount  of  labor, 
in  order  to  provide  them  with  the  means  of  grace.  Every  thing 
possible  must  be  done  for  the  adults  among  them,  but  hope  can  be 
entertained  chiefly  for  the  young.  These  grow  up  speaking  the  lan- 
guage and  breathing  the  spirit  of  their  adopted  country,  and  thus 
the  process  of  assimilation  goes  steadily  on.  In  a  thousand  ways  the 
emigrants  who  are,  as  it  were,  cast  upon  our  shores,  are  brought 
into  contact  with  a  better  religious  influence  than  that  to  which 
many  of  them  have  been  accustomed  in  the  Old  World.  Every  year 
some  of  them  are  gathered  into  our  churches,  while,  as  I  have  said, 
their  children  grow  up  Americans  in  their  feelings  and  habits.  All 
this  is  true  especially  of  the  emigrants  who,  meaning  to  make  the 
country  their  home,  strive  to  identify  themselves  with  it.  There  are 
others,  however,  and  particularly  those  who,  having  come  to  make 
their  fortunes  as  merchants  and  traders,  calculate  upon  returning  to 
Europe,  that  never  become  American  in  feeling  and  spirit.  From 
such  no  aid  is  to  be  expected  in  the  benevolent  efforts  made  by 
Christians  to  promote  good  objects  among  us. 

I  have  been  struck  with  the  fact  that,  generally  speaking,  our  re- 


88  EEELIMINAEY   EEMAEKS.  [BOOK  I. 

ligious  societies  receive  their  most  steady  support  from  our  Anglo- 
American  citizens.  The  emigrants  from  the  British  realm,  English, 
Welsh,  Scotch,  and  Irish,  rank  second  to  these  in  the  interest  they 
take  in  our  benevolent  enterprises,  and  in  readiness  to  contribute  to 
their  support.  The  Germans  and  the  Swiss  rank  next,  and  the 
French  last.  There  is  most  infidelity  among  the  French,  yet  it  pre- 
vails also,  to  a  considerable  degree,  among  the  Swiss  and  Germans, 
among  the  better  informed  classes  of  whom  it  is,  alas  !  too  often  to 
be  observed.  There  is  no  want  of  infidelity  and  indifference  to  relig- 
ion among  emigrants  from  the  British  islands,  but  chiefly  among  the 
lowest  class  of  them. 

Thus,  as  I  remarked  before,  while  the  emigration  from  Europe  to 
the  United  States  brings  us  no  inconsiderable  number  of  worthy 
people,  it  introduces  also  a  large  amount  of  ignorance,  poverty,  and 
vice.  Besides  this,  it  is  difficult  to  supply  with  religious  institutions, 
and  it  takes  long  to  Americanize,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  in  feel- 
ing, conduct,  and  language,  those  multitudes  from  the  Continent  of 
Europe  who  can  not  understand  or  speak  English.  Many  of  the 
Germans,  in  particular,  in  consequence  of  the  impossibility  of  finding 
a  sufficient  number  of  fit  men  to  preach  in  German,  were  at  one  time 
sadly  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace,  in  their  dispersion  over  the 
country.  But  within  the  last  fifteen  years  a  brighter  prospect  has 
opened  upon  that  part  of  our  population,  as  I  shall  show  in  its  place. 

I  have  not  charged  upon  the  ordinary  emigration  to  the  shores  of 
America  the  great  amount  of  crime  in  the  United  States,  which  may 
be  traced  to  the  escape  of  criminals  thither  from  Europe ;  for  these 
can  not,  with  propriety,  be  regarded  as  constituting  a  part  of  that 
emigration.  Nevertheless,  it  is  the  case  that  much  of  the  crime 
committed  in  America,  from  that  of  the  honorable  merchant  who 
scruples  not  to  defraud  the  custom-house,  down  to  the  outrages 
of  the  man  who  disturbs  the  streets  with  his  riots,  is  the  work  of 
foreigners. 

It  may  be  said,  I  am  sure,  with  the  strictest  truth,  that  in  no 
country  is  a  foreigner  who  deserves  well,  treated  with  more  respect 
and  kindness  than  in  America ;  in  no  country  will  he  find  less  differ- 
ence between  the  native  and  the  adopted  citizen ;  in  no  country  do 
men  become  more  readily  assimilated  in  principle  and  feeling  to  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  or  more  fully  realize  the  fact  that  they  form 
a  constituent  part  of  the  nation. 

I  have  now  finished  the  notice  which  I  intended  to  take  of  some 
of  the  obstacles  which  the  voluntary  system  has  had  to  encounter  in 
the  United  States.  I  might  mention  others,  were  it  necessary ;  but 
I  have  said  enough  to  show  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  has 


CHAP.  XVII.]  OBSTACLES — FOREIGN  IMMIGRATION.  89 

had  an  open  field  and  an  easy  course  there.  I  am  far  from  saying 
that  if  the  experiment  were  to  be  made  in  an  old  country,  where  the 
population  is  established  and  almost  stationary — where  it  is  homoge- 
neous and  indigenous — there  would  not  be  other  obstacles  to  en- 
counter, greater,  perhaps,  than  those  to  be  found  among  us,  and 
which  are  in  some  respects  peculiar  to  America.  I  only  wish  that 
these  difficulties  be  kept  in  sight  as  we  advance  in  this  work,  and 
that  they  be  appreciated  at  their  just  value  when  we  come  to  speak 
of  subjects  upon  which  they  bear. 

Such  are  some  of  the  topics  which  it  has  been  thought  of  conse- 
quence to  treat  beforehand,  that  the  reader  might  be  prepared  for 
a  better  comprehension  of  the  grand  subject  of  this  work.  Upon 
the  immediate  consideration  of  that  subject  we  are  now  ready  to 
enter. 


BOOK   II. 

THE    COLONIAL    ERA 


CHAPTER   I. 


RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER    OF    THE    EARLY    COLONISTS. FOUNDERS 

OF   NEW  ENGLAND. 

I  have  already  remarked,  that  if  we  would  understand  the  civil 
and  political  institutions  of  the  United  States  of  America,  we  must 
trace  them  from  their  earliest  origin  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  through 
their  various  developments  in  succeeding  ages,  until  they  reached 
their  present  condition  in  our  own  days. 

In  like  manner,  if  we  would  thoroughly  understand  the  religious 
condition  and  economy  of  the  United  States,  we  must  begin  with  an 
attentive  survey  of  the  character  of  the  early  colonists,  and  of  the 
causes  which  brought  them  to  America. 

Besides,  as  has  been  well  observed,*  a  striking  analogy  may  be 
traced  between  natural  bodies  and  bodies  politic.  Both  retain  in 
manhood  and  old  age  more  or  less  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  their 
infancy  and  youth.  All  nations  bear  some  marks  of  their  origin,  the 
circumstances  amid  which  they  were  born,  and  which  favored  their 
early  development,  and  left  an  impression  that  stamps  their  whole 
future  existence. 

We  begin  our  inquiry,  therefore,  into  the  religious  history  and 
condition  of  the  United  States,  by  portraying,  as  briefly  as  possible, 
the  religious  character  of  the  first  colonists,  who  may  be  regarded  as 
the  founders  of  that  commonwealth.  In  doing  this,  we  shall  follow 
neither  the  chronological  nor  the  geographical  order,  but  shall  first 
speak  of  the  colonists  of  New  England ;  next,  of  those  of  the  South ; 
and,  finally,  of  those  of  the  Middle  States.  This  gives  us  the  advan- 
tage at  once  of  grouping  and  of  contrast. 

*  See  M.  de  Tocqueville,  "Democratie  en  Amerique,"  Premiere  Partie,  tome  i., 
chap  i.     Also  Lang's  "  Religion  and  Education  in  America,"  chap,  i.,  page  11. 


CHAP.  I.]        CHARACTER   OF  THE   COLONISTS    OP   NEW  ENGLAND.  91 

How  wonderful  are  the  events  that  sometimes  flow  from  causes 
apparently  the  most  inadequate,  and  even  insignificant !  The  con- 
quest of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  in  1453,  seemed  to  be  only 
one  of  the  ordinary  events  of  war,  and  yet  it  led  to  the  revival  of 
letters  among  the  higher  classes  of  society  throughout  Europe.  The 
invention  of  the  art  of  printing  by  an  obscure  German,  two  years 
later,  gave  immense  facilities  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  among 
all  classes  of  people.  The  discovery  of  America  by  a  Genoese  adven- 
turer, toward  the  close  of  the  same  century  (a.  d.  1492),  produced  a 
revolution  in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  A  poor  monk  in  Germany, 
preaching  (a.  d.  1517)  against  indulgences,  emancipated  whole  na- 
tions from  the  domination  of  Rome.  And  the  fortuitous  arrival  of  a 
young  French  lawyer,  who  had  embraced  the  Faith  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, at  an  inconsiderable  city  in  Switzerland,  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhone,  followed  by  his  settling  there,  and  organizing  its  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  institutions,  was  connected,  in  the  mysterious  prov- 
idence of  Him  who  knows  the  end  from  the  begimiing,  and  who 
employs  all  events  to  advance  His  mighty  purposes,  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  free  institutions  in  England,  their  diffusion  in  America, 
and  their  triumph  in  other  lands. 

The  way  had  long  been  preparing  for  the  Reformation  in  England, 
by  the  opinions  avowed  by  Wicliffe  and  his  followers,  and  by  the  re- 
sistance of  the  government  to  the  claims  and  encroachments  of  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities.  The  light,  too,  which  had  begun  to  appear 
in  Germany,  cast  its  rays  across  the  North  Sea  ;  and  men  were  ere 
long  to  be  found  in  Britain  secretly  cherishing  the  doctrines  main- 
tained by  Luther.  At  length  an  energetic,  but  corrupt  and  tyran- 
nical prince,  after  having  been  rewarded  for  writing  against  Luther, 
by  receiving  from  the  pope  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith," 
thought  fit  to  revenge  the  refusal  of  a  divorce  from  his  first  wife 
by  abolishing  the  papal  supremacy  in  his  kingdom,  and  transferring 
the  headship  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  of  the  State,  to  himself.  But 
Henry  VIII.  desired  to  have  no  reformation  either  in  the  doctrines 
or  in  the  worship  of  the  Church ;  and  in  his  last  years  he  revoked  the 
general  permission  which  he  had  granted  for  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  being  all  that  he  had  ever  done  in  favor  of  the  Reforma- 
tion among  the  people,  and  confined  that  privilege  to  the  nobles  and 
merchants.  A  tyrant  at  once  in  spiritual  and  in  temporal  matters,  he 
punished  every  deviation  from  the  ancient  usages  of  the  Church,  and 
every  failure  of  compliance  with  his  own  arbitrary  ordinances. 

The  reign  of  Edward  VI.  (1547-1553)  forms  a  most  important  era 
in  the  history  of  England.  Partly  through  the  influence  of  the  writ- 
ings of  Calvin,  which  had  been  circulated  to  a  considerable  extent  in 


92  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  H. 

that  country ;  partly  through  that  of  his  public  instructions,  which 
had  been  frequented  at  Geneva  by  many  young  English  students  of 
divinity ;  but  still  more  by  the  lectures  of  those  two  eminent  Conti- 
nental divines,  Peter  Martyr  and  Martin  Bucer,  who  had  been  in- 
vited to  England,  and  made  professors  of  theology  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge :  many  persons  had  been  prepared  for  that  reformation  in 
the  Church  which  then  actually  took  place  under  the  auspices  of 
Cranmer,  and  was  carried  to  the  length,  in  all  essential  points,  at 
which  it  is  now  established  by  law.  Hooper,  and  many  other  excel- 
lent men,  were  appointed  to  the  most  influential  offices  in  the  Church, 
and  much  progress  was  made  in  resuscitating  true  piety  among  both 
the  clergy  and  the  people. 

But  the  Protestants  of  England  soon  became  divided  into  two 
parties.  One,  headed  by  Cranmer,  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
consisted  of  such  as  were  opposed  to  great  changes  in  the  discipline 
and  government  of  the  Church,  and  wished  to  retain,  to  a  certain  de- 
gree, the  ancient  forms  and  ceremonies,  hoping  thereby  to  conciliate 
the  people  to  the  Protestant  faith.  To  all  the  forms  of  the  Romish 
Church  the  other  party  bore  an  implacable  hatred,  and  insisted  upon 
the  rejection  of  even  a  ceremony  or  a  vestment  that  was  not  clearly 
enjoined  by  the  Word  of  God.  Wishing  to  see  the  Church  purified 
from  every  human  invention,  they  were  therefore  called  Puritans,  a 
name  given  in  reproach,  but  by  which,  in  course  of  time,  they  were 
not  averse  to  being  distinguished.  With  them  the  Bible  was  the 
sole  standard,  alike  for  doctrines  and  for  ceremonies,  and  with  it 
they  would  allow  no  decision,  of  the  Hierarchy,  or  ordinance  of  the 
king,  or  law  of  Parliament,  to  interfere.  On  that  great  foundation 
they  planted  their  feet,  and  were  encouraged  in  so  doing  by  Bucer, 
Peter  Martyr,  and  Calvin  himself.*  The  Churchmen,  as  their  oppo- 
nents were  called,  desired,  on  the  other  hand,  to  differ  as  little  as  pos- 
sible from  the  ancient  forms,  and  readily  adopted  things  indifferent ; 
but  the  Puritans  could  never  sever  themselves  too  widely  from  every 
usage  of  the  Romish  Church.  For  them  the  surplice  and  the  square 
cap  were  things  of  importance,  for  they  were  the  livery  of  supersti- 
tion, and  tokens  of  the  triumph  of  prescription  over  the  Word  of 
God — 0f  human  over  divine  authority ;  and  though  then  but  a  small 
minority,  even  thus  early  there  was  evidently  a  growing  attachment 
to  their  doctrines  in  the  popular  mind.f 

*  Strype's  Memorials,  vol.  ii.,  chap,  xxviii.  Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of 
England,  vol.  i.,  p.  140. 

f  The  Puritans  have  been  often  and  severely  blamed  for  what  some  have  been 
pleased  to  call  their  obstinacy  in  regard  to  things  comparatively  indifferent.  But  it 
has  been  well  remarked  by  President  Quincy,  in  his  Centennial  Address  at  Boston, 


CHAP.  I.]        CHARACTER    OF  THE   COLONISTS    OF   NEW  ENGLAND.  93 

During  the  bloody  reign  of  Edwards  VI.'s  successor,  Mary — that 
is,  from  1553  to  1558 — both  parties  of  Protestants  were  exposed  to 
danger,  but  especially  the  Puritans.  Thousands  fled  to  the  Conti- 
nent, and  found  refuge  chiefly  in  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  Emden, 
Wesel,  Basel,  Marburg,  Strasburg,  and  Geneva.  At  Frankfort  the  dis- 
pute between  the  two  parties  was  renewed  with  great  keenness ;  even 
Calvin  in  vain  attempted  to  allay  it.  In  the  end,  most  of  the  Puritans 
left  that  city  and  retired  to  Geneva,  where  they  found  the  doctrine, 
worship,  and  discipline  of  the  Church  to  accord  with  their  sentiments. 
While  residing  there,  they  adopted  for  their  own  use  a  liturgy  upon 
the  plan  suggested  by  the  great  Genevese  reformer,  and  there  also 
they  translated  the  Bible  into  English.*  Persecution,  meanwhile, 
prevailed  in  England.  Cranmer,  to  whom  the  queen  in  her  early 
years  had  owed  her  life,  Hooper,  Rogers,  and  other  distinguished 
servants  of  Christ,  suffered  death.  Many  of  the  clergy  again  submit- 
ted to  the  Roman  see. 

On  the  death  of  Queen  Mary,  many  of  the  exiled  Puritans  re- 
turned, with  their  hatred  to  the  ceremonies  and  vestments  inflamed 
by  associating  them  with  the  cruelties  freshly  committed  at  home,  and 
by  what  they  had  seen  of  the  simple  worship  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  abroad.  But  they  struggled  in  vain  to  effect  any  substan- 
tial change.  Elizabeth,  who  succeeded  her  sister  Mary  in  1558,  would 
hear  of  no  modifications  of  any  importance  in  doctrine,  discipline,  or 
worship,  so  that  in  all  points  the  Church  was  almost  identically  the 
same  as  it  had  been  under  Edward  VI.  While  Elizabeth  desired  to 
conciliate  the  Romanists,  the  Puritans  denounced  all  concessions  to 
them,  even  in  things  indifferent.  Though  by  profession  a  Protestant, 
she  was  much  attached  to  many  of  the  distinguishing  doctrines  and 
practices  of  the  papacy,  and  she  bore  a  special  hatred  to  the  Puritans, 
not  only  because  of  their  differing  so  much  from  her  in  their  religious 
views,  but  also  because  of  the  sentiments  they  hesitated  not  to  avow 
on  the  subject  of  civil  liberty.     The  oppression  of  the  government 

that  "the  wisdom  of  zeal  for  any  object  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the  particular  na- 
ture of  that  object,  but  by  the  nature  of  the  principle,  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times,  or  of  society,  have  identified  with  such  object." 

*  This  version  was  first  published  in  1560.  So  highly  was  it  esteemed,  particularly 
on  account  of  its  notes,  that  it  passed  through  thirty  editions.  To  both  the  transla- 
tion and  notes  King  James  had  a  special  dislike,  alleging  that  the  latter  were  full  of 
"traitorous  conceits."  In  the  conference  at  Hampton  Court,  "he  professed  that  he 
could  never  yet  see  a  Bible  well  translated  in  English,  but  worst  of  all  his  majesty 
thought  the  Geneva  to  be."  This  version  was  the  one  chiefly  used  by  the  first  emi- 
grants to  New  England,  for  that  of  King  James,  published  in  1611,  had  not  then 
passed  into  general  use. — Strype's  Annals.  Barlow's  Sum  and  Substance  of  the  Con- 
ference at  Hampton  Court. 


94  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

was  driving  them,  in  fact,  to  scrutinize  the  nature  and  limits  of  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  to  question  the  right  of  carrying  it 
to  the  extent  to  which  the  queen  and  the  bishops  were  determined 
to  push  it.  The  popular  voice  was  becoming  decidedly  opposed  to  a 
rigorous  exaction  of  conformity  with  the  royal  ordinances  respecting 
the  ceremonies.  Parliament  itself  became  imbued  with  the  same 
spirit,  and  showed  an  evident  disposition  to  befriend  the  Puritans, 
whose  cause  began  to  be  associated  with  that  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  The  bishops,  however,  and  most  of  the  other  dignified 
clergy,  supported  the  views  of  the  queen.  Whitgift,  in  particular, 
who  was  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1583,  vigorously  en- 
forced conformity.  The  Court  of  High  Commission  compelled  many 
of  the  best  ministers  of  the  Established  Church  to  relinquish  their  bene- 
fices, and  to  hold  private  meetings  for  worship  as  they  best  could,  very 
inferior  and  worthless  men  being  generally  put  into  their  places. 

Still,  the  suppression  of  the  Puritans  was  found  a  vain  attempt. 
During  Elizabeth's  long  reign  their  numbers  steadily  increased.  The 
services  they  rendered  to  the  country  may  be  estimated  by  the  ver- 
dict of  an  historian  who  has  been  justly  charged  with  lying  in  wait, 
through  the  whole  course  of  his  history,  for  an  opportunity  of  throw- 
ing discredit  upon  the  cause  of  both  religion  and  liberty,  and  who 
bore  to  the  Puritans  a  special  dislike.  Mr.  Hume  says,  "The  pre- 
cious spark  of  liberty  had  been  kindled  and  was  preserved  by  the 
Puritans  alone."* 

As  a  body,  the  Puritans  studiously  avoided  separation  from  the 
Established  Church.  What  they  desired  was  reform,  not  schism. 
But  toward  the  middle  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  a  party  arose  among 
them  that  went  to  an  extreme  in  their  opposition  to  the  "  Church- 
men," and  refused  to  hold  communion  with  a  Church  whose  ceremo- 
nies and  government  they  condemned.  These  were  the  Independ- 
ents, or  Brownists,  as  they  were  long  improperly  called,  from  the 
name  of  one  who,  for  a  time,  was  a  leading  person  among  them,  but 
who  afterward  left  them  and  ended  his  days  in  the  Established 
Church.  The  congregation  which  Brown  had  gathered,  after  sharing 
his  exile,  was  broken  up  and  utterly  dispersed.  But  the  principles 
which,  for  a  while,  he  had  boldly  advocated,  were  destined  to  survive 
his  abandonment  of  them  in  England,  as  well  as  to  flourish  in  a  far- 
distant  region,  at  that  period  almost  unknown. 

From  that  time  forward  the  Puritans  became  permanently  divided 
into  two  bodies— the  Nonconformists,  constituting  a  large  majority 
of  the  body,  and  the  Separatists.     The  former  saw  evils  in  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  and  refused  to  comply  with  them,  but,  at  the  same 
*  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  76. 


CHAP.  I.]         CHAEACTEE    OP  THE   COLONISTS    OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  95 

time,  acknowledged  its  merits,  and  desired  its  reform ;  the  latter  de- 
nounced it  as  an  idolatrous  institution,  false  to  Truth  and  to  Chris- 
tianity, and,  as  such,  fit  only  to  be  destroyed.  Eventually  the  two 
parties  became  bitterly  opposed  to  each  other :  the  former  reproached 
the  latter  with  precipitancy ;  the  latter  retorted  the  charge  of  a  base 
want  of  courage. 

The  accession  of  King  James  to  the  throne  of  England,  gave  new 
hopes  to  the  Puritans ;  but  these  were  soon  completely  disappointed. 
That  monarch,  though  brought  up  in  Presbyterian  principles  in  Scot- 
land, no  sooner  crossed  the  border  than  he  became  an  admirer  of 
prelacy,  and,  although  a  professed  Calvinist,  allowed  himself  to  be- 
come the  easy  tool  of  the  latitudinarian  sycophants  who  surrounded 
him.  Having  deceived  the  Puritans,  he  soon  learned  to  hate  both  them 
and  their  doctrines.  His  pedantry  having  sought  a  conference  with 
their  leaders  at  Hampton  Court,  scenes  took  place  there  which  were 
as  amusing  for  their  display  of  the  dialectics  of  the  monarch  as  they 
were  unsatisfactory  to  the  Puritans  in  their  results.  "  I  will  have 
none  of  that  liberty  as  to  ceremonies;  I  will  have  one  doctrine,  one 
discipline,  one  religion  in  substance  and  in  ceremony.  Never  speak 
more  on  that  point,  how  far  you  are  bound  to  obey."*  And  verily  it 
was  a  point  on  which  such  a  monarch  as  James  I.  did  not  wish  to 
hear  any  thing  said.  The  conference  lasted  three  days.  The  king 
would  bear  no  contradiction.  He  spoke  much,  and  was  greatly  ap- 
plauded by  his  flatterers.  The  aged  Whitgift  said,  "  Your  majesty 
speaks  by  the  special  assistance  of  God's  Spirit."  And  Bishop  Ban- 
croft exclaimed,  on  his  knees,  that  his  heart  melted  for  joy  "  because 
God  had  given  England  such  a  king  as,  since  Christ's  time,  has  not 
been."f 

The  Parliament  was  becoming  more  and  more  favorable  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Puritans ;  but  the  Hierarchy  maintained  its  own 
views,  and  was  subservient  to  the  wishes  of  the  monarch.  Conform- 
ity was  rigidly  enforced  by  Whitgift's  successor,  Bancroft.  In  1 604, 
three  hundred  Puritan  ministers  are  said  to  have  been  silenced,  im- 
prisoned, or  exiled.  But  nothing  could  check  the  growth  of  their 
principles.  The  Puritan  clergy  and  the  people  became  arrayed 
against  the  Established  Church  and  the  king.  The  latter  triumphed 
during  that  reign,  but  very  different  was  to  be  the  issue  in  the  fol- 

*  In  the  second  day's  conference  his  majesty  spoke  of  the  Puritans  with  little  cer- 
emony. "I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or  else 
worse."  "Only  burn  them,  that's  alL"— Barlow's  Su?n  and  Substance  of  the  Confer- 
ence at  Hampton  Court,  pp.  11,  83. 

f  Barlow's  Sum  and  Substance  of  the  Conference  at  Hampton  Court,  pp.  93,  94. 
Lingard,  ix.,  p.  32.     Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  hi.,  p.  45. 


96  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  LT. 

lowing.  So  hateful  to  the  court  were  the  people  called  Brownists, 
Separatists,  or  Independents,  that  efforts  were  made  with  great  suc- 
cess to  root  them  out  of  the  country.  Some  remains  of  them,  however, 
outlived  for  years  the  persecutions  by  which  they  were  assaulted. 

In  the  latter  years  of  Elizabeth,  a  scattered  flock  of  these  Separat- 
ists began  to  be  formed  in  some  towns  and  villages  of  Nottingham- 
shire, Lincolnshire,  and  the  adjacent  borders  of  Yorkshire,  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  John  Robinson ;  a  man  who  has  left  behind  him  a 
name  admitted,  even  by  his  bitterest  enemies,  to  be  without  reproach. 
This  little  church  was  watched  and  beset  day  and  night  by  the  agents 
of  the  court,  and  could  with  difficulty  find  opportunities  of  meeting 
in  safety.  They  met  here  or  there,  as  they  best  could,  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  thus  strove  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  piety  which  united  them. 
They  had  become  "  enlightened  in  the  Word  of  God,"  and  were  led 
to  see,  not  only  that  "  the  beggarly  ceremonies  were  monuments  of 
idolatry,"  but  also  that  "  the  lordly  power  of  the  prelates  ought  not 
to  be  submitted  to."  Such  being  their  sentiments,  no  efforts,  of  course, 
would  be  spared  to  make  their  lives  miserable,  and,  if  possible,  to  ex- 
tirpate them. 

At  last,  seeing  no  prospect  of  peace  in  their  native  land,  they  re- 
solved to  pass  over  to  Holland,  a  country  which,  after  having  success- 
fully struggled  for  its  own  independence  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  Protestant  faith,  now  presented  an  asylum  for  persons  of  all  nations 
when  persecuted  on  account  of  their  religion.  After  many  difficulties 
and  delays,  a  painfully  interesting  account  of  which  may  be  found  in 
their  annals,  they  reached  Amsterdam  in  1608.  There  they  found 
many  of  their  brethren  who  had  left  England  for  the  same  cause  with 
themselves.  The  oldest  part  of  these  exiled  Independents  was  the 
church  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Francis  Johnson.  It  had  emigrated 
from  London  about  the  year  1592.  There  was  also  a  fresh  accession 
composed  of  a  Mr.  Smith's  people.  Risk  of  collision  with  these  in- 
duced Mr.  Robinson  and  his  flock  to  retire  to  Leyden,  and  there 
they  established  themselves. 


CHAPTER   II. 

RELIGIOUS    CHAEACTEE   OF  THE    FOUNDEES    OF    NEW    ENGLAND. PLY- 
MOUTH  COLONY. 

The  arrival  of  Mr.  Robinson's  flock  in  Holland  was  destined  to  be 
only  the  beginning  of  their  wanderings.   "  They  knew  that  they  were 


CHAP.  II.]  CHARACTER    OF    THE   COLONISTS    OF   PLYMOUTH.  97 

pilgrims,  and  looked  not  much  on  those  things,  but  lifted  up  their 
eyes  to  heaven,  their  dearest  country,  and  quieted  their  spirits."* 
"  They  saw  many  goodly  and  fortified  cities,  strongly  walled  and 
guarded  with  troops  and  armed  men.  Also,  they  heard  a  strange  and 
uncouth  lano-ua^e,  and  beheld  the  different  manners  and  customs  of 
the  people,  with  strange  fashions  and  attires ;  all  so  far  differing  from 
that  of  their  plain  country  villages,  wherein  they  were  bred  and  born, 
and  had  so  long  lived,  as  it  seemed  they  were  come  into  a  new  world. 
But  those  were  not  the  things  they  much  looked  on,  or  that  long  took 
up  their  thoughts :  for  they  had  other  work  in  hand,"  and  "  saw  be- 
fore long  poverty  coming  on  them  like  an  armed  man,  with  whom 
they  must  buckle  and  encounter,  and  from  whom  they  could  not  fly. 
But  they  were  armed  with  faith  and  patience  against  him  and  all  his 
encounters ;  though  they  were  sometimes  foiled,  yet  by  God's  assist- 
ance they  prevailed,  and  got  the  victory." 

On  their  removal  to  Leyden,  as  they  had  no  opportunity  of  pursu- 
ing the  agricultural  life  they  had  led  in  England,  they  were  compelled 
to  learn  such  trades  as  they  could  best  earn  a  livelihood  by,  for  them- 
selves and  their  families.  Brewster,  a  man  of  some  distinction,  who 
had  been  chosen  their  ruling  elder,  became  a  printer.  Bradford,  after- 
ward their  governor  in  America,  and  their  historian,  acquired  the  art 
of  dyeing  silk.  All  had  to  learn  some  handicraft  or  other.  But,  not- 
withstanding these  difficulties,  after  two  or  three  years  of  embarrass- 
ment and  toil,  they  "  at  length  came  to  raise  a  competent  and  com- 
fortable living,  and  continued  many  years  in  a  comfortable  condition, 
enjoying  much  sweet  and  delightful  society,  and  spiritual  comfort 
together  in  the  ways  of  God,  under  the  able  ministry  and  prudent 
government  of  Mr.  John  Robinson  and  Mr.  William  Brewster,  who 
was  an  assistant  unto  him  in  the  place  of  an  elder,  unto  which  he  was 
now  called  and  chosen  by  the  church ;  so  that  they  grew  in  knowledge, 
and  other  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  lived  together 
in  peace,  and  love,  and  holiness.  And  many  came  unto  them  from 
divers  parts  of  England,  so  as  they  grew  a  great  congregation."!  As 
for  Mr.  Robinson,  we  are  told  that  the  people  had  a  great  affection 
for  him,  and  that  "  his  love  was  great  toward  them,  and  his  care  was 
always  bent  for  their  best  good,  both  for  soul  and  body.  For,  besides 
his  singular  abilities  in  divine  things,  wherein  he  excelled,  he  was  able 
also  to  give  direction  in  civil  affairs,  and  to  foresee  dangers  and  incon- 

*  See  Governor  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Colony. 

f  Governor  Bradford's  History  of  New  England.  It  has  been  calculated,  from  data 
to  be  found  in  other  histories  of  that  colony,  that  so  much  had  Mr.  Robinson's  church 
increased,  that  it  had  three  hundred  communicants  before  any  of  them  embarked 
for  America. 

1 


98  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

veniences ;  by  which  means  he  was  every  way  as  a  common  father 
unto  them."  Not  only  so :  besides  writing  several  books  and  preach- 
ing thrice  a  week  to  his  own  flock,  Mr.  Robinson  entered  warmly  into 
the  Arminian  controversy,  which  was  raging  during  his  residence  at 
Leyden,  and  disputed  often  with  Episcopius  and  other  champions  of 
the  Arminian  side.* 

Although  they  had  begun  to  enjoy  some  degree  of  comfort  in  Hol- 
land, still  they  did  not  feel  themselves  at  home  there.  Accordingly, 
they  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  removing  to  some  part  of 
America.  Their  reasons  for  thinking  of  such  a  step,  as  stated  in  the 
words  of  their  own  historian,  give  us  new  proof  of  the  extraordinary 
character  of  this  simple-hearted  and  excellent  flock. 

I.  "  And,  first,  they  found,  and  saw  by  experience,  the  hardness  of 
the  place  and  country  to  be  such,  as  few  in  comparison  would  come 
to  them,  and  fewer  that  would  bide  it  out  and  continue  with  them. 
For  many  that  came  to  them  could  not  endure  the  great  labor  and 
hard  fare,  with  other  inconveniences  which  they  underwent  and  were 
contented  with.  But  though  they  loved  their  persons,  and  approved 
their  cause,  and  honored  their  sufferings,  yet  they  left  them,  as  it  were, 
weeping,  as  Orpah  did  her  mother-in-law  Naomi ;  or  as  those  Romans 
did  Cato  in  Utica,  who  desired  to  be  excused  and  borne  with,  though 
they  could  not  all  be  Catos.f  For  many,  though  they  desired  to  enjoy 
the  ordinances  of  God  in  their  purity,  and  the  liberty  of  the  Gospel 
with  them,  yet,  alas !  they  admitted  of  bondage  with  danger  of  con- 
science, rather  than  endure  those  hardships ;  yea,  some  preferred  and 
chose  prisons  in  England  rather  than  liberty  in  Holland,  with  those 
afflictions.  But  it  was  thought  that  if  a  better  and  easier  place  of 
living  could  be  had,  it  would  draw  many,  and  take  away  these  dis- 
couragements ;  yea,  their  pastor  would  often  say  that  many  of  those 
that  both  writ  and  preached  against  them,  if  they  were  in  a  place 
where  they  might  have  liberty  and  live  comfortably,  they  would  then 
practise  as  they  did. 

II.  "  They  saw  that,  although  the  people  generally  bore  all  their 

difficulties  very  cheerfully  and  with  a  resolute  courage,  being  in  the 

best  of  their  strength,  yet  old  age  began  to  come  on  some  of  them ; 

and  their  great  and  continual  labors,  with  other  crosses  and  sorrows, 

hastened  it  before  the  time :  so  as  it  was  not  only  probably  thought, 

» 

*  Besides  the  testimony  of  TVinslow  in  his  "Brief  Narrative,"  which  might  be  sus- 
pected of  being  partial,  we  have  that  of  the  celebrated  Professor  Hornbeck,  in  his 
"Summa  Controversiarum  Religionis,"  respecting  Mr.  Robinson,  whom  he  calls  "Yir 
ille  (Johannes  Robinsonus),  gratus  nostris,  dum  vixit,  fuit,  et  theologis  Leidensibus 
familiaris  et  honoratus." 

f  See  Plutarch's  Life  of  Cato  the  Younger. 


CHAP.  II.]  CHARACTER    OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   PLYMOUTH.  99 

but  apparently  seen,  that  within  a  few  years  more  they  were  in  dan- 
ger to  scatter  by  necessity  pressing  them,  or  sink  under  their  burdens, 
or  both ;  and,  therefore,  according  to  the  divine  proverb,  that '  a  wise 
man  seeth  the  plague  when  it  cometh,  and  hideth  himself,'*  so  they, 
like  skillful  and  beaten  soldiers,  were  fearful  either  to  be  entrapped 
or  surrounded  by  their  enemies,  so  as  they  should  neither  be  able  to 
fight  nor  fly ;  and,  therefore,  thought  it  better  to  dislodge  betimes  to 
some  place  of  better  advantage  and  less  danger,  if  any  could  be 
found.  • 

III.  "  As  necessity  was  a  task-master  over  them,  so  they  were  forced 
to  be  such  not  only  to  their  servants,  but,  in  a  sort,  to  their  dearest 
children ;  the  which,  as  it  did  a  little  wound  the  tender  hearts  of 
many  a  loving  father  and  mother,  so  it  produced,  also,  many  sad  and 
sorrowful  effects.  For  many  of  their  children,  that  were  of  best  dis- 
positions and  gracious  inclinations,  having  learned  to  bear  the  yoke 
in  their  youth,  and  willing  to  bear  part  of  their  parents'  burden,  were 
oftentimes  so  oppressed  with  their  heavy  labors,  that  although  their 
minds  were  free  and  willing,  yet  their  bodies  bowed  under  the  weight 
of  the  same,  and  became  decrepit  in  their  early  youth ;  the  vigor  of 
nature  being  consumed  in  the  very  bud,  as  it  were.  But  that  which 
was  more  lamentable,  and  of  all  sorrows  most  heavy  to  be  borne,  was, 
that  many  of  their  children,  by  these  occasions,  and  the  great  licen- 
tiousness of  the  youth  in  the  country,  and  the  manifold  temptations 
of  the  place,  were  drawn  away  by  evil  examples  into  extravagant  and 
dangerous  courses,  getting  the  reins  on  their  necks,  and  departing 
from  their  parents.  Some  became  soldiers,  others  took  them  upon  far 
voyages  by  sea,  and  others  some  worse  courses,  tending  to  dissolute- 
ness and  the  danger  of  their  souls,  to  the  great  grief  of  their  parents 
and  dishonor  of  God ;  so  that  they  saw  their  posterity  would  be  in 
danger  to  degenerate  and  be  corrupted. 

IV".  "Lastly  (and  which  was  not  the  least),  a  great  hoj:>e  and  in- 
ward zeal  they  had  of  laying  some  good  foundation,  or  at  least 
to  make  some  way  thereunto,  for  the  propagating  and  advancing  the 
Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  these  remote  parts  of  the  world ; 
yea,  though  they  should  be  but  as  stepping-stones  unto  others  for  per- 
forming of  so  great  a  work." 

Besides  these  reasons,  mentioned  by  Governor  Bradford  in  his  His- 
tory of  Plymouth  Colony,  the  three  following  are  adduced  by  Ed- 
ward Winslow,  who  also  was  one  of  its  founders  :  1.  Their  desire  to 
live  under  the  protection  of  England,  and  to  retain  the  language  and 
the  name  of  Englishmen.     2.  Their  inability  to  give  their  children 

*  Quoted  from  the  Geneva  version. 


100  THE   COLONIAL   EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

such  an  education  as  they  had  themselves  received.  And,  3.  Their 
grief  at  the  profanation  of  the  Sabbath  in  Holland. 

Such  were  the  considerations  that  induced  the  Pilgrims  to  send 
over  to  England  a  deputation,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  what 
kind  of  reception  their  project  might  meet  with  from  the  king,  and 
whether  the  London  Company,  or,  as  it  was  most  commonly  called, 
the  Virginia  Company,  would  sanction  their  settling  as  a  colony  on 
any  part  of  its  possessions  in  America.  With  all  his  detestation  of 
the  Independents,  the  king  felt  rather  gratified  than  otherwise  at  the 
prospect  of  extending  colonization,  that  being  an  object  in  which  he 
had  long  felt  an  interest.  Many  years  before  this  he  had  encouraged 
colonization  in  the  Highlands  and  Western  Islands  of  Scotland,  and 
the  north  of  Ireland  has  long  been  indebted  for  a  prosperity  and 
security,  such  as  no  other  part  of  that  island  has  enjoyed,  to  the 
English  and  Scotch  plantations  which  he  had  been  at  great  pains  to 
form  on  lands  laid  waste,  during  the  desolating  warfare  of  his  prede- 
cessor, Elizabeth,  with  certain  Irish  chieftains  in  those  parts.*  To 
extend  the  dominions  of  England  he  allowed  to  be  "  a  good  and 
honest  motion."  On  his  inquiring  what  trade  they  expected  to  find 
in  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,!  being  that  in  which  they  thought 
of  settling,  they  answered,  "  Fishing ;"  to  which  the  monarch  replied, 
with  his  usual  asseveration,  "  So  God  have  my  soul,  'tis  an  honest 
trade  ;  'twas  the  apostles'  own  calling."];  But  as  the  king  wished  to 
consult  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of  London, 
the  delegates  were  recommended  not  to  press  the  matter,  but  to  trust 
to  his  connivance  rather  than  to  look  for  his  formal  consent.  This 
they  resolved  to  do,  rightly  concluding  that,  "  should  there  be  a  pur- 
pose to  wrong  us,  though  we  had  a  seal  as  broad  as  the  house-floor, 
there  would  be  found  means  enough  to  recall  it." 

The  Virginia  Company  showed  the  most  favorable  dispositions. 
They  said,  "  the  thing  was  of  God,"  and  granted  a  large  patent, 
which,  however,  proved  of  no  use.  One  of  them,  to  help  the  under- 
taking, lent  the  sum  of  £300,  without  interest,  for  three  years,  and 
this  was  afterward  repaid.  This  advance  must  have  been  a  season- 
able encouragement,  for  a  hard  bargain  had  to  be  struck  with  some 
London  merchants,  or  "adventurers,"  as  they  are  called  by  the 
colonial  historians,  hi  order  to  raise  what  further  money  was  required. 
At  length  two  ships,  the  Speedwell  of  sixty,  and  the  Mayflower  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty  tons,  were  engaged,  and  every  thing  else  ar- 

*  See  Robertson's  History  of  Scotland,  chap.  viii. 

f  The  reader  will  remember  that  the  whole  Atlantic  coast  was  then  called  Virginia 
by  the  English. 

\  Edward  "Winslow's  Brief  Narrative. 


CHAP.  II.]  CHAKACTER   OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   PLYMOUTH.  101 

ranged  for  the  departure  of  as  many  as  the  ships  could  accommodate. 
Those  went  who  hrst  offered  themselves,  and  Brewster,  the  ruling 
elder,  wras  chosen  then-  spiritual  guide.  The  other  leading  men  were 
John  Carver,  William  Bradford,  Miles  Standish,  and  Edward  Wins- 
low.  Mr.  Robinson  stayed  behind,  along  with  the  greater  part  of 
the  flock,  with  the  intention  of  joining  those  who  first  went,  at  some 
future  time,  should  such  be  the  will  of  God.  A  solemn  fast  was  ob- 
served. Their  beloved  pastor  afterward  delivered  a  farewell  charge, 
which  must  be  regarded  as  a  remarkable  production  for  those  times.* 

*  This  charge  is  related  in  Edward  Winslow's  "  Brief  Narrative."  It  is  here  sub- 
joined in  the  language  in  which  it  is  given  by  that  author,  from  whom  alone  it 
became  known  to  the  world : 

"  We  are  now  ere  long  to  part  asunder,  and  the  Lord  knoweth  whether  ever  he 
should  live  to  see  our  faces  again.  But  whether  the  Lord  had  appointed  it  or  not, 
he  charged  us  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels  to  follow  him  no  further  than  he 
followed  Christ ;  and  if  God  should  reveal  any  thing  to  us  by  any  other  instrument 
of  His,  to  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever  we  were  to  receive  any  truth  by  his 
ministry ;  for  he  was  very  confident  the  Lord  had  more  truth  and  light  yet  to  break 
forth  out  of  His  holy  "Word.  He  took  occasion,  also,  miserably  to  bewail  the  state 
and  condition  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  who  were  come  to  a  period  in  religion,  and 
would  no  further  go  than  the  instruments  of  their  reformation.  As,  for  example,  the 
Lutherans,  they  could  not  be  drawn  to  go  beyond  what  Luther  saw ;  for  whatever 
part  of  God's  will  He  had  further  imparted  and  revealed  unto  Calvin,  they  will  rather 
die  than  embrace  it.  And  so  also,  saith  he,  you  see  the  Calvinists,  they  stick  where 
he  left  them,  a  misery  much  to  be  lamented ;  for  though  they  were  precious  shining 
lights  in  their  times,  yet  God  hath  not  revealed  His  whole  will  to  them  ;  and  were 
they  now  living,  saith  he,  they  would  be  as  ready  and  willing  to  embrace  further 
light  as  that  they  had  received.  Here,  also,  he  put  us  in  mind  of  our  church  cove- 
nant, at  least  that  part  of  it  whereby  we  promise  and  covenant  with  God  and  one 
another,  to  receive  whatsoever  light  or  truth  shall  be  made  known  to  us  from  His 
written  Word ;  but,  withal,  exhorted  us  to  take  heed  what  we  received  for  truth,  and 
well  to  examine  and  compare  it,  and  weigh  it  with  other  scriptures  of  truth  before 
we  received  it.  For,  saith  he,  it  is  not  possible  the  Christian  world  should  come  so 
lately  out  of  such  thick  antichristian  darkness,  and  that  full  perfection  of  knowledge 
should  break  forth  at  once. 

"  Another  thing  he  commended  to  us  was,  that  we  should  use  all  means  to  avoid 
and  shake  off  the  name  of  Brownist,  being  a  mere  nickname  and  brand  to  make  re- 
ligion odious,  and  the  professors  of  it,  to  the  Christian  world.  And  to  that  end,  said 
he,  I  should  be  glad  if  some  godly  minister  would  go  over  with  you  before  my  com- 
ing ;  for,  said  he,  there  will  be  no  difference  between  the  unconformable  [noncon- 
forming, but  who  had  not  actually  separated  from  the  Church]  ministers  and  you, 
when  they  come  to  the  practice  of  the  ordinances  out  of  the  kingdom.  And  so  ad- 
vised us  by  all  means  to  endeavor  to  close  with  the  godly  party  of  the  kingdom  of 
England,  and  rather  to  study  union  than  division,  viz.,  how  near  we  might  possibly, 
without  sin,  close  with  them,  than  in  the  least  measure  to  effect  division  or  separation 
from  them.  And  be  not  loath  to  take  another  pastor  or  teacher,  saith  he ;  for  that 
flock  that  hath  two  shepherds  is  not  endangered,  but  secured  by  it." 

Such  is  the  remarkable  farewell  address,  as  reported  by  Winslow.     "  Words,"  says 


102  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

All  things  being  now  ready,  the  emigrants,  after  being  "  feasted 
at  the  pastor's  house,  for  it  was  large,"  by  those  who  were  to  remain 
behind,  and  having  been  "  refreshed  after  their  tears  by  the  singing 
of  psalms,"  set  out  for  Delft-haven,  where  the  ships  then  lay.  There 
they  were  again  "  feasted,"  and  prayer  having  been  made,  they  were 
accompanied  on  board  by  their  friends,  but  "  were  not  able  to  speak 
to  one  another  for  the  abundance  of  sorrow  to  part."  The  wind 
being  favorable,  they  were  soon  on  their  way. 

They  left  Holland  on  the  22d  of  July,  1620,  followed  by  the  respect 
of  the  people  among  whom  they  had  lived.  Winslow  tells  us  that 
the  Dutch,  on  learning  that  they  were  about  to  leave  their  country, 
urged  them  much  to  settle  in  Zealand,  or,  if  they  preferred  America, 
to  seek  a  home  for  themselves  on  the  Hudson,  within  the  territory 
discovered  by  the  navigator  who  gave  his  name  to  that  river  while  in 
their  service,  and  which  they  therefore  claimed,  and  had  resolved  to 
colonize.  But  the  liberal  inducements  then  offered  to  the  emigrants 
could  not  alter  their  purpose  of  settling  in  a  country  which  should  be 
under  the  government  of  their  native  land. 

A  few  days  brought  them  safely  to  Southampton,  in  England.  On 
learning  that  the  captain  of  the  smaller  of  the  two  vessels  was  unwill- 
ing to  prosecute  so  long  a  voyage  in  her,  after  having  put  back,  first 
to  Dartmouth  and  then  to  Plymouth,  they  were  compelled  to  send 
the  Speedwell,  with  part  of  the  company  to  London,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  6th  of  September  that  the  Mayflower  finally  sailed  with  a 
hundred  passengers.  The  voyage  proved  long  and  boisterous.  One 
person  died,  and  a  child  was  born,  so  that  the  original  number 
reached  the  coast  of  America.  On  the  11th  of  November  they  en- 
tered the  harbor  of  Cape  Cod,  and  after  having  spent  fully  a  month 
in  looking  about  for  a  place  that  seemed  suitable  for  a  settlement, 
they  fixed  at  last  on  the  spot  now  bearing  the  name  of  the  town 
where  they  had  received  the  last  hospitalities  of  England.  There 
they  landed  on  the  11th  of  December,  old  style,  or  the  22d  of  De- 
cember, according  to  the  new ;  and  to  this  day  the  very  rock  on 
which  they  first  planted  their  feet  at  landing  is  shown  to  the  passing 
stranger  as  a  cherished  memorial  of  that  interesting  event.  On  that 
rock  commenced  the  colonization  of  New  England. 

Prince  in  his  "Annals,"  speaking  of  it,  "almost  astonishing  in  that  age  of  low  and 
universal  bigotry  which  then  prevailed  in  the  English  nation ;  wherein  this  truly 
great  and  learned  man  seemed  to  be  the  only  divine  who  was  capable  of  rising  into 
a  noble  freedom  of  thinking  and  practising  in  religious  matters,  and  even  of  urging 
such  an  equal  liberty  on  his  own  people.  He  labors  to  take  them  off  from  their 
attachment  to  him,  that  they  might  be  more  entirely  free  to  search  and  follow  the 
Scriotures." 


CHAP.  II.]        CHARACTER   OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   PLYMOUTH.  103 

On  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  Mayflower  in  Cape  Cod  harbor, 
the  following  document  was  signed  by  all  the  male  heads  of  families, 
and  unmarried  men  not  attached  to  families  represented  by  their 

respective  heads : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are  underwritten, 
the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign  lord,  King  James,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  king,  defender 
of  the  faith,  etc.,  having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  king  and  country, 
a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia, 
do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God 
and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a 
civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation,  and 
furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid,  and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  con- 
stitute, and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitu- 
tions, and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  meet 
and  convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony ;  unto  which  we 
promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience.  In  witness  whereof,  we 
have  hereunder  subscribed  our  names,  at  Cape  Cod,  the  11th  of  No- 
vember, in  the  year  of  the  reign  of  our  sovereign  lord,  King  James, 
of  England,  France,  and  Ireland  the  eighteenth,  and  of  Scotland  the 
fifty-fourth,  Anno  Domini  1620." 

Here  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  first  attempt  made  by  an  Amer- 
ican colony  to  frame  a  constitution  or  fundamental  law — the  seminal 
principle,  as  it  were,  of  all  that  wonderful  series  of  efforts  which  have 
been  put  forth  in  the  New  World  toward  fixing  the  foundations  of 
independent,  voluntary  self-government.  John  Carver  was  chosen 
governor  of  the  colony,  and  to  assist  him  in  administering  its  affairs, 
a  council  of  five,  afterward  increased  to  seven  members,  was  ap- 
pointed. 

After  selecting  what  they  considered  to  be  the  best  spot  for  a  settle- 
ment, as  the  ship's  boat  could  not  come  close  to  the  water's 
edge,  they  suffered  much  in  health  by  having  to  wade  ashore.  The 
few  intervals  of  good  weather  they  could  catch,  between  snow  and 
rain,  they  spent  in  erecting  houses  ;  but  before  the  first  summer  came 
round,  nearly  half  their  number  had  fallen  victims  to  consumptions 
and  fevers,  the  natural  effects  of  the  hardships  to  which  they  had 
been  exposed.  What  must  have  been  the  distress  they  suffered 
during  that  long  winter,  passed  beneath  unknown  skies,  with  a 
gloomy,  unbroken  forest  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  dreary  ocean  on 
the  other ! 

But  with  the  return  of  spring  came  health,  and  hope,  and  courage. 
The  colony  took  root.    The  ground  it  occupied  had  been  cleared  for 


104  THE   COLONIAL  EKA.  [BOOK  II. 

it  by  the  previous  destruction  of  the  tribes  of  Indians  which  had  oc- 
cupied it  by  pestilence.  Of  course,  the  colonists  could  not  buy  land 
where  there  was  nobody  to  sell.  They  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  neighboring  tribes,  acquired  their  friendship,  and  entered  into 
treaty  with  them.  Their  numbers  were  in  course  of  time  increased 
by  successive  arrivals  of  emigrants,  until,  hi  1630,  they  exceeded 
300.  After  the  second  year  they  raised  grain  not  only  to  supply  all 
their  own  wants,  but  with  a  surplus  for  exportation.*  They  soon 
had  a  number  of  vessels  employed  at  the  fisheries.  They  even  planted 
a  colony  on  the  Kennebec,  in  Maine,  and  extended  their  trade  to  the 
Connecticut  River,  before  the  close  of  the  first  ten  years  of  their  set- 
tlement, and  before  any  other  English  colony  had  been  formed  on  the 
coast  of  northern  Virginia,  or  of  New  England,  the  name  given  it  by 
Captain  Smith  hi  1614,  and  by  which  it  was  ever  after  to  be  distin- 
guished. 

The  governor  and  council  were  chosen  every  year.  At  first,  and 
for  above  eighteen  years,  "  the  people"  met,  as  in  Athens  of  old,  for 
the  discussion  and  adoption  of  laws.  But  as  the  colony  extended, 
and  towns  and  villages  rose  along  the  coasts  and  in  the  interior,  the 
"  Democratic"  form  of  government  gave  place  to  the  "  Republican," 
two  delegates  being  chosen  from  each  township  to  form  "the 
General  Court,"  or  Legislature  of  the  commonwealth. 

For  some  time  they  had  no  pastor  or  preaching  elder,  but  Mr. 
Brewster  led  their  public  devotions  until  they  came  to  have  a  regular 
minister.  Their  affairs  as  a  church  were  conducted  with  the  same 
system  and  order  that  marked  their  civil  economy. 

Such  is  a  brief  account  of  the  founding  of  Plymouth  colony,  the  ear- 
liest of  all  the  colonies  that  were  planted  in  New  England.  Placed  on 
a  sandy  and  but  moderately  productive  part  of  the  coast,  and  com- 
manding a  very  limited  extent  of  inland  territory  from  which  to  de- 
rive the  materials  of  commerce  and  wealth,  it  could  not  be  expected 

*  During  the  first  two  years  they  suffered  greatly  at  times  for  want  of  food. 
Sometimes  they  subsisted  on  half  allowance  for  months.  They  were  once  saved  from 
famishing  by  the  benevolence  of  some  fishermen  off  the  coast.  "I  have  seen  men," 
says  Winslow,  " stagger  by  reason  of  faintness  for  want  of  food."  "Tradition  de- 
clares, that  at  one  time  the  colonists  were  reduced  to  a  pint  of  corn,  which,  being 
parched  and  distributed,  gave  to  each  individual  only  five  kernels :  but  tradition  falls 
far  short  of  reality ;  for  three  or  four  months  together  they  had  no  corn  whatever. 
When  a  few  of  their  old  friends  arrived  to  join  them,  a  lobster,  or  a  piece  of  fish, 
without  bread  or  any  thing  else  but  a  cup  of  fair  spring  water,  was  the  best  dish  which 
the  hospitality  of  the  whole  colony  could  afford.  Neat  cattle  were  not  introduced  till 
the  fourth  year  of  the  settlement.  Yet,  during  all  this  season  of  self-denial  and  suf- 
fering, the  cheerful  confidence  of  the  Pilgrims  in  the  mercies  of  Providence  remained 
unshaken."— Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  315. 


CHAP.  ni.J    CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY.    105 

to  become  a  great  and  important  colony,  like  others  of  which  I  have 
yet  to  speak.  But  it  was  excelled  by  none  in  the  moral  worth  of  its 
founders.  All  professing  godliness,  they  almost  without  exception,  as 
far  as  we  know,  did  honor  to  that  profession.  True  religion  was  with 
them  the  first  of  all  possessions.  They  feared  God,  and  He  walked 
among  them,  and  dwelt  among  them,  and  His  blessing  rested  upon 
them.  The  anniversary  of  their  disembarkation  at  Plymouth  has  long 
been  regularly  celebrated  upon  the  yearly  return  of  the  2  2d  December, 
in  prose  and  in  verse,  in  oration  and  in  poem :  a  patriotic  and  religious 
duty,  to  which  have  been  consecrated  the  highest  efforts  of  many  of 
the  noblest  and  purest  minds  ever  produced  by  the  country  to  whose 
colonization  they  led  the  way. 


CHAPTER  III. 

RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER  OF  THE   EARLY  COLONISTS. FOUNDERS  OF  NEW 

ENGLAND. COLONY  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY. 

The  first  English  settlements  in  America  arose,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered,* from  the  act  of  James  I.,  when  he  invested  two  Companies, 
the  one  formed  at  London,  the  other  at  Bristol  and  other  towns  in  the 
west  of  England,  each  with  a  belt  of  territory  extending  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  the  one  lying  between  the  34th  and 
38th,  the  other  between  the  41st  and  48th  degrees  of  north  latitude. 
Both  Companies  were  formed  in  a  purely  commercial  spirit ;  each  was 
to  have  its  own  council,  but  the  royal  Council  was  to  have  the  super- 
intendence of  their  whole  colonial  system.  The  London  Company  was 
dissolved,  we  have  seen,  after  an  existence  of  eighteen  years.  The  other 
accomplished  nothing  beyond  giving  encouragement  to  sundry  trading 
voyages,  to  the  coast  of  the  country  made  over  to  it  by  its  charter. 

At  length,  at  the  repeated  instance  of  Captain  Smith,  the  Western 
Company  sought  a  renewal  of  their  patent,  with  additional  powers, 
similar  to  those  of  the  London  Company's  second  charter  in  1609, 
with  the  view  of  attempting  an  extensive  plan  of  colonization ;  and, 
notwithstanding  opposition  from  the  Parliament  and  the  country  at 
large,  they  succeeded  in  their  request.  On  November  3d,  1620,  the 
King  granted  a  charter  to  forty  of  his  subjects,  among  whom  were 
members  of  his  household  and  government,  and  some  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  powerful  of  the  English  nobility,  conveying  to  them  in  ab- 
solute property,  to  be  disposed  of  and  administered  as  they  might 

*  Book  i.,  chap.  v. 


106  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

think  proper,  the  whole  of  that  part  of  North  America  which  stretches 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  between  the  40th  and  48th  degrees 
of  north  latitude,  under  the  title  of  "The  Council  established  at 
Plymouth,  in  the  County  of  Devon,  for  the  planting,  ruling,  ordering, 
and  governing  New  England,  in  America."  Under  the  auspices  of  a 
vast  trading  corporation,  invested  with  such  despotic  powers,  the 
colonization  of  New  England  commenced.  "While  this  charter  was 
in  course  of  being  granted,  the  Pilgrims  were  fast  approaching  the 
American  coast.  No  valid  title  had,  as  yet,  given  them  any  legal 
right  to  set  then*  feet  upon  it,  but  this  they  obtained  a  few  years  after 
from  the  newly-formed  Plymouth  Company. 

From  its  very  commencement  the  new  company  began  to  lavish 
away  grants  of  the  immense  .territory  which  had  been  conveyed 
to  it,  so  that  during  the  fifteen  years  of  its  existence  it  covered  with 
its  patents  the  whole  country  now  comprising  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  Maine,  and  the  vast  region  westward  of  these  as  far  as 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  Such  was  the  utter  disregard  shown  in  those 
grants  for  any  thing  like  clear  and  precise  boundaries,  that  we  can  not 
so  much  wonder  at  the  number  of  law-suits  that  arose  from  them,  as 
that  these  were  ever  terminated.  To  Mason  and  Gorges  were  granted 
the  territories  now  forming  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine ; 
to  Sir  "William  Alexander,  the  country  between  the  River  St.  Croix 
and  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  notwithstanding  that  it  was  all 
well  known  to  be  claimed  by  the  French,  who  had  even  planted  a 
colony  upon  it,  called  by  them  Acadie,  but  ultimately  destined  to  re- 
ceive the  name  of  Nova  Scotia. 

But  the  most  important  grant  made  by  the  Plymouth  Company, 
often  called  in  history  the  Council  for  New  England,  was  one  con- 
veying the  Massachusetts  territory  to  a  body  organized  in  England 
in  1628,  for  the  purpose  at  once  of  providing  an  asylum  for  persons 
sufiering  for  conscience'  sake  in  the  Old  World,  and  of  extending  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  New,  by  founding  a  colony  on  a  large  scale. 
With  this  view,  six  Dorchester  gentlemen  bought  from  the  company 
a  belt  of  land  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  between 
three  miles  south  of  Charles  River  and  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  three 
miles  north  of  every  part  of  the  River  Merrimac.  Of  these  six,  three, 
namely,  Humphrey,  Endicot,  and  Whetcomb,  retained  their  shares ; 
while  the  other  three  sold  theirs  to  Wrinthrop,  Dudley,  Johnson, 
Pynchon,  Eaton,  Saltonstall,  and  Bellingham,  so  famous  in  colonial 
history,  besides  many  others,  men  of  fortune,  and  friends  to  colonial 
enterprise.  Thus  strengthened,  this  new  company  sent  out  two  hun- 
dred colonists  under  Endicot,  a  man  every  way  fitted  for  such  an  en- 
terprise— courageous,  cheerful,  and  having  firmness  of  purpose  and 


CHAP.  III.]    CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAT.    107 

warmth  of  temper,  softened  by  an  austere  benevolence.  These  arrived 
in  Massachusetts  Bay  in  September,  1628,  and  settled  at  Salem,  where 
several  members  of  the  Plymouth  colony  had  already  established 
themselves. 

The  news  of  this  event  still  further  augmented  the  now  growing 
interest  felt  in  England  on  the  subject  of  colonizing  America.  In  the 
painful  circumstances  in  which  the  Puritans  were  placed,  they  could 
not  fail  to  have  their  attention  drawn  to  the  continued  prosperity  of 
the  Plymouth  settlement,  and  naturally  rejoiced  to  hear  of  a  land 
toward  the  setting  sun,  where  they  might  enjoy  a  tranquillity  to  which 
they  had  long  been  strangers  in  the  land  of  their  fathers.  Such  was 
the  interest  felt  throughout  the  kingdom,  that  not  only  in  London, 
Bristol,  and  Plymouth,  but  at  Boston,  and  other  inland  towns,  influ- 
ential persons  were  found  ready  to  risk  their  fortunes  in  the  cause. 
Efforts  were  made  to  procure  the  royal  sanction  for  the  patent  granted 
by  the  Plymouth  Company  to  that  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  royal 
charter  in  favor  of  the  latter,  after  much  trouble  and  expense,  passed 
the  seals  on  the  4th  of  March,  1629. 

This  charter,  bearing  the  signature  of  Charles  I.,  was  evidently 
granted  under  the  idea  that  the  persons  whom  it  incorporated  were 
to  be  rather  a  trading  community  than  a  civil  government.  They 
were  constituted  a  body  politic,  by  the  name  of  "  The  Governor  and 
Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England."  The  administra- 
tion of  its  affairs  was  committed  to  a  governor,  deputy-governor,  and 
thirteen  assistants,  elected  by  the  shareholders.  The  freemen  were 
to  meet  four  times  a  year,  or  oftener  if  necessary,  and  were  empow- 
ered to  pass  laws  for  the  regulation  of  their  affairs,  without  any  pro- 
vision rendering  the  royal  assent  indispensable  to  the  validity  of  their 
acts.  Strictly  considered,  the  patent  simply  conferred  the  rights  of 
English  subjects,  without  any  enlargement  of  religious  liberty.  It 
empowered,  but  did  not  require  the  governor  to  administer  the  oaths 
of  supremacy  and  allegiance.  The  persons  in  whose  favor  it  was 
granted  w  ere  still  members  of  the  Church  of  England — not  Inde- 
pendents or  Separatists — and  probably  neither  the  government,  nor  the 
first  patentees,  foresaw  how  wide  a  departure  from  the  economy  of 
that  Church,  would  result  from  the  emigration  that  was  about  to  take 
place  under  its  provisions. 

It  is  surprising  that  a  charter  which  conferred  unlimited  powers  on 
the  corporation,  and  secured  no  rights  to  the  colonists,  should  have 
become  the  means  of  establishing  the  freest  of  all  the  colonies.  This 
was  partly  owing  to  its  empowering  the  corporation  to  fix  what 
terms  it  pleased  for  the  admission  of  new  members.  The  corpora- 
tion could  increase  or  change  its  members  with  its  own  consent,  and 


108  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

not  being  obliged  to  bold  its  meetings  in  England,  it  was  possible  for 
it  to  emigrate,  and  tbus  to  identify  itself  with  the  colony  which  it 
was  its  main  object  to  found.  This  was  actually  done.  As  the  cor- 
poration was  entirely  composed  of  Puritans,  it  was  not  difficult,  by 
means  of  resignations  and  new  elections,  to  choose  the  governor, 
deputy-governor,  and  assistants,  from  among  such  as  were  willing  to 
leave  England  as  colonists. 

The  first  object  of  the  new  company,  on  obtaining  a  royal  charter, 
was  to  re-enforce  the  party  which  had  gone  out  with  Endicot  and  had 
settled  at  Salem.  The  re-enforcement  consisted  of  two  hundred  emi- 
grants, under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  an 
eminent  Nonconformist  minister,  who  was  delighted  to  accept  of 
the  invitation  to  undertake  that  charge.  By  their  arrival,  which 
happened  in  June,  the  colony  at  Salem  was  increased  to  three  hun- 
dred persons ;  but  diseases  and  the  hardships  incident  to  new  settle- 
ments cut  off,  during  the  following  whiter,  eighty  of  that  number, 
who  died  only  lamenting  that  they  were  not  allowed  to  see  the 
future  glories  of  the  colony.  Among  these  was  their  beloved  pas- 
tor, Mr.  Higginson,  whose  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the  little  com- 
munity. 

The  year  following,  namely,  1630,  was  a  glorious  one  for  the  colo- 
nization of  New  England.  Having  first  taken  every  preparatory 
measure  required  for  self-transportation,  the  corporation  itself  em- 
barked, accompanied  by  a  body  of  eight  hundred  to  nine  hun- 
dred emigrants,  among  whom  were  several  persons  of  large  property 
and  high  standing  in  society.  John  Winthrop,  one  of  the  purest 
characters  in  England,  had  been  chosen  governor.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  it  is  thought  that  no  single  colony  could  ever  be  compared 
with  them.  One  may  form  some  idea  of  the  elevated  piety  that  per- 
vaded the  higher  classes  among  the  Puritans  of  that  day,  from  the 
language  of  the  younger  Winthrop  :  "  I  shall  call  that  my  country," 
said  he  to  his  father,  "  where  I  may  most  glorify  God,  and  enjoy  the 
presence  of  my  dearest  friends.  Therefore  herein  I  submit  myself 
to  God's  will  and  yours,  and  dedicate  myself  to  God  and  the  com- 
pany with  the  whole  endeavors  both  of  body  and  mind.  The  '  Con- 
clusions,' which  you  sent  down,  are  unanswerable ;  and  it  can  not  but 
be  a  prosperous  action  which  is  so  well  allowed  by  the  judgments 
of  God's  prophets,  undertaken  by  so  religious  and  wise  worthies  in 
Israel,  and  indented  to  God's  glory  in  so  special  a  service."* 

Governor  Winthrop  had  a  fine  estate  which  he  sacrificed.  Many 
others  sacrificed  what  were  considered  good  estates  in  England  in 
those  days.     One  of  the  richest  of  the  colonists  was  Isaac  Johnson, 

*  Winthrop's  Journal,  i.,  pp.  359,  360. 


CHAP.  III.]  CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY.    109 

"  the  father  of  Boston."  As  proof  that  he  was  a  man  of  wealth,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that,  by  his  will,  his  funeral  expenses  were  limited 
to  £250.  His  wife,  the  Lady  Arabella,  was  a  daughter  of  the  Earl 
of  Lincoln.  In  her  devotedness  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  "  she  came 
from  a  paradise  of  plenty  into  a  wilderness  of  wants."*  They  were 
almost  without  exception  godly  people,  and  when  they  embarked  for 
America  were  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  being  that  in 
which  they  had  been  born  and  brought  up.  Though  of  the  party  that 
were  opposed  to  what  they  considered  Romish  superstitions  and  errors, 
they  still  cleaved  in  their  conscientious  convictions  to  the  National 
Church ;  and  though  they  could  not  in  all  points  conform  to  it,  yet 
they  had  not  separated  from  it,  but  sought  the  welfare  of  their  souls 
in  its  ministrations,  whenever  they  could  possibly  hope  to  find  it 
there.  They  lamented  what  they  regarded  as  its  defects,  but  not  in 
a  spirit  of  bitter  hostility.  This  very  plainly  appears  from  the  fol- 
lowing letter  addressed  to  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England, 
by  Governor  Winthrop  and  others,  immediately  after  their  embarka- 
tion, and  when  they  were  about  to  bid  a  long  farewell  to  their  native 
shores.     It  is  conceived  in  a  noble  spirit : 

"  The  humble  request  of  his  majesty's  loyal  subjects,  the  Governor 
and  the  Company,  late  gone  for  New  England,  to  the  rest  of  then- 
brethren  in  the  Church  of  England. 

"  Reverend  Fathers  and  Brethren — The  general  rumor  of  this 
solemn  enterprise,  wherein  ourselves,  with  others,  through  the  prov- 
idence of  the  Almighty,  are  engaged,  as  it  may  spare  us  the  labor 
of  imparting  our  occasion  unto  you,  so  it  gives  us  the  more  encour- 
agement to  strengthen  ourselves  by  the  procurement  of  the  prayers 
and  blessings  of  the  Lord's  faithful  servants  :  for  which  end  we  are 
bold  to  have  recourse  unto  you,  as  those  whom  God  hath  placed 
nearest  his  throne  of  mercy,  which,  as  it  affords  you  the  more  oppor- 
tunity, so  it  imposeth  the  greater  bond  upon  you  to  intercede  for  his 
people  in  all  their  straits ;  we  beseech  you,  therefore,  by  the  mercies 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  consider  us  as  your  brethren,  standing  in  very 
great  need  of  your  help,  and  earnestly  imploring  it.  And  howsoever 
your  charity  may  have  met  with  some  occasion  of  discouragement, 
through  the  misreport  of  our  intentions,  or  through  the  disaffection 
or  indiscretion  of  some  of  us,  or,  rather,  among  us — for  we  are  not 
of  those  that  dream  of  perfection  in  this  world — yet  we  desire  you 
would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  of  the  principles  and  body  of  our 
company,  as  those  who  esteem  it  our  honor  to  call  the  Church  of 
England,  from  whence  we  rise,  our  dear  mother,  and  can  not  part 
from  our  native  country,  where  she  specially  resideth,  without  much 

*  Judge  Story's  Centennial  Discourse. 


HO  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes ;  ever  acknowledging 
that  such  hope  and  part  as  we  have  obtained  in  the  common  salva- 
tion, we  have  received  in  her  bosom,  and  sucked  it  from  her  breasts : 
we  leave  it  not,  therefore,  as  loathing  that  milk  wherewith  we  were 
nourished  there,  but,  blessing  God  for  the  parentage  and  education, 
as  members  of  the  same  body,  shall  always  rejoice  in  her  good,  and 
unfeignedly  grieve  for  any  sorrow  that  shall  ever  betide  her ;  and 
while  we  have  breath,  sincerely  desire  and  endeavor  the  continuance 
and  abundance  of  her  welfare,  with  the  enlargement  of  her  bounds  in 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  Jesus. 

"  Be  pleased,  therefore,  fathers  and  brethren,  to  help  forward  this 
work  now  in  hand,  which,  if  it  prosper,  you  shall  be  the  more  glori- 
ous ;  howsoever,  your  judgment  is  with  the  Lord,  and  your  reward 
with  your  God.  It  is  a  usual  and  laudable  exercise  of  your  charity 
to  commend  to  the  prayers  of  your  congregations  the  necessities  and 
straits  of  your  private  neighbors :  do  the  like  for  a  church  springing 
out  of  your  own  bowels.  We  conceive  much  hope  that  this  remem- 
brance of  us,  if  it  be  frequent  and  fervent,  will  be  a  most  prosperous 
gale  in  our  sails,  and  provide  such  a  passage  and  welcome  for  us  from 
the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  as  both  we  which  shall  find  it,  and  your- 
selves, with  the  rest  of  our  friends  who  shall  hear  of  it,  shall  be  much 
enlarged  to  bring  in  such  daily  returns  of  thanksgivings  as  the  speci- 
alities of  His  providence  and  goodness  may  justly  challenge  at  all  our 
hands.  You  are  not  ignorant  that  the  Spirit  of  Gad  stirred  up  the 
Apostle  Paul  to  make  continual  mention  of  the  Church  of  Philippi 
(which  was  a  colony  from  Rome) ;  let  the  same  Spirit,  we  beseech 
you,  put  you  in  mind,  that  are  the  Lord's  remembrancers,  to  pray  for 
us  without  ceasing  (who  are  a  weak  colony  from  yourselves),  mak- 
ing continual  request  for  us  to  God  in  all  your  prayers. 

"  What  we  entreat  of  you  that  are  the  ministers  of  God,  that  we 
also  crave  at  the  hands  of  all  the  rest  of  our  brethren,  that  they 
would  at  no  time  forget  us  in  their  private  solicitations  at  the  throne 

of  grace. 

"  If  any  there  be  who,  through  want  of  clear  intelligence  of  our 
course,  or  tenderness  of  aifection  toward  us,  can  not  conceive  so  well 
of  our  way  as  we  could  desire,  we  would  entreat  such  not  to  despise 
us;  nor  to  desert  us  in  their  prayers  and  affections,  but  to  consider 
rather  that  they  are  so  much  the  more  bound  to  express  the  bowels 
of  their  compassion  toward  us,  remembering  always  that  both  nature 
and  grace  doth  ever  bind  us  to  relieve  and  rescue  with  our  utmost 
and  speediest  power  such  as  are  dear  to  us,  when  we  conceive  them 
to  be  running  uncomfortable  hazards. 

"What  go#odness  you  shall  extend  to  us  on  this,  or  any  other 


CHAP.  III.]  CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY.    Ill 

• 

Christian  kindness,  we,  your  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus,  shall  labor  to 
repay  in  what  duty  we  are  or  shall  be  able  to  perform,  promising,  so 
far  as  God  shall  enable  us,  to  give  Him  no  rest  on  your  behalf,  wishing 
our  heads  and  hearts  may  be  as  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting 
welfare,  when  we  shall  be  in  our  poor  cottages  hi  the  wilderness, 
overshadowed  with  the  spirit  of  supplication,  through  the  manifold 
necessities  and  tribulations  which  may  not  altogether  unexpectedly, 
nor,  we  hope,  unprofitably  befall  us.  And  so  commending  you  to 
the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  we  shall  ever  rest." 

The  ships  that  bore  Winthrop  and  his  companions  across  the  At- 
lantic, reached  Massachusetts  Bay  in  the  following  June  and  July. 
After  having  consoled  the  distresses  and  relieved  the  wants  of  the 
Salem  colonists,  the  newly-arrived  emigrants  set  about  choosing  a 
suitable  place  for  a  settlement ;  a  task  which  occupied  the  less  time, 
as  the  bay  had  been  well  explored  by  preceding  visitors.  The  first 
landing  was  made  at  the  spot  where  Charlestown  now  stands.  A 
party  having  gone  from  that  place  up  the  Charles  River  to  Water- 
town,  there  some  of  them  resolved  to  settle ;  others  preferred  Dor- 
chester ;  but  the  greater  number  resolved  to  occupy  the  peninsula  up- 
on which  Boston  now  stands,  the  settlement  receiving  that  name  from 
the  fact  that  part  of  the  colonists  had  come  from  Boston  in  England. 
For  a  while  they  were  lodged  in  cloth  tents  and  wretched  huts,  and 
had  to  endure  all  kinds  of  hardship.  To  complete  their  trials,  disease 
made  its  attacks,  and  carried  off  two  hundred  of  them  at  least  before 
December.  About  a  hundred  lost  heart,  and  went  back  to  England. 
Many  who  had  been  accustomed  in  their  native  land  to  ease  and 
plenty,  and  to  all  the  refinements  and  luxuries  of  cultivated  life,  were 
now  compelled  to  struggle  with  unforeseen  wants  and  difficulties. 
Among  those  who  sank  under  such  hardships,  and  died,  was  the  Lady 
Arabella  Johnson.  Her  husband,  too,  "the  greatest  furtherer  of  the 
plantation,"  was  carried  off  by  disease ;  but  "  he  died  willingly  and 
in  sweet  peace,"  making  "  a  most  godly  end."*  These  trials  and 
afflictions  were  borne  with  a  calm  reliance  on  the  goodness  of 
God,  nor  was  there  a  doubt  felt  that  in  the  end  all  would  go 
well.  They  were  sustained  by  a  profound  belief  that  God  was  with 
them,  and  by  bearing  in  mind  the  object' of  their  coming  to  that 
wilderness. 

Amid  all  this  gloom,  light  began  to  break  in  at  last.  Health  re- 
turned, and  the  blanks  caused  by  death  were  filled  up  by  partial  ar- 
rivals of  new  emigrants  from  England  in  the  course  of  the  two  fol- 
lowing years.  The  colony  becoming  a  little  settled,  measures  were 
taken  to  introduce  a  more  popular  government,  by  extending  the 

*  Governor  "Winthrop's  Journal. 


112  THE   COLONIAL   EKA.  [BOOK  II. 

privileges  of  the  charter,  which  had  established  a  sort  of  close  corpo- 
ration. By  it  all  fundamental  laws  were  to  be  enacted  by  general 
meetings  of  the  freemen,  or  members  of  the  company.  One  of  the  first 
steps,  accordingly,  was  to  convene  a  General  Court  at  Boston,  and 
admit  above  a  hundred  of  the  older  colonists  to  the  privileges  of  the 
corporation ;  and  from  that  they  gradually  went  on,  until,  instead  of 
an  aristocratic  government  conducted  by  a  governor,  deputy-gov- 
ernor, and  assistants,  holding  office  for  an  indefinite  period,  these 
functionaries  were  elected  annually,  and  the  powers  of  legislation 
were  transferred  from  general  courts  of  all  the  freemen  joined  with 
the  assistants,  to  a  new  legislature,  or  "  general  court,"  consisting  of 
two  branches,  the  assistants  constituting  the  upper,  and  deputies 
from  all  the  "  towns"  forming  the  lower  branch.  Within  five  years 
from  the  foundation  of  the  colony,  a  Constitution  was  drawn  up, 
which  was  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  Magna  Charta,  embracing  all  the 
fundamental  principles  of  just  government ;  and  in  fourteen  years  the 
colonial  government  was  organized  upon  the  same  footing  as  that  on 
which  it  rests  at  the  present  day. 

But  with  these  colonists  the  claims  of  religion  took  precedence  of 
all  other  concerns  of  public  interest.  The  New  England  fathers  be- 
gan with  God,  sought  His  blessing,  and  desired,  first  of  all,  to  pro- 
mote His  worship.  Immediately  after  landing  they  appointed  a  day 
for  solemn  fasting  and  prayer.  The  worship  of  God  was  commenced 
by  them  not  in  temples  built  with  hands,  but  beneath  the  wide- 
spreading  forest.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Philips-,  and 
other  faithful  ministers,  had  come  out  with  them ;  and  for  these,  as 
soon  as  the  affairs  of  the  colony  became  a  little  settled,  a  suitable 
provision  was  made. 

In  the  third  year  of  the  settlement  there  came  out,  among  other 
fresh  emigrants,  two  spiritual  teachers,  who  were  afterward  to  exer- 
cise a  most  extensive  and  beneficial  influence  in  the  colonies.  One  of 
these  was  the  eminently  pious  and  zealous  Cotton,  a  man  profoundly 
learned  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  well  as  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  and  the  Schoolmen ;  in  the  pulpit  rather  persuasive  than  elo- 
quent, and  having  a  wonderful  command  over  the  judgments  and 
hearts  of  his  hearers.  The  other  was  Hooker,  a  man  of  vast  endow- 
ments, untiring  energy,  and  singular  benevolence ;  the  equal  of  the 
Reformers,  though  of  less  harsh  a  spirit  than  that  which  marked  most 
of  those  great  men.  These  and  other  devoted  servants  of  God  were 
highly  appreciated,  not  only  for  their  works'  sake,  but  also  for  their 
great  personal  excellence. 

Before  long  the  colony  began  to  extend,  in  all  directions,  from 
Boston  as  a  centre  and  capital ;  and  as  new  settlements  were  made, 


CHAP.  IV.]      CHAEACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OP  CONNECTICUT,  ETC.       113 

additional  churches  were  also  planted ;  for  the  New  England  fathers 
felt  that  nothing  could  be  really  and  permanently  prosperous  without 
religion.*  Within  five  years  a  considerable  population  was  to  be 
found  scattered  over  Dorchester,  Roxbury,  Watertown,  Cambridge, 
Charlestown,  Lynn,  and  other  settlements.  Trade  was  spreading 
wide  its  sails ;  emigrants  were  arriving  from  Europe ;  brotherly  in- 
tercourse was  opened  up  with  the  Plymouth  colony,  by  the  visits  of 
Governor  Winthrop  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson.  Friendly  treaties 
were  made  not  only  with  the  neighboring  Indian  tribes,  the  Nip- 
mucks  and  Narragansetts,  but  also  with  the  more  distant  Mohigans 
and  the  Pequods  in  Connecticut.  God  was  honored  by  the  great 
bulk  of  the  people,  and  every  thing  bore  the  aspect  of  prosperity  and 
happiness.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
— a  colony  destined  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  over  all  the 
other  New  England  Plantations. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


EELIGIOUS    CHAEACTER  OF  THE  EAELY  COLONISTS. FOUNDERS  OF  NEW 

ENGLAND. COLONIES    OP   CONNECTICUT,  RHODE   ISLAND,  NEW  HAMP- 
SHIRE, AND  MAINE. GENERAL  REMARKS. 

Plymouth!  colony  had  been  planted  only  three  years  when  it  be- 
gan to  have  off-shoots,  one  of  which,  in  1623,  settled  at  Windsor,  on 
the  rich  alluvial  lands  of  the  Connecticut :  led  thither,  however,  more 
by  the  advantages  of  the  spot  as  a  station  for  trading  in  fur,  than  by 

*  Several  of  these  new  and  feeble  churches  actually  supported  two  ministers,  one 
caUed  the  "Pastor,"  and  the  other  the  "Teacher."  The  distinction  between  these 
offices  is  not  very  easily  expressed,  and  must  have  been  more  difficult  to  maintain  in 
practice.  Thomas  Hooker,  in  his  "Survey  of  the  Summe  of  the  Church  Discipline," 
etc.,  declares  the  scope  of  the  pastor's  office  to  be  "  to  work  upon  the  will  and  the 
affections ;"  that  of  the  doctor  or  teacher,  "to  informe  the  judgment,  and  to  help  for- 
ward the  work  of  illumination  in  the  minde  and  understanding,  and  thereby  to  make 
way  for  the  truth,  that  it  may  be  settled  and  fastened  on  the  heart."  The  former 
was  to  "  wooe  and  win  the  soul  to  the  love  and  practice  of  the  doctrine  which  is  ac- 
cording to  godlinesse;"  the  latter,  to  dispense  "a  word  of  knowledge."  I  need  hardly 
say  that  this  duplicate  of  the  ministerial  office,  though  much  liked  by  the  early  colo- 
nists, did  not  long  survive  their  day. 

f  Plymouth  in  America  is  often  called  New  Plymouth  by  early  writers,  in  speak- 
ing of  New  England.  I  prefer  the  name  by  which  exclusively  the  town  is  now 
known.     The  context  will  always  enable  the  reader  to  distinguish  it  from  Plymouth 


in  England. 


8 


114  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

the  nature  of  the  soil.  The  report  of  its  fertility  having,  at  length, 
reached  England,  the  Earl  of  Warwick  bought  from  the  Council  for 
New  England,  as  we  have  seen  that  the  Plymouth  Company  was 
sometimes  called,  the  whole  Valley  of  the  Connecticut,  which  pur- 
chase was,  the  year  following,  transferred  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  Lord 
Brooke,  and  John  Hampden.  Two  years  later,  the  Dutch,  who,  in 
rio-ht  of  discovery,  claimed  the  whole  of  the  Connecticut  territory, 
sent  an  expedition  from  their  settlement  at  Manhattan  up  the  River 
Connecticut,  and  attempted  to  make  good  their  claim  by  erecting  a 
block-house,  called  Good  Hope,  at  Hartford.  In  1635,  the  younger 
Winthrop,  the  future  benefactor  of  Connecticut,  came  from  England, 
with  a  commission  from  the  proprietors  to  build  a  fort  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and  this  he  did  soon  after.  Yet,  even  before  his  arrival, 
settlers  from  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  had  established  themselves 
at  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Weathersfield.  Late  in  the  fall  of  that 
year,  a  party  of  sixty  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  set  out  for 
the  Connecticut,  and  suffered  much  from  the  inclement  weather  of 
the  whiter  that  followed.  In  the  following  June,  another  party, 
amounting  to  about  a  hundred  in  number,  including  some  of  the  best 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  settlers,  left  Boston  for  the  Valley  of  the 
Connecticut.  They  were  under  the  superintendence  of  Hayes,  who 
had  been  one  year  governor  of  Boston,  and  of  Hooker,  who,  as  a 
preacher,  was  rivaled  in  the  New  World  by  none  but  Cotton,  and 
even  Cotton  he  excelled  hi  force  of  character,  kindliness  of  disposi- 
tion, and  magnanimity.  Settling  at  the  spot  where  Hartford  now 
stands,  they  founded  the  colony  of  Connecticut.  They,  too,  carried 
the  Ark  of  the  Lord  with  them,  and  made  religion  the  basis  of  their 
institutions.  Three  years  sufficed  for  the  framing  of  their  political 
government.  First,  as  had  been  done  by  the  Plymouth  colony,  they 
subscribed  a  solemn  compact,  and  then  they  drew  up  a  Constitution  on 
the  most  liberal  principles.  The  magistrates  and  legislature  were  to 
be  chosen  every  year  by  ballot,  the  "  towns"  were  to  return  repre- 
sentatives in  proportion  to  their  population,  and  all  members  of  the 
"towns,"  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  commonwealth, 
were  to  be  allowed  to  vote  at  elections.  Two  centuries  have  since 
passed  away,  but  Connecticut  still  rejoices  in  the  same  principles  of 

civil  polity. 

But  before  this  colony  had  time  to  complete  its  organization,  the 
colonists  had  to  defend  themselves  and  all  that  was  dear  to  them 
against  their  neighbors,  the  Pequods.  This  was  the  first  war  that 
broke  out  between  the  New  England  settlers  and  the  native  tribes, 
and  it  must  be  allowed  to  have  been  a  just  one  on  the  part  of  the 
former,  if  war  can  ever  be  just.     The  Pequods  brought  it  upon  them- 


CHAP.  IV.]      CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  CONNECTICUT,  ETC.      115 

selves  by  the  commission  of  repeated  murders.  In  less  than  six 
weeks,  hostilities  were  brought  to  a  close  by  the  annihilation  of  the 
tribe.  Two  hundred  only  were  left  alive,  and  these  were  either 
reduced  to  servitude  by  the  colonists,  or  were  incorporated  among 
the  Mohigans  and  Narragansetts. 

The  colony  of  New  Haven  was  founded  in  1638  by  a  body  of  Puri- 
tans, who,  like  all  the  rest,  were  of  the  school  of  Calvin,  and  whose 
religious  teacher  was  the  Rev.  John  Davenport.  The  excellent  The- 
ophilus  Eaton  was  their  first  governor,  and  continued  to  be  annually 
elected  to  that  office  for  twenty  years.  Their  first  Sabbath,  in  the 
yet  cool  month  of  April,  was  spent  under  a  branching  oak,  and  there 
their  pastor  discoursed  to  them  on  the  Saviour's  "  temptation  in  the 
wilderness."  After  spending  a  day  in  fasting  and  prayer,  they  laid 
the  foundation  of  their  civil  government,  by  simply  covenanting  that 
"  all  of  them  would  be  ordered  by  the  rules  which  the  Scriptures 
held  forth  to  them."  A  title  to  their  lands  was  purchased  from  the 
Indians.  The  following  year,  these  disciples  of  "Him  who  was 
cradled  in  a  manger"  held  their  first  Constituent  Assembly  in  a  barn. 
Having  solemnly  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Scriptures  contain 
a  perfect  pattern  of  a  commonwealth,  according  to  that  they  aimed 
at  constructing  theirs.  Purity  of  religious  doctrine  and  discipline, 
freedom  of  religious  worship,  and  the  service  and  glory  of  God,  were 
proclaimed  as  the  great  ends  of  the  enterprise.  God  smiled  upon  it, 
so  that  in  a  few  years  the  colony  could  show  flourishing  settlements 
rising  along  the  Sound,  and  on  the  opposite  shores  of  Long  Island. 

While  the  colonization  of  Connecticut  was  in  progress,  that  of 
Rhode  Island  commenced.  Roger  Williams,  a  Puritan  minister,  had 
arrived  in  Boston  the  year  immediately  folio  whig  its  settlement  by 
Winthrop  and  his  companions;  but  he  soon  advanced  doctrines 
on  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  the  nature  and  limits  of  human 
government,  which  were  unacceptable  to  the  civil  and  religious 
authorities  of  the  colony.  For  two  years  he  avoided  coming  into 
collision  with  his  opponents,  by  residing  at  Plymouth ;  but  having 
been  invited  to  become  pastor  of  a  church  in  Salem,  where  he  had 
preached  for  some  time  after  his  first  coming  to  America,  he  was 
ordered,  at  last,  to  return  to  England ;  whereupon,  instead  of  com- 
plying, he  sought  refuge  among  the  Narragansett  Indians,  then  occu- 
pying a  large  part  of  the  present  State  of  Rhode  Island.  Having 
ever  been  the  steady  friend  of  the  Indians,  and  defender  of  their 
rights,  he  was  kindly  received  by  the  aged  chief,  Canonicus,  and 
there,  in  1636,  he  founded  the  city  and  plantation  of  Providence. 
Two  years  afterward,  the  beautiful  island  called  Rhode  Island,  in 
Narragansett  Bay,  was  bought  from  the  Indians,  by  John  Clarke, 


116  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

William  Coddington,  and  their  friends,  when  obliged  to  leave  the 
Massachusetts  colony,  in  consequence  of  the  part  which  they  had  taken 
m  the  "  Antinomian  controversy,"  as  it  was  called,  a  discussion  of 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  further.  These  two  colonies 
of  Providence  and  Rhode  Island,  both  founded  on  the  principle  of 
absolute  religious  freedom,  naturally  presented  an  asylum  to  all  who 
disliked  the  rigid  laws  and  practices  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  in 
religious  matters ;  but  many,  it  must  be  added,  fled  thither  only  out 
of  hatred  to  the  stern  morality  of  the  other  colonies.  Hence  Rhode 
Island,  to  this  day,  has  a  more  mixed  population,  as  respects  religious 
opinions  and  practices,  than  any  other  part  of  New  England.  There 
is,  however,  no  inconsiderable  amount  of  sincere  piety  in  the  State, 
but  the  forms  in  which  it  manifests  itself  are  numerous. 

As  early  as  1623,  small  settlements  were  made,  under  the  grant  to 
Mason,  on  the  banks  of  the  Piscataqua,  in  New  Hampshire  ;  and,  in 
point  of  date,  both  Portsmouth  and  Dover  take  precedence  of  Bos- 
ton. Most  of  the  New  Hampshire  settlers  came  direct  from  England ; 
some  from  the  Plymouth  colony.  Exeter  owed  its  foundation  to  the 
abandonment  of  Massachusetts  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  "Wheelwright 
and  his  immediate  friends,  on  the  occasion  of  the  "  Antinomian  Con- 
troversy." 

The  first  permanent  settlements  made  on  "  the  Maine,"  as  the  con- 
tinental part  of  the  country  was  called,  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
islands — and  hence  the  name  of  the  State — date  as  early,  it  would 
appear,  as  1626.  The  settlers  were  from  Plymouth,  and  no  doubt 
carried  with  them  the  religious  institutions  cherished  in  that  earliest 
of  all  the  New  England  colonies. 

Within  twenty  years  from  the  planting  of  the  colony  at  Plymouth, 
all  the  other  chief  colonies  of  New  England  were  founded,  their  gov- 
ernments were  organized,  and  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  from  the  Ken- 
nebec River,  in  Maine,  almost  to  the  Hudson,  in  New  York,  was  marked 
by  their  various  settlements.  Offshoots  from  these  original  stocks 
gradually  appeared,  both  at  intervening  points  near  the  ocean,  and  at 
such  spots  hi  the  interior  as  attracted  settlers  by  superior  fertility  of 
soil  or  other  physical  advantages.  From  time  to  time  little  bands  of 
adventurers  left  the  older  homesteads,  and  wandered  forth  in  search 
of  new  abodes.  Carrying  their  substance  with  them  in  wagons,  and 
driving  before  them  their  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs,  these  simple  groups 
wended  through  the  tangled  forest,  crossed  swamps  and  rivers,  and 
traversed  hill  and  dale,  until  some  suitable  resting-place  appeared ; 
the  silence  of  the  wilderness,  meanwhile,  was  broken  by  the  lowing 
of  their  cattle  and  the  bleating  of  their  sheep,  as  well  as  by  the  songs 
of  Zion,  with  which  the  pilgrims  beguiled  the  fatigues  of  the  way. 


CHAP.  IV.J      CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  CONISTECTICUT,  ETC.      117 

Everywhere  nature  had  erected  "  bethels"  for  them,  and  from  be- 
neath the  overshadowing  oak,  mornhig  and  night,  their  orisons 
ascended  to  the  God  of  their  salvation.  Hope  of  future  comfort 
sustained  them  amid  present  toils.  They  were  cheered  by  the 
thought  that  the  extension  of  their  settlements  was  promoting  also 
the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

This  rapid  advance  of  the  New  England  settlements,  during  the 
first  twenty .  years  of  their  existence,  must  be  ascribed,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  troubled  condition  and  lowering  prospects  of  the 
mother  country  during  the  same  period.  The  despotic  principles  of 
Charles  I.  as  a  monarch,  still  more,  perhaps,  the  religious  intolerance 
of  Archbishop  Laud  and  his  partisans,  so  fatally  abetted  by  the  king, 
drove  thousands  from  England  to  the  colonies,  and  hurried  on  the 
Revolution  that  soon  followed  at  home.  The  same  oppressive  and 
bigoted  policy,  indeed,  that  was  convulsing  Great  Britain,  threatened 
the  colonies  also ;  but  in  1639,  just  as  they  were  on  the  eve  of  an 
open  collision,  the  government  of  that  country  found  itself  so  beset 
with  difficulties  at  home,  that  New  England,  happily  for  its  own  sake, 
was  forgotten. 

Nor  does  the  prosperity  of  the  colonial  settlements,  during  those 
twenty  years,  seem  less  remarkable  than  their  multiplication  and  ex- 
tension over  the  country.  The  huts  in  which  the  emigrants  first 
found  shelter,  gave  place  to  well-built  houses.  Commerce  made  rapid 
advances.  Large  quantities  of  the  country's  natural  productions, 
such  as  furs  and  lumber,  were  exported ;  grain  was  shipped  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  fishing  employed  many  hands.  Ship-building  was 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that,  within  twenty-five  years  from  the  first 
settlement  of  New  England,  vessels  of  four  hundred  tons  were  con- 
structed there.  Several  kinds  of  manufactures,  even,  began  to  take 
root  in  the  colonies. 

It  is  calculated  that  twenty-one  thousand  emigrants  had  arrived  in 
New  England  alone  before  the  Long  Parliament  met.  "  One  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  ships  had  borne  them  across  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
whole  cost  of  the  plantations  had  been  |1,000,000  :  a  great  expendi- 
ture and  a  great  emigration  for  that  age ;  yet,  in  1832,  more  than 
fifty  thousand  persons  arrived  at  the  single  port  of  Quebec  in  one 
summer,  bringing  with  them  a  capital  exceeding  $3,000,000."*  Even 
this  has  been  far  exceeded,  for  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
emigrants  arrived  at  New  York  in  1854. 

A  great  change,  in  this  respect,  took  place  during  the  next 
twenty  years,  embracing  the  period  of  the  civil  war,  and  the  pro- 
tectorate of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  his  son.  Not  only  were  there 
*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  415.  . 


118  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

few  arrivals  of  emigrants  during  that  interval,  but  some  fiery  spirits 
in  the  colonies  returned  to  the  mother-country,  eager  to  take  part  in 
the  contest  waging  there.  This,  indeed,  some  of  the  leading  men  in 
New  England  were  earnestly  pressed  to  do  by  letters  from  both 
'  Houses  of  Parliament,  but  they  were  unwilling  to  abandon  the  duties 
of  the  posts  they  occupied  in  the  New  World.  Upon  the  whole, 
from  1640  to  1660,  the  population  of  New  England  rather  diminished 
than  augmented. 

But  while  such,  during  the  early  years  of  their  existence,  was  the 
temporal  prosperity  of  these  colonies,  not  less  great  was  their  spiritual 
advance.  In  164V,  New  England  had  forty-three  churches  united  in 
one  communion ;  in  1 650,  the  number  of  churches  was  fifty-eight,  that  of 
communicants  seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  ;  and  in  1674, 
there  were  more  than  eighty  English  churches  of  Christ,  composed 
of  known  pious  and  faithful  professors  only,  dispersed  through  the 
wilderness.  Of  these,  twelve  or  thirteen  were  in  Plymouth  colony, 
forty-seven  in  Massachusetts  and  the  province  of  New  Hampshire, 
nineteen  in  Connecticut,  three  in  Long  Island,  and  one  in  Martha's 
Vineyard.*  Well  might  one  of  her  pious  historians  say,  "It  concern- 
eth  New  England  always  to  remember  that  she  is  a  religious  planta- 
tion, and  not  a  plantation  of  trade.  The  profession  of  purity  of 
doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline,  is  written  upon  her  forehead."f 

The  New  England  colonists  may  have  been  "  the  poorest  of  the 
people  of  God  in  the  whole  world,"  and  they  settled  in  a  rugged 
country,  the  poorest,  in  fact,  in  natural  resources,  of  all  the  United 
States'  territories ;  nevertheless,  their  industry  and  other  virtues 
made  them  increase  in  wealth,  and  transformed  their  hills  and  valleys 
into  a  delightful  land.  Their  commerce  soon  showed  itself  in  all 
seas ;  their  manufactures  gradually  gained  ground,  notwithstanding 
the  obstacles  created  by  the  jealousy  of  England,  and,  with  the  in- 
crease of  their  population,  they  overspread  a  large  extent  of  the 
space  included  in  their  charters. 

Many,  indeed,  affect  to  sneer  at  the  founders  of  New  England ;  but 
the  sneers  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  can  not  detract  from  their  real 
merits.  Not  that  we  would  claim  the  praise  of  absolute  wisdom  for 
all  that  was  done  by  the  "  New  England  fathers."  Some  of  their 
penal  laws  were  unreasonably  and  unjustly  severe,  some  were  frivo- 
lous, some  were  even  ridiculous.  J    Some  of  their  usages  were  dictated 

*  Prince's  Christian  History.     Emerson's  History  of  the  First  Church. 

f  Prince,  in  his  Christian  History,  p.  66. 

$  A  great  deal  of  misrepresentation  and  falsehood  has  been  published  by  ignorant 
and  prejudiced  persons  at  the  expense  of  the  New  England  Puritans.  For  example, 
pretended  specimens  of  what  are  called  "the  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut"  have  ap- 


CHAP.  IV.]      CHAEACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  CONNECTICUT,  ETC.       119 

by  false  views  of  propriety.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  they  were 
intolerant  to  those  who  differed  from  them  in  religion ;  that  they 
persecuted  Quakers  and  Baptists,  and  abhorred  Roman  Catholics. 
But  all  this  grew  out  of  the  erroneous  views  which  they,  in  common 
with  almost  all  the  world  at  that  time,  entertained  on  the  rights  of 
human  conscience,  and  the  duties  of  civil  government,  in  cases  where 
those  rights  are  concerned.  "We  shall  see,  likewise,  that  they  com- 
mitted some  most  serious  mistakes,  resulting  from  the  same  erroneous 
views,  in  the  civil  establishment  of  religion  adopted  in  most  of  the 
colonies.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  they  will  be  found  to  have  been 
far  in  advance  of  other  nations  of  their  day. 

With  respect  to  their  treatment  of  the  native  tribes,  they  were  led 
into  measures  which  appear  harsh  and  unjust,  by  the  fact  that  their  laws 
were  modeled  upon  those  of  the  Jews.  Such,  for  example,  was  their 
making  slaves  of  those  Indians  whom  they  made  prisoners  in  war. 
There  were  cases,  also,  of  individual  wrong  done  to  the  Indians. 
Yet  never,  I  believe,  since  the  world  began,  have  colonies  from  civ- 
ilized nations  been  planted  among  barbarous  tribes  with  so  little 
injustice  perpetrated  upon  the  whole.  The  land,  in  almost  all 
cases  where  tribes  remained  to  dispose  of  it,  was  taken  only  on  in- 
demnification being  given,  as  they  fully  recognized  the  right  of  the 
natives  to  the  soil.  The  only  exceptions,  and  these  were  but  few, 
were  the  cases  in  which  the  hazards  of  war  put  them  in  possession 
of  some  Indian  territory.  Nor  were  they  indifferent  to  the  spiritual 
interests  of  those  poor  people.  We  shall  yet  see  that  for  these  they 
did  far  more  than  was  done  by  any  other  colonies  on  the  whole 
American  continent,  and  I  shall  explain  why  they  did  not  do  more. 

Let  us  now,  in  conclusion,  contemplate  for  a  moment  the  great 
features  that  mark  the  religious  character  of  the  founders  of  New 
England,  leaving  our  remarks  on  their  religious  economy  to  be  intro- 
duced at  another  place. 

First,  then,  theirs  was  a  religion  that  made  much  of  the  Bible  :  I 
should  rather  say,  that  to  them  the  Bible  was  every  thing.  They  not 
only  drew  their  religious  principles  from  it,  but  according  to  it,  in  a 
great  degree,  they  fashioned  their  civil  laws.  They  were  disposed  to 
refer  every  thing  "  to  the  Law  and  to  the  Testimony."  And  although 
they  did  not  always  interpret  the  Scriptures  aright,  yet  no  people 
ever  revered  them  more,  or  studied  them  more  carefully.   With  them 

peared  in  the  journals  of  certain  European  travelers,  and  have  been  received  by 
credulous  transatlantic  readers  as  perfectly  authentic.  Yet  the  greater  part  of  these 
so-called  "  laws"  are  the  sheerest  fabrications  ever  palmed  upon  the  world,  as  is 
shown  by  Professor  Kingsley  in  a  note  appended  to  his  Centennial  Discourse,  deliv- 
ered at  New  Haven  a  few  years  ago. 


120  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

the  famous  motto  of  Chillingworth  had  a  real  meaning  and  application : 
The  Bible  is  the  religion  of  Pkotestants. 

Second  The  religion  of  the  founders  of  New  England  was  friendly 
to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  set  a  high  value  on  learning. 
Many  of  their  pastors,  especially,  were  men  of  great  attainments. 
Not  a  few  of  them  had  been  educated  at  the  universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  in  England,  and  some  had  brought  with  them  a 
European  reputation.  John  Cotton,  John  Wilson,  Thomas  Hooker, 
Dunster,  and  Chauncey,  of  whom  the  last  two  became  Presidents  of  the 
University  at  Cambridge ;  Thomas  Thatcher,  Samuel  Whiting,  John 
Sherman,  John  Eliot,  and  several  more  of  the  early  ministers,  were 
men  of  great  learning.  All  were  well  instructed  in  theology,  and 
thoroughly  versed  in  Hebrew,  as  well  as  in  Greek  and  Latin.  Some, 
too,  such  as  Sherman  and  Watertown,  were  fine  mathematical  schol- 
ars. They  were  the  friends  and  correspondents  of  Baxter,  and  Howe, 
and  Selden,  and  Milton,  and  other  luminaries  among  the  Puritans  of 
England.  Their  regard  for  useful  learning  they  amply  proved,  by  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  academies  for  all  the  youth  of  the  col- 
onies, as  well  as  for  their  own  children.  Only  eight  years  after  the 
first  settlement  of  Massachusetts  colony,  they  founded,  at  a  great  ex- 
pense for  men  in  their  circumstances,  the  University  of  Harvard,  at 
Cambridge,  near  Boston,  an  institution  at  which,  for  a  period  of  more 
than  sixty  years,  the  most  distinguished  men  of  New  England  received 
their  academical  education. 

Third.  Their  religion  was  eminently  fitted  to  enlarge  men's  views 
of  the  duty  of  living  for  God  and  promoting  His  kingdom  hi  the 
world.  They  felt  that  Christianity  was  the  greatest  boon  that  man- 
kind can  possess ;  a  blessing  which  they  were  bound  to  do  their  utmost 
to  secure  to  their  posterity.  In  going  to  a  new  continent,  they  were 
influenced  by  a  double  hope,  the  enlargement  of  Christ's  kingdom  by 
the  conversion  of  heathen  tribes,  and  the  founding  of  an  empire  for 
their  own  children,  in  which  His  religion  should  gloriously  prevail. 
Their  eyes  seemed  to  catch  some  glimpses  of  the  Messiah's  universal 
reign,  when  "all  nations  shall  be  blessed  in  Him,  and  call  Him 

blessed." 

Fourth.  Their  religion  prompted  to  great  examples  of  self-denial. 
Filled  with  the  idea  of  an  empire  in  which  true  religion  might  live 
and  flourish,  and  satisfied  from  what  they  had  seen  of  the  Old  World 
that  the  Truth  was  in  bondage  there,  they  sighed  for  a  land  in  which 
they  might  serve  God  according  to  His  blessed  Word.  To  secure 
such  a  privilege  to  themselves  and  their  children,  they  were  willing 
to  go  into  a  wilderness,  and  to  toil  and  die.  This  was  something 
worth  making  sacrifices  for,  and  much  did  they  sacrifice  to  obtain  it. 


f 


CHAP.  IV.]       CHAEACTEE  OP  THE  COLONISTS  OF  CONNECTICUT,  ETC.      121 

Though  poor  in  comparison  wit!}  many  others,  still  they  belonged  to 
good  families,  and  might  have  lived  very  comfortably  in  England ; 
but  they  preferred  exile  and  hardship,  in  the  hope  of  securing  spiritual 
advantages  to  themselves  and  their  posterity. 

Fifth.  There  was  a  noble  patriotism  in  their  religion.  Some  of 
them  had  long  been  exiled  from  England ;  others  had  found  their 
mother  country  a  very  unkindly  home,  and  yet  England  was  still  dear 
to  them.  With  them  it  was  not  "Farewell,  Babylon!  farewell, 
Rome !"  but,  "  Farewell,  dear  England  !"*  Though  contemptuously 
treated  by  James  I.  and  Charles  I.,  yet  they  spoke  of  being  desirous 
of  "  enlarging  his  Majesty's  dominions."  The  Plymouth  settlers  did 
not  wish  to  remain  in  Holland,  because  "  their  posterity  would  in  a 
few  generations  become  Dutch,  and  lose  their  interest  hi  the  English 
nation;  they  being  desirous  to  enlarge  his  Majesty's  dominions,  and 
to  live  under  their  natural  prince."  And  much  as  they  had  suffered 
from  the  prelacy  of  the  Established  Church,  unnatural  stepmother  as 
she  had  been  to  them,  nothing  could  extinguish  the  love  that  they  felt 
for  her,  and  for  the  many  dear  children  of  God  whom  she  retained  in 
her  communion. 

Sixth,  and  last.  Their  religion  was  favorable  to  liberty  of  con- 
science. Not  that  they  were  sufficiently  enlightened  to  bring  their 
laws  and  institutions  into  perfect  accordance  with  that  principle  at  the 
outset ;  but  even  then  they  were,  in  this  respect,  in  advance  of  the 
age  in  which  they  lived :  and  the  spirit  of  that  religion  which  had 
made  them  and  their  fathers,  in  England,  the  defenders  of  the  rights 
of  the  people,  and  their  tribunes,  as  it  were,  against  the  domination 
of  the  Jhrone  and  the  altar,  caused  them,  at  last,  to  admit  the  claims 
of  conscience  in  their  full  extent. 

The  fathers  of  New  England  were  no  mean  men,  whether  we  look 
to  themselves  or  to  those  with  whom  they  were  associated  in  England 
— the.  Lightfoots,  the  Gales,  the  Seldens,  the  Miltons,  the  Bunyans, 
the  Baxters,  the  Bateses,  the  Howes,  the  Charnocks,  the  Flavels,  and 
others  of  scarcely  inferior  standing,  among  the  two  thousand  who  had 
labored  in  the  pulpits  of  the  Established  Church,  but  whom  the 
Restoration  cast  out. 

Such  were  the  men  who  founded  the  New  England  colonies,  and 
their  spirit  still  survives,  in  a  good  measure,  in  their  descendants  after 
six  generations.  With  the  exception  of  some  tens  of  thousands  of 
recently-arrived  Irish  and  Germans  in  Boston,  and  other  towns  on  the 
sea-board,  and  of  the  descendants  of  those  of  the  Huguenots  who  set- 
tled in  New  England,  that  country  is  wholly  occupied  by  the  progeny 
of  the  English  Puritans  who  first  colonized  it.    But  these  are  not  the 

*  See  Mather's  Magnalia,  b.  iii.,  c.  i.,  s.  12. 


122  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

whole  of  their  descendants  in  America;  for  besides  the  2,728,116 
souls  forming  the  population  of  the  six  New  England  States  in  1850,  it 
is  supposed  that  an  equal,  if  not  a  still  greater  number,  have  emigrated 
to  New  York,  to  the  northern  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
and  into  all  parts  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  Minnesota : 
carrying  with  them,  in  a  large  measure,  the  spirit  and  the  institutions 
of  their  glorious  ancestors.  Descendants  of  the  Puritans  are  also  to 
be  found  scattered  over  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  many  of 
them  prove  a  great  blessing  to  the  neighborhoods  in  which  they 
reside. 

How  wonderful,  then,  was  the  mission  of  the  founders  of  New 
England  !     How  gloriously  accomplished !     How  rich  in  its  results ! 


CHAPTER  V. 

RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER  OP  THE    EARLY   COLONISTS. — FOUNDERS    OF  THE 

SOUTHERN  STATES. 

Widely  different  in  character,  I  have  already  remarked,  were  the 
early  colonists  of  the  Southern  from  those  of  the  Northern  States. 
If  New  England  may  be  regarded  as  colonized  by  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  with  its  simpler  maimers,  its  more  equal  institutions,  and  its 
love  of  liberty,  the  South  may  be  said  to  have  been  colonized  by  men 
very  Norman  in  blood,  aristocratic  in  feeling  and  spirit,  and  pretend- 
ing to  superior  dignity  of  demeanor  and  elegance  of  manners,.  Nor 
has  time  yet  effaced  this  original  diversity.  On  the  contrary,  it  has 
been  increased  and  confirmed  by  the  continuance  of  slavery  in  the 
South:  an  institution  which  has  not  prevailed  much  at  any  time  in 
the  North,  but  has  immensely  influenced  the  tone  of  feeling  and  the 
customs  of  the  Southern  States. 

If  the  New  England  colonies  are  chargeable  with  having  allowed 
their  feelings  to  become  alienated  from  a  throne  from  which  they  had 
often  been  contemptuously  spurned,  with  equal  truth  might  those  of 
the  South  be  accused  of  going  to  the  opposite  extreme,  in  their  at- 
tachment to  a  line  of  monarchs  alike  undeserving  of  their  love,  and 
incapable  of  appreciating  their  generous  loyalty. 

We  might  carry  the  contrast  still  further.  If  New  England  was 
the  favorite  asylum  of  the  Puritan  "  Roundhead,"  the  South  became, 
in  its  turn,  the  retreat  of  the  "Cavalier,"  upon  the  joint  subversion 
of  the  altar  and  the  throne  in  his  native  land.  And  if  the  religion  of 
the  one  was  strict,  serious,  in  the  regard  of  its  enemies  unfriendly  to 


CHAP.  V.]  CHARACTER   OF   THE   SOUTHERN   COLONISTS.  123 

innocent  amusements,  and  even  morose,  the  other  was  the  religion  of 
the  court,  and  of  fashionable  life,  and  did  not  require  so  uncompro- 
mising a  resistance  "  to  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and 
the  pride  of  life." 

Not  that  from  this  parallelism,  which  is  necessarily  general,  the 
reader  is  to  infer  that  the  Northern  colonies  had  exclusive  claims  to 
he  considered  as  possessing  a  truly  religious  character.  All  that  is 
meant  is  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  different  aspects  that  religion 
bore  hi  the  one  and  the  other. 

Virginia,  as  we  have  already  stated,  was  of  all  the  colonies  the  first 
in  point  of  date.  Among  its  neighbors  in  the  South  it  was  what 
Massachusetts  was  in  the  North — the  mother,  in  some  sense,  of  the 
rest,  and  the  dominant  colony.  Not  that  the  others  were  planted 
chiefly  from  it,  but  because,  from  the  prominence  of  its  position,  the 
amount  of  its  population,  and  their  intelligence  and  wealth,  it  acquired 
from  the  first  a  preponderating  influence,  which  it  retains  as  a  State 
to  this  day. 

The  records  of  Virginia  furnish  indubitable  evidence  that  it  was 
meant  to  be  a  Christian  colony.  The  charter  enjoined  that  the  mode 
of  worship  should  conform  to  that  of  the  Established  Church  of  En- 
gland. In  1619,  for  the  first  time,  Virginia  had  a  Legislature  chosen 
by  the  people ;  and  by  an  act  of  that  body,  the  Episcopal  Church  was, 
properly  speaking,  established.  In  the  following  year  the  number  of 
boroughs  erected  into  parishes  was  eleven,  and  the  number  of  pastors 
five,  the  population  at  the  time  being  considerably  under  three  thousand. 
In  1621-22,  it  was  enacted  that  the  clergy  should  receive  from  their 
parishioners  fifteen  himdred  pounds  of  tobacco  and  sixteen  barrels  of 
corn  each,  as  their  yearly  salary,  estimated  to  be  worth,  in  all,  £200. 
Every  male  colonist  of  the  age  of  sixteen  or  upward  was  required  to 
pay  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  and  one  bushel  of  corn. 

The  Company  under  whose  auspices  Virginia  was  colonized,  seems 
to  have  been  influenced  by  a  sincere  desire  to  make  the  plantation  the 
means  of  propagating  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indi- 
ans. A  few  years  after  the  first  settlement  was  made,  in  the  body 
of  their  instructions  they  particularly  urged  upon  the  governor  and 
Assembly  "the  using  of  all  probable  means  of  bringing  over  the 
natives  to  a  love  of  civilization,  and  to  the  love  of  God  and  His  true 
religion."  They  recommended  the  colonists  to  hire  the  natives  as 
laborers,  with  the  view  of  familiarizing  them  to  civilized  life,  and  thus 
to  bring  them  gradually  to  the  knowledge  of  Christianity,  that  they 
might  be  employed  as  instruments  "  in  the  general  conversion  of  their 
countrymen,  so  much  desired."  It  was  likewise  recommended  "  that 
each  town,  borough,  and  himdred  should  procure,  by  just  means,  a 


124  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

certain  number  of  Indian  children,  to  be  brought  up  in  the  first  ele- 
ments of  literature ;  that  the  most  towardly  of  these  should  be  fitted 
for  the  college,  in  buildiug  of  which  they  purposed  to  proceed  as  soon 
as  any  profit  arose  from  the  estate  appropriated  to  that  use ;  and  they 
earnestly  required  their  earnest  help  and  furtherance  in  that  pious 
and  important  work,  not  doubting  the  particular  blessing  of  God 
upon  the  colony,  and  being  assured  of  the  love  of  all  good  men  upon 

that  account."* 

Even  the  first  charter  assigns  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  grant, 
that  the  contemplated  undertaking  was  "  a  work  which  may,  by  the 
providence  of  Almighty  God,  hereafter  tend  to  the  glory  of  His 
Divine  Majesty,  in  the  propagating  of  the  Christian  religion  to  such 
people  as  yet  five  in  darkness  and  miserable  ignorance  of  the  true 
knowledge  and  worship  of  God."f 

The  Company  seem  early  to  have  felt  the  importance  of  promoting 
education  in  the  colony.  Probably  at  their  solicitation,  the  king  is- 
sued letters  to  the  bishops  throughout  England,  directing  collections 
to  be  made  for  building  a  college  in  Virginia.  The  object  was  at 
first  stated  to  be  "  the  training  up  and  educating  infidel  (heathen) 
children  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God." J  Nearly  £1,500  had  already 
been  collected,  and  Henrico  had  been  selected  as  the  best  situation 
for  the  building,  when,  at  the  instance  of  their  treasurer,  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  the  Company  granted  ten  thousand  acres  to  be  laid  off  for  the 
new  "  University  of  Henrico ;"  the  original  design  being  at  the 
same  time  extended,  by  a  resolve  that  the  institution  should  be  for 
the  education  of  the  English  as  well  as  the  Indians.  Much  interest 
was  felt  throughout  England  in  the  success  of  this  undertaking.  The 
Bishop  of  London  gave  £1,000  toward  its  accomplishment,  and  an 
anonymous  contributor  gave  £500  exclusively  for  the  education  of  the 
Indian  youth.  It  had  warm  friends  in  Virginia  also.  The  minister 
of  Henrico,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bargrave,  gave  his  library,  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  place  subscribed  £1,500  to  build  a  hostelry  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  strangers  and  visitors.§  Preparatory  to  the  college  or 
university,  it  was  proposed  that  a  school  should  be  established  at  St. 
Charles's  City,  to  be  called  the  East  India  School,  from  the  fact  that 
the  first  donation  toward  its  endowment  had  been  contributed  by  the 
master  and  crew  of  an  East  Indiaman  on  its  return  to  England. 

*  Burk's  "History  of  Virginia,"  pp.  225,  226. 

f  1  Charter. — 1.  Hazzard's  State  Papers,  51.  This  work  of  the  late  Mr.  Hazzard 
contains  all  the  charters  granted  by  the  sovereigns  of  England  for  promoting  coloniza- 
tion in  America. 

%  Stith's  "History of  Virginia,"  pp  162,  163. 

§  Holmes's  Annals,  p.  113. 


CHAP.  V.]  CHAKACTEE    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   COLONISTS.  125 

But  the  whole  project  received  its  death-blow  by  the  frightful 
massacre  perpetrated  by  the  Indians,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1622: 
when,  in  one  hour,  three  hundred  and  forty-seven  men,  women,  and 
children  were  slaughtered,  without  distinction  of  sex  or  age,  and  at 
a  time,  too,  when  the  Indians  professed  perfect  friendship.  For  four 
years,  nevertheless,  they  had  been  maturing  their  plan,  had  enlisted 
thirty  tribes  in  a  plot  to  extirpate  the  English,  and  might  have  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  so  but  for  the  fidelity  of  a  converted  Indian  named 
Chanco.  The  minds  of  the  colonists  were  still  further  estranged 
from  the  idea  of  providing  a  college  for  the  Indian  youth,  by  the 
long  and  disastrous  war  that  followed.  At  a  much  later  date,  a  col- 
lege for  the  education  of  the  colonial  youth  was  established  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, which  was  for  a  long  time  the  capital  of  the  colony.* 

In  proportion  as  the  population  began  to  spread  along  the  large 
and  beautiful  streams  that  flow  from  the  Allegheny  Mountains  into 
the  Chesapeake  Bay,  more  parishes  were  legally  constituted,  so  that 
in  1722  there  were  fifty-four,  some  very  large,  others  of  mode- 
rate extent,  in  the  twenty-nine  counties  of  the  colony.  Their  size 
depended  much  on  the  number  of  titheable  inhabitants  within  a  cer- 
tain district.  Each  parish  had  a  convenient  church  built  of  stone, 
brick,  or  wood,  and  many  of  the  larger  ones  had  also  chapels  of  ease, 
so  that  the  places  of  public  worship  were  no  fewer  than  seventy  in  all. 
To  each  parish  church  there  was  attached  a  parsonage,  and  likewise, 
in  almost  all  cases,  a  glebe  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  and  a  small 
stock  of  cattle.  But  not  more  than  about  half,  probably,  of  these 
established  churches  were  provided  with  ministers ;  in  the  rest  the 
services  were  conducted  by  lay  readers,  or  occasionally  by  neigh- 
boring clergymen.  When  the  war  of  the  Revolution  commenced, 
there  were  ninety-five  parishes,  and  at  least  a  hundred  clergymen  of 
the  Established  Church. 

*  This  was  the  College  of  "William  and  Mary,  established  in  1693,  and,  in  the 
order  of  time,  the  second  that  was  founded  in  the  colonies.  It  owed  its  existence, 
under  God,  to  the  great  and  long-continued  exertions  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Blair.  It  ought 
to  be  mentioned,  that  in  the  former  part  of  the  last  century  a  number  of  Indian  youths 
were  educated  at  it.  The  celebrated  Robert  Boyle  presented  it  with  a  sum  of  money 
to  be  applied  to  the  education  of  the  Indian  tribes.  At  first,  efforts  were  made  to 
procure  for  this  purpose  children  who  had  been  taken  in  war  by  some  victorious  tribe ; 
but  during  the  administration  of  Sir  Alexander  Spottswood,  which  commenced  in 
IT  10,  that  plan  was  relinquished  for  one  far  better.  The  governor  went  in  person  to 
the  tribes  in  the  interior,  to  engage  them  to  send  their  children  to  the  school,  and 
had  the  gratification  of  seeing  some  arrive  from  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  in 
compliance  with  his  request.  He,  also,  at  his  own  expense,  established  and  sup- 
ported a  preparatory  school  on  the  frontiers,  at  which  Indian  lads  might  be  prepared 
for  the  college  without  being  too  far  removed  from  their  parents. — See  Beverly 's 
- "  History  of  Virginia. " 


126  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

We  shall  yet  have  occasion  to  speak  of  the  Church  Establishment  in 
Virginia,  and  of  its  influence  upon  the  interests  of  religion,  as  well  as 
of  the  character  of  the  clergy  there  during  the  colonial  period.  I  can 
not,  however,  forbear  saying,  that  although  the  greater  number  of 
the  ministers  seem,  at  that  epoch,  to  have  been  very  poorly  qualified 
for  their  great  work,  others  were  an  ornament  to  their  calling.  I 
may  mention,  as  belonging  to  early  times,  the  names  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Hunt  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Whitaker.  The  former  of 
these  accompanied  the  first  settlers,  preached  the  first  English  ser- 
mon ever  heard  on  the  American  continent,  and  by  his  calm  and 
judicious  counsels,  his  exemplary  conduct,  and  his  faithful  ministrar 
tions,  rendered  most  important  services  to  the  infant  colony.  The 
latter  was  justly  styled  "the  apostle  of  Virginia."  At  a  later  period 
we  find,  among  other  worthies,  the  Rev.  James  Blair,  whose  inde- 
fatigable exertions  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  education  rank  him 
among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  America.  Nor  were  there  want- 
ing laymen  among  those  who  had  the  cause  of  God  at  heart.  Mor- 
gan Morgan,  in  particular,  was  greatly  blessed  in  his  endeavors  to 
sustain  the  spirit  of  piety,  by  founding  churches  and  otherwise,  more 
especially  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Great  Valley.  In  later  times 
Virginia  has  produced  many  illustrious  men,  not  only  hi  the  Epis- 
copal, but  in  almost  every  other  denomination  of  Christians. 

In  pohit  of  intolerance,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  equaled,  if  it 
did  not  exceed,  that  of  Massachusetts.  Attendance  at  parish  worship 
was  at  one  time  required  under  severe  penalties ;  nay,  even  the  sacra- 
mental services  of  the  Church  were  rendered  obligatory  by  law. 
Dissenters,  Quakers,  and  Roman  Catholics  were  prohibited  from 
settling  in  the  province.  People  of  every  name  entering  the  colony, 
without  having  been  Christians  in  the  countries  they  came  from,  were 
condemned  to  slavery.  Shocking  barbarity !  the  reader  will  justly 
exclaim ;  yet  these  very  laws  prove  how  deep  and  strong,  though 
turbid  and  dark,  ran  the  tide  of  religious  feeling  among  the  people. 
As  has  been  justly  remarked,  "  If  they  were  not  wise  Christians,  they 
were  at  least  strenuous  religionists." 

I  have  said  enough  to  show  that,  in  the  colonization  of  Virginia, 
religion  was  far  from  being  considered  as  a  matter  of  no  importance; 
its  influence,  on  the  contrary,  was  deemed  essential  to  national  as 
well  as  individual  prosperity  and  happiness. 

Maryland,  we  have  seen,  though  originally  a  part  of  Virginia, 
was  planted  by  Lord  Baltimore,  as  a  refuge  for  persecuted  Roman 
Catholics.  When  the  first  of  its  colonists  landed,  in  1634,  under  the 
guidance  of  Leonard  Calvert,  son  of  that  nobleman,  on  an  island  in 
the  Potomac,  they  took  possession  of  the  province  "  for  their  Sav- 


CHAP.  V.]  CHARACTER    OF   THE   SOUTHERN    COLONISTS.  127 

iour,"  as  well  as  for  "their  lord  the  king."  They  planted  their 
colony  on  the  broad  basis  of  toleration  for  all  Christian  sects,*  and 
in  this  noble  spirit  the  government  was  conducted  for  fifty  years. 
Think  what  we  may  of  their  creed,  and  very  different  as  was  this 
policy  from  what  Romanism  elsewhere  might  have  led  ns  to  expect, 
we  can  not  refuse  to  Lord  Baltimore's  colony  the  praise  of  having 
established  the  first  government  in  modern  times,  in  which  entire 
toleration  was  granted  to  all  denominations  of  Christians ;  this  too, 
at  a  time  when  the  New  England  Puritans  could  hardly  bear  with 
one  another,  much  less  with  "  papists ;"  when  the  zealots  of  Virginia 
held  both  "  papists"  and  "  Dissenters"  in  nearly  equal  abhorrence ; 
and  when,  in  fact,  toleration  was  not  considered  in  any  part  of  the 
Protestant  world  to  be  due  to  Roman  Catholics.  After  being  thus 
avowed  at  the  outset,  toleration  was  renewed  in  1649,  when,  by  the 
death  of  Charles  I.,  the  government  in  England  was  about  to  pass 
into  the  hands  of  the  extreme  opponents  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 
"And  whereas  the  enforcing  of  the  conscience  in  matters  of  religion," 
such  is  the  language  of  their  statute,  "  hath  frequently  fallen  out  to 
be  of  dangerous  consequence  in  those  commonwealths  where  it  has 
been  practised,  and  for  the  more  quiet  and  peaceable  government  of 
this  province,  and  the  better  to  preserve  mutual  love  and  amity 
among  the  inhabitants,  no  person  within  this  province  professing  to 
believe  in  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  any  way  troubled,  molested,  or  dis- 
countenanced for  his  or  her  religion,  or  hi  the  free  exercise  thereof." 
Meanwhile,  Protestant  sects  increased  so  much,  that  the  political 
power  of  the  State  passed,  at  length,  entirely  out  of  the  hands  of  its 
founders,  and  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  many  churches  had 
been  planted  in  it  by  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  and  Baptists. 

North  Carolina  was  first  colonized  by  stragglers  from  Virginia,  set- 
tling on  the  rivers  that  flow  into  Albemarle  Sound,  and  among  these 
were  a  good  many  Quakers,  driven  out  of  Virginia  by  the  intolerance 
of  its  laws.     This  was  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

*  It  is  due  to  truth  to  say  that  much  more  credit  has  been  given  to  Lord  Baltimore 
for  the  "toleration"  in  matters  of  religion  which  characterized  his  colony  in  Maryland 
than  has  been  merited.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  liberal  and  tolerant  views. 
But  from  whom  did  he  obtain  the  charter  for  his  projected  colony  ?  From  the  gov- 
ernment of  Protestant  England.  Who  can  believe  that  that  government  would  have 
granted  Lord  Baltimore  a  charter  that  did  not  guarantee  religious  liberty,  in  a  good 
measure,  to  Protestants  ?  Lord  Baltimore  could  have  obtained  no  other  charter  from 
the  government  of  England  than  that  which  he  did.  And  when  Eoman  Catholic 
orators  wish  to  prove  to  us  that  their  Church  is  a  tolerant  Church,  let  them  give  us 
an  instance  of  a  Roman  Catholic  country  granting  to  a  Protestant  colony  such  a  char- 
ter as  England,  Protestant  England,  gave  to  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  Roman  Catholic 
colony  in  Maryland. 


128  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

Puritans  from  New  England,  and  emigrants  from  Barbadoes,  followed 
in  succession  ;  but  the  dissenters  from  Virginia  predominated.  Re- 
ligion for  a  long  while  seems  to  have  received  but  little  attention. 
William  Edmonson  and  George  Fox  visited  their  Quaker  friends 
among  the  pine  groves  of  Albemarle,  in  1672,  and  found  a  "tender 
people."  A  Quarterly  Meeting  was  established,  and  thenceforward 
that  religious  body  may  be  said  to  have  organized  a  spiritual  govern- 
ment in  the  colony.  But  it  was  long  before  any  other  made  much 
progress.  No  Episcopal  minister  was  settled  in  it  until  1703,  and  no 
church  built  until  1705. 

The  Proprietaries,  it  is  true,  who  obtained  North  as  well  as  South 
Carolina  from  Charles  II.,  professed  to  be  actuated  by  a  "  laudable 
and  pious  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel ;"  but  they  did 
nothing  to  vindicate  their  claim  to  such  praise.  In  their  "  Constitu- 
tions" they  maintained  that  religion  and  the  profession  of  it  were  in- 
dispensable to  the  well-being  of  the  State  and  privileges  of  citizenship; 
vain  words,  as  long  as  no  measures  were  taken  to  promote  what  they 
thus  lauded.  But  we  shall  yet  see  that,  little  as  true  religion  owed 
in  North  Carolina  to  the  first  settlers,  or  to  the  Proprietaries, 
that  State  eventually  obtained  a  large  population  of  a  truly  relig- 
ious character,  partly  by  the  emigration  of  Christians  from  France 
and  Scotland,  partly  by  the  increase  of  Puritans  from  New  En- 
gland. 

South  Carolina  began  to  be  colonized  in  1670,  by  settlers  shipped 
to  the  province  by  the  Proprietaries,  and  from  that  time  forward  it 
received  a  considerable  accession  of  emigrants  almost  every  year.  Its 
climate  was  represented  as  being  the  finest  in  the  world  ;  under  its 
almost  tropical  sun,  flowers  were  said  to  blossom  every  month  of  the 
year ;  orange  groves  were  to  supplant  those  of  cedar ;  silk-worms 
were  to  be  fed  on  mulberry-trees  introduced  from  the  south  of 
France ;  and  the  choicest  wines  were  to  be  produced.  Ships  arrived 
with  Dutch  settlers  from  New  York,  as  well  as  with  emigrants  from 
England.  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  when  committed  to  the  Tower, 
in  1681,  begged  for  leave  to  exile  himself  to  Carolina. 

Nor  were  they  Churchmen  only  who  emigrated  thither  from  En- 
gland. Many  Dissenters,  disgusted  with  the  unfavorable  state  of 
things  in  that  country,  went  out  also,  carrying  with  them  intelligence, 
industry,  and  sobriety.  Joseph  Blake,  in  particular,  brother  of  the 
gallant  admiral  of  that  name,  having  inherited  his  brother's  fortune, 
devoted  it  to  transporting  his  persecuted  brethren  to  America,  and 
conducted  thither  a  company  of  them  from  Somersetshire.  Thus  the 
booty  taken  from  New  Spain  helped  to  people  South  Carolina .*  A 
*  Bancrofts  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  172,  173. 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHARACTER   OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   NEW   YORK.  129 

colony  from  Ireland,  also  went  over,  and  were  soon  merged  among 
the  other  colonists. 

Such  was  the  character  of  what  might  be  called  the  substratum  of 
the  population  in  South  Carolina.  The  colonists  were  of  various 
origin,  but  many  of  them  had  carried  thither  the  love  of  true  relig- 
ion, and  the  number  of  such  soon  increased. 

Georgia,  of  all  the  original  thirteen  colonies,  ranks  latest  in  point 
of  date.  The  good  Oglethorpe,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  a 
Christian  gentleman  of  the  Cavalier  school,  one  who  loved  his  king 
and  his  Church,  led  over  a  mixed  people  to  settle  on  the  banks  of  the 
Savannah.  Poor  debtors,  taken  from  the  prisons  of  England,  formed 
a  strange  medley  with  godly  Moravians  from  Herrnhut,  in  Germany, 
and  brave  Highlanders  from  Scotland.  To  Georgia,  also,  were  di- 
rected the  youthful  steps  of  those  two  wonderful  men,  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  and  the  still  more  eloquent  Whitfield,  who  made  the 
pine  forests  that  stretch  from  the  Savannah  to  the  Altamaha  resound 
with  the  tones  of  their  fervid  piety.  In  Georgia,  too,  was  built  the 
"  Orphan  House,"  for  the  erection  of  which  so  much  eloquence  was 
poured  forth,  both  in  England  and  in  the  Atlantic  cities  of  her  Amer- 
ican colonies,  by  the  last-named  herald  of  the  Gospel,  but  which  was 
not  destined  to  fulfill  the  expectations  of  its  good  and  great  founder. 

Thus  we  find  that  religion  was  not  the  predominating  motive  that 
led  to  the  colonization  of  the  Southern  States,  as  was  the  case  with 
New  England ;  and  yet  that  it  can  not  be  said  to  have  been  altogether 
wanting.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  every  charter  granted  to  the 
Southern  colonies,  "  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel"  is  mentioned  as 
one  of  the  reasons  for  undertaking  the  planting  of  them.  And  we 
shall  see  that  that  essential  element  of  a  people's  prosperity  ulti- 
mately received  a  vast  accession  of  strength,  from  the  emigrants 
whom  God  was  preparing  to  send  from  the  Old  World  to  those  parts 
of  the  New. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF   THE  EARLY   COLONISTS. — FOUNDERS 

OF   NEW   YORK. 

We  now  proceed  to  give  some  account  of  the  intermediate  States, 
comprising  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania. 
We  begin  with  New  York,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  first  colo- 
nized by  the  Dutch. 

9 


130  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

"  The  spirit  of  the  age,"  says  an  eminent  historian,*  to  whom  we 
have  often  referred,  "  was  present  when  the  foundations  of  New  York 
were  laid.  Every  great  European  event  affected  the  fortunes  of 
America.  Did  a  State  prosper — it  sought  an  increase  of  wealth  by 
plantations  in  the  West.  Was  a  sect  persecuted — it  escaped  to  the 
New  World.  The  Reformation,  followed  by  collisions  between  En- 
glish Dissenters  and  the  Anglican  Hierarchy,  colonized  New  England. 
The  Reformation,  emancipating  the  United  Provinces,  led  to  Euro- 
pean settlements  on  the  Hudson.  The  Netherlands  divide  with 
England  the  glory  of  having  planted  the  first  colonies  in  the  United 
States ;  they  also  divide  the  glory  of  having  set  the  example  of  pub- 
lic freedom.  If  England  gave  our  fathers  the  idea  of  a  popular 
representation,  Holland  originated  for  them  the  principle  of  federal 
union." 

It  was  the  Dutch,  we  remarked,  who  first  discovered  the  Rivers 
Hudson  and  Connecticut,  and  probably  the  Delaware  also.  In  1614, 
five  years  after  Henry  Hudson  had  sailed  up  the  first  of  those  streams, 
to  which  he  gave  his  name,  they  erected  a  few  huts  upon  Manhattan 
Island,  where  now  stands  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  first  attempts  to  establish  trading  stations,  for  they  could 
hardly  be  called  settlements,  were  made  by  the  merchants  of  Amster- 
dam. But  when  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  was  formed,  in 
1621,  it  obtained  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  At- 
lantic coast  claimed  by  Holland  in  North  America.  Colonization  on 
the  Hudson  River  does  not  appear  to  have  been  the  main  object  of 
that  Company.  The  territory  of  New  Netherlands  was  not  even 
named  in  the  charter,  nor  did  the  States  General  guarantee  its  pos- 
session and  protection.  Trade  with  the  natives  in  skins  and  furs  was, 
in  fact,  the  primary  and  almost  exclusive  object. 

But  in  a  few  years,  as  the  families  of  the  Company's  factors  in- 
creased, what  was  at  first  a  mere  station  for  traders,  gradually  bore  the 
appearance  of  a  regular  plantation  ;  and  New  Amsterdam,  on  Manhat- 
tan Island,  began  to  look  like  some  thriving  town,  with  its  little  fleet 
of  Dutch  ships  almost  continually  lying  at  its  wharves.  Settlements 
were  also  made  at  the  west  end  of  Long  Island,  on  Staten  Island, 
along  the  North  River  up  to  Albany,  and  even  beyond  that,  as  well 
as  at  Bergen,  at  various  points  on  the  Hackensack,  and  on  the  Rari- 
tan,  in  what  was  afterward  New  Jersey. 

Harmony  at  this  time  subsisted  between  the  Dutch  and  their  Puri- 
tan neighbors,  notwithstanding  the  dispute  about  their  respective 
boundaries.    In  1627,  we  find  the  Governor  of  New  Netherlands,  or 
New  Belgium,  as  the  country  was  sometimes  called,  paying  a  visit 
c  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  256, 


CHAP.  VI.]      CHARACTER   OF   THE   COLONISTS    OP   NEW   YORK.  131 

of  courtesy  and  friendship  to  the  Plymouth  colony,  where  he  was 
received  with  "  the  noise  of  trumpets."  A  treaty  of  friendship  and 
commerce  was  proposed.  "Our  children  after  us,"  said  the  Pilgrims, 
"  shall  never  forget  the  good  and  courteous  entreaty  which  we  found 
in  your  country,  and  shall  desire  your  prosperity  forever." 

The  colony,  as  it  extended,  gradually  penetrated  into  the  interior 
of  East  Jersey,  and  along  the  shores  of  the  Delaware.  Still,  receiv- 
ing neither  protection  nor  encouragement  from  the  fatherland,  and 
abandoned  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  low-minded  commercial  cor- 
poration, its  progress  was  not  what  might  have  been  expected.  It 
had  not  always  wise  governors.  The  infamous  Kieft,  neglecting  to 
conciliate  the  Indians,  allowed  the  settlers  on  Staten  Island  to  be 
destroyed  by  the  savages  of  New  Jersey ;  and  having,  in  a  most 
wanton  attack  upon  a  tribe  of  the  friendly  Algonquins,  massacred 
many  of  them  in  cold  blood,  the  colony  lay  for  two  whole  years 
(1643-1645)  exposed  to  attack  at  all  points,  and  was  threatened  with 
absolute  ruin.  From  the  banks  of  the  Raritan  to  the  borders  of  the 
Connecticut,  not  a  "bowery"  (farm)  was  safe.  "Mine  eyes,"  says  an 
eye-witness,  "  saw  the  flames  of  their  towns,  and  the  flights  and  hur- 
ries of  men,  women,  and  children,  the  present  removal  of  all  that 
could  to  Holland!"  In  this  war  the  celebrated* Anne  Hutchinson, 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  women  of  her  age,  was  murdered  by 
the  Indians,  together  with  all  her  family,  with  but  one  exception. 

Next  to  this  disastrous  war,  the  colony  was  most  retarded  by  the 
want  of  a  popular  form  of  government,  and  by  the  determination  of 
the  West  India  Company  not  to  concede  one. 

The  first  founders  of  New  Netherlands  were  men  of  a  bold  and 
enterprising  turn,  whose  chief  motive  in  leaving  Holland  was,  no 
doubt,  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  But  educated  in  the  National 
Dutch  Church,  they  brought  with  them  a  strong  attachment  to  its 
doctrines,  worship,  and  government ;  and  however  deeply  interested 
in  their  secular  pursuits,  they  unquestionably  took  early  measures  to 
have  the  Gospel  preached  among  them,  and  to  have  the  religious  in- 
stitutions of  their  fatherland  planted  and  maintained  in  their  adopted 
country.  A  church  was  organized  at  New  Amsterdam,  now  New 
York,  not  later,  probably,  than  1619  ;  and  there  was  one  at  Albany 
as  early,  if  not  earlier.  The  first  minister  of  the  Gospel  settled  at 
New  York,  was  the  Reverend  Everardus  Bogardus. 

The  Dutch  language  was  exclusively  used  in  the  Dutch  churches 
until  1764,  being  exactly  a  century  after  the  colony  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  English.  As  soon  as  that  event  took  place,  the  new 
governor  made  great  efforts  to  introduce  the  language  of  his  own 
country,  by  opening  schools  in  which  it  was  taught.     This,  together 


132  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

with  the  introduction  of  the  English  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  en- 
couragement it  received  from  Governor  Fletcher,  in  1693,  made  the 
new  language  come  rapidly  into  use.  The  younger  colonists  began 
to  urge  that,  for  a  part  of  the  day  at  least,  English  should  be  used  in 
the  churches ;  or  that  new  churches  should  be  built  for  those  who 
commonly  spoke  that  tongue.  At  length,  after  much  opposition  from 
some  who  dreaded  lest,  together  with  the  language  of  their  fathers, 
their  good  old  doctrhies,  liturgy,  catechisms,  and  all  should  dis- 
appear, the  Rev.  Dr.  Laidlie,  a  distinguished  Scotch  minister  who 
had  been  settled  in  an  English  Presbyterian  church  at  Flushing,  in 
Holland,  connected  with  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  was  invited 
to  New  York,  in  order  to  commence  Divine  service  there  in  English. 
Having  accepted  this  call,  he  was,  in  1764,  transferred  to  that  city, 
and  in  his  new  charge  his  labors  were  long  and  greatly  blessed. 
From  that  time  the  Dutch  language  gradually  disappeared,  so  that 
hardly  a  vestige  of  it  now  remains. 

The  population  of  New  Netherlands,  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  English,  is  supposed  to  have  been  about  ten  thousand,  or  half  as 
many  as  that  of  New  England  at  the  same  date.  There  has  been  a 
slight  emigration  to  it  from  Holland  ever  since ;  too  small,  however, 
to  be  regarded  as  of  any  importance.  But  all  the  emigrants  from 
Dutch  ports  to  America  were  not  Hollanders.  The  Reformation  had 
made  the  Dutch  an  independent  nation,  and  the  long  and  bitter  ex- 
perience they  had  had  of  oppression  led  them  to  oifer  an  asylum  to 
the  persecuted  Protestants  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  Italy,  and 
Germany.*     Among  others  who  thus  came  by  way  of  Holland  to 

8  This  has  often  been  made  an  occasion  of  reproach  and  ridicule,  by  men  of  more 
wit  than  grace  or  sense. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  in  their  "  Maid  of  the  Inn,"  introduce  one  of  their  charac- 
ters as  saying, 

"I  am  a  schoolmaster,  sir,  and  would  fain 
Confer  with  you  about  erecting  four 
New  sects  of  religion  at  Amsterdam." 

And  Andrew  Marvell,  in  his  "  Character  of  Holland,"  writes  : 

"  Sure,  when  religion  did  itself  embark, 
And  from  the  East  would  westward  steer  its  bark, 
It  struck ;  and  splitting  on  this  unknown  ground, 
Each  one  thence  pillaged  the  first  piece  he  found. 
Hence  Amsterdam,  Turk  Christian,  Pagan,  Jew, 
Staple  of  sects,  and  mint  of  schism,  grew ; 
That  bank  of  conscience,  where  not  one  so  strange 
Opinion,  but  finds  credit  and  exchange. 
In  vain  for  Catholics  ourselves  we  bear ; 
The  Universal  Church  is  only  there." 


CHAP.  VI.]      CHARACTER    OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   NEW   YORK.  133 

America  was  Robert  Livingston,  ancestor  of  the  numerous  and  dis- 
tinguished family  of  that  name  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of  Amer- 
ica, but  particularly  in  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and  son  of  that  pious 
and  celebrated  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Livingston,  of  Scotland,  who, 
after  being  eminently  blessed  in  his  labors  in  his  native  country,  was, 
.in  1663,  driven  by  persecution  into  Holland,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  as  minister  of  the  Scotch  Church  at  Rotterdam. 

Several  causes  retarded  the  progress  of  religion  among  the  Dutch  col- 
onists in  America.  One  was  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country,  caused 
by  actual  or  dreaded  hostilities  with  the  Indians ;  another  lay  in  the 
continued  and  unnecessary  dependence  of  the  churches  for  their  pas- 
tors on  the  Classis,  or  Presbytery,  of  Amsterdam ;  a  body  which,  how- 
ever well  disposed,  was  at  too  remote  a  distance  to  exercise  a  proper 
judgment  in  selecting  such  ministers  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
country  and  the  people  required ;  a  third  is  to  be  found  in  the  lateness 
of  the  introduction  of  the  English  tongue  into  the  public  services  of 
the  churches,  which  ought  to  have  occurred  at  least  fifty  years  sooner. 

Notwithstanding  these  hinderances,  the  blessed  Gospel  was  widely 
and  successfully  preached  and  maintained  in  the  colony,  both  when 
under  the  government  of  Holland  and  afterward.  Its  beneficial  in- 
fluence was  seen  in  the  strict  and  wholesome  morals  that  character- 
ized the  community,  and  in  the  progress  of  education  among  all 
classes,  especially  after  the  adoption  of  a  more  popular  form  of  gov- 
ernment. Many  faithful  pastors  were  either  sent  over  from  Holland, 
or  raised  up  at  later  periods  in  the  colony,  and  sent  over  to  Holland 
for  instruction  in  theology.  Among  the  former  I  may  mention  the 
Rev.  T.  J.  Frelinghuysen,  who  came  from  Holland  in  1720,  and  set- 
tled on  the  Raritan.  As  an  able,  evangelical,  and  eminently  success- 
ful preacher,  he  proved  a  great  blessing  to  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  in  America.  He  left  five  sons,  all  ministers,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, who  were  married  to  ministers.*  In  confirmation  of  this  state- 
ment, we  may  add  the  testimony  of  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  who, 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Prince,  of  Boston,  says,  "  The  labors  of  Mr.  Fre- 
linghuysen, a  Dutch  minister,  were  much  blessed  to  the  people  of 
New  Brunswick  and  places  adjacent,  especially  about  the  time  of  his 
coming  among  them.  When  I  came,  which  was  about  seven  years 
after,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  much  of  the  fruits  of  his  ministry ; 
divers  of  his  hearers,  with  whom  I  had  opportunity  of  conversing, 
appeared  to  be  converted  persons,  by  their  soundness  in  principle, 
Christian  experience,  and  pious  practice ;  and  these  persons  declared 
that  his  ministrations  were  the  means  thereof."f     Among  the  latter 

*  "Christian  Magazine,"  quoted  in  Dr.  Gunn's  "Memoirs  of  Dr.  Livingston,"  p.  8"7. 
\  Prince's  "  Christian  History."   I  may  add,  that  the  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  spoken  of  in 


134  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

was  the  late  J.  H.  Livingston,  D.D.,  who  died  in  1825,  after  being 
for  a  long  time  one  of  the  most  distinguished  ministers  in  the  United 
States.  On  his  return  from  Holland,  he  was  for  many  years  a  pastor 
in  New  York,  and  thereafter  divinity  professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  New  Brunswick,  in  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  one  of  those  who,  though  born  to  fill, 
a  large  space  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  yet  spend  their  lives  in 
the  calm  and  unostentatious  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  calling. 
The  impress  of  his  labors  and  character  will  long  be  felt  in  the 
Church  of  which  he  was  so  distinguished  an  ornament. 

The  descendants  of  the  Dutch  are  numerous,  and  widely  dispersed 
in  America.  They  constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  southern  part  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  eastern  part 
of  New  Jersey,  besides  forming  a  very  considerable  body  in  the 
north  and  west  of  the  former  of  these  States.  But  they  are  to  be 
found  also  in  larger  or  smaller  numbers  in  all  parts  of  the  confeder- 
acy. Though  often  made  the  butts  of  ridicule  for  their  simplicity,* 
slowness  of  movement,  and  dislike  to  innovation  of  every  kind,  yet 
taken  as  a  whole, 'they  have  been  uniformly  a  religious  and  virtuous 
people,  and  constitute  a  most  valuable  part  of  the  American  nation. 
Some  of  them  have  found  place  among  our  most  illustrious  states- 
men. Emigrants  from  the  country  of  Grotius  and  John  De  Witt 
have  furnished  one  President  and  three  Vice-presidents  to  the  Re- 
public which  they  have  done  so  much  to  establish  and  maintain. 
They  have  preserved  to  this  day  the  Church  planted  by  their  fore- 
fathers in  America ;  but  although  a  very  respectable  part  of  them  still 
adhere  to  it,  a  greater  number  have  joined  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  many  belong  to  other  denominations. 

the  text  was  the  ancestor  of  three  brothers  of  the  same  name,  who  have  adorned  the 
profession  of  the  law  in  the  present  generation,  one  of  whom,  the  Hon.  Theodore 
Frehnghuysen,  was  for  several  years  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  now  President  of  Rutgers'  College  at  New  Brunswick,  New 
Jersey. 

*  Their  Yankee  neighbors  tell  a  thousand  stories  showing  the  simplicity  of  the 
Dutch.  One  of  the  best  that  I  have  heard  is  that  respecting  a  wealthy  Dutch 
farmer,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  who  had  erected  a  church  in  his  neighborhood  at 
his  own  expense,  and  was  advised  (probably  by  some  very  sensible  Yankee)  to  attach 
a  lightning-rod  to  it.  But  he  received  the  suggestion  with  displeasure,  as  if  G-od 
would  set  fire  to  His  own  house !  Another  is  as  follows :  Shortly  after  the  arrival 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Laidlie,  and  the  commencement  of  his  labors,  he  was  thus  accosted 
by  some  excellent  old  people,  at  the  close  of  a  prayer-meeting  one  evening,  in  which 
he  had  most  fervently  addressed  the  throne  of  grace :  "  Ah,  Domine  !  (the  title  which 
the  Dutch,  in  their  affection,  give  to  their  pastors)  we  offered  up  many  an  earnest 
prayer  in  Dutch  for  your  coming  among  us ;  and  truly  the  Lord  has  heard  us  in 
English,  and  sent  you  to  us." 


CHAP.  VII.]      CHARACTER   OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF   NEW   JERSEY.  135 

CHAPTER   VII. 

RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER    OF   THE   EARLY   COLONISTS. — FOUNDERS    OF 

NEW   JERSEY. 

Hollanders  from  New  Amsterdam  were  the  first  European  in- 
habitants of  New  Jersey,  and,  during  the  continuance  of  the  Dutch 
dominion  in  America,  it  formed  part  of  New  Netherlands.  The  first 
settlement  was  at  Bergen,  but  the  plantation  extended  afterward  to 
the  Hackensack,  the  Passaic,  and  the  Raritan.  It  is  probable  that  a 
few  families  had  settled  even  on  the  Delaware,  opposite  Newcastle, 
before  the  cession  of  the  country  to  the  English  in  1664. 

But  the  Dutch  were  not  the  only  colonists  of  New  Jersey.  A 
company  of  the  same  race  of  English  Puritans  that  had  colonized 
New  England,  left  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island  in  1664,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  at  Elizabethtown.  They  must  have  been  few  in 
number,  for  four  houses  only  were  found  there  the  following  year,  on 
the  arrival  of  Philip  Carteret,  as  governor  of  the  province.  Wood- 
bridge,  Middletown,  and  Shrewsbury  were  founded  about  the  same 
time  by  settlers  from  Long  Island  and  Connecticut.  Newark  was 
founded  in  1667  or  1668,  by  a  colony  of  about  thirty  families,  chiefly 
from  Brandon  in  Connecticut. 

Colonists  from  New  Haven  bought  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Dela- 
ware, and  fifty  families  were  sent  to  occupy  it,  but  their  trading 
establishments  were  broken  up,  and  the  colony  dispersed,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Dutch  claiming  the  country.  There  are  extant  memo- 
rials, however,  in  the  records  of  Cumberland  and  Cape  May  comities, 
that  colonies  from  New  England  established  themselves  in  these,  not 
very  long  after  the  province  changed  its  masters.  The  middle  parts 
were  gradually  occupied  by  Dutch  and  New  England  settlers  in  their 
progress  westward,  and  also  by  a  considerable  number  of  Scotch  and 
Irish  emigrants— all  Protestants,  and  most  of  them  Presbyterians. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  by  the  gift  of  his  brother,  Charles  H., 
the  Duke  of  York  became  "Proprietary"  of  all  that  part  of  America 
ceded  by  the  Dutch  to  the  English  in  1 664.  The  same  year  the  duke 
sold  New  Jersey  to  Sir  George  Carteret  and  Lord  Berkeley,  in  honor 
of  the  former  of  whom  it  took  the  name  that  it  bears  to  this  day. 
They  immediately  appointed  a  governor,  and  gave  the  colonists  a 
popular  form  of  government.  The  Legislature,  however,  soon  be- 
came the  organ,  of  popular  disaffection;  few  were  willing  to  purchase 
a  title  to  the  soil  from  the  Indians,  and  to  pay  quit-rents  to  the  pro- 
prietaries besides.   After  some  years  of  severe  struggles  between  the 


136  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

colonists  and  their  governors,  Lord  Berkeley  became  tired  of  the 
strife,  and  in  1674  sold  the  moiety  of  New  Jersey  to   Quakers  for 
£1,000,  John  Fenwick  acting  as  agent  in  the  transaction  for  Edward 
Byllinge  and  his  assigns.     Fenwick  left  England  the  following  year, 
accompanied  by  a  great  many  families  of  that  persecuted  sect,  and 
formed  the  settlement  of  Salem,  on  the  Delaware.     Lands  in  West 
Jersey  were  now  offered  for  sale  by  the  Quaker  company,  and  hun- 
dreds of  colonists  soon  settled  upon  them.     In  1676  they  obtained 
from  Carteret  the  right,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  to  institute  a 
government  of  their  own  in  West  Jersey,  and  proceeded,  the  year 
following,  to  lay  the  ground-work  in  the  "  Concessions,"  as  their  fun- 
damental deed  was  called.     Its  main  feature  was,  that  "  it  put  the 
power  in  the  people."    Forthwith  great  numbers  of  English  Quakers 
nocked  to  West  Jersey,  with  the  view  of  permanently  settling  there. 
A  title  to  the  lands  was  purchased  from  the  Indians,  at  a  council  held 
under  the  shade  of  the  forest,,  at  the  spot  where  the  town  of  Burling- 
ton now  stands ;  there  the  tawny  "  children  of  the  wood"  conveyed 
to  the  "  men  of  peace"  the  domain  which  they  desired.     "  You  are 
our  brothers,"  said  the  sachems,  "  and  we  will  live  like  brothers  with 
you.     We  will  make  a  broad  path  for  you  and  us  to  walk  in.     If  an 
Englishman  falls  asleep  in  this  path,  the  Indian  shall  pass  him  by  and 
say,  He  is  an  Englishman ;  he  is  asleep ;  let  him  alone.   The  path  shall 
be  plain ;  there  shall  not  be  in  it  a  stump  to  hurt  the  feet."*    And 
they  kept  their  word. 

In  November,  1681,  Jennings,  who  acted  as  governor  for  the  Pro- 
prietaries, convened  the  first  Quaker  Legislature  ever  known  to  have 
met.  The  year  following,  by  obtaining  the  choice  of  their  own  chief 
ruler,  the  colonists  completed  the  measure  of  their  self-government. 
In  the  year  following  that,  again,  William  Penn  and  eleven  others 
bought  East  New  Jersey  from  Carteret's  heirs,  and  from  that  time  a 
Quaker  emigration  set  into  that  division  of  the  province,  but  never  to 
such  a  degree  as  to  change  the  general  character  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
population,  upon  the  whole,  remained  decidedly  Puritan,  though  com- 
bining the  elements  of  a  Scotch,  Dutch,  and  New  England  Presby- 
terianism.  It  was  much  otherwise  with  West  New  Jersey.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  churches  planted  here  and  there  by  other  de- 
nominations, and  standmg  like  islands  in  this  sea  of  the  religion  of 
George  Fox,  the  counties  of  Salem,  Gloucester,  and  Burlington  were 
peopled  almost  entirely  with  Quakers,  and  their  religion  flourishes 
there  to  this  day. 

After  about  twelve  years  of  embarrassment,  commencing  with  the 
Revolution  of  1688  in  England,  the  Proprietaries  of  both  East  and 

*  Smith's  "History  of  New  Jersey." 


CHAP.  VIII.]       CHARACTER    OF   THE   COLONISTS    OF    DELAWARE.  137 

West  New  Jersey  surrendered  "their  pretended  right  of  government" 
to  the  British  crown,  and  in  1702,  both  provinces,  united  hito  one, 
were  placed  for  a  time  under  the  Governor  of  New  York,  retaining, 
however,  their  own  Legislature.  The  population,  notwithstanding  the 
difficulties  and  irritation  caused  by  political  disputes  mtimately  affect- 
ing their  interests,  steadily  increased.  Taken  as  a  whole,  few  parts 
of  America  have  been  colonized  by  a  people  more  decidedly  religious 
in  principle,  or  more  intelligent  and  virtuous ;  and  such,  in  the  main, 
are  their  descendants  at  the  present  clay.  Nowhere  hi  the  United 
States  have  the  churches  been  supplied  with  a  more  faithful  or  an 
abler  ministry.  New  Jersey  was  the  scene  of  the  excellent  David 
Brainerd's  labors  among  the  Indians,  during  the  latter  years  of  his 
short  but  useful  life.  There,  too,  labored  the  celebrated  William  Ten- 
nent,  and  those  other  faithful  servants  of  God  in  whose  society  the 
eloquent  Whitfield  found  so  much  enjoyment,  and  whose  ministra- 
tions were  so  much  blessed.  There,  and  particularly  in  the  eastern 
section  of  the  province,  many  have  been  witnesses  of  those  outpour- 
ings of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  we  shall  have  occasion  hi  another  place 
to  speak  of.  And,  lastly,  in  New  Jersey  was  planted  the  fourth,  in 
point  of  date,  of  the  American  colleges,  commonly  called  Nassau  Hall, 
but  more  properly  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  That  college  has  had 
for  its  presidents  some  of  the  greatest  divines  that  have  ever  lived  in 
America :  Dickinson,  Burr,  the  elder  Edwards,  Finley,  Witherspoon, 
Smith,  Green,  etc. ;  and  it  is  still  as  flourishing  as  ever,  although  a 
sister  institution  has  arisen  at  New  Brunswick,  to  co-operate  hi  dif- 
fusing blessings  throughout  the  State.  I  may  add,  that  no  State  in 
the  American  Union  has  more  decidedly  proved  the  importance  of 
having  a  good  original  population,  nor  has  any  State  done  more,  in 
proportion  to  its  population  and  resources,  to  sustain  the  honor  and 
promote  the  best  interests  of  the  American  nation. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  THE  EARLY  COLONISTS. FOUNDERS  OF  DELA- 
WARE, AT  FIRST  CALLED  NEW  SWEDEN. 

Though  of  all  the  States  Delaware  has  the  smallest  population,  and 
is  the  least  but  one  in  territorial  extent,  yet  its  history  is  far  from  un- 
interesting. Fairly  included  within  the  limits  of  Maryland,  it  never 
submitted  to  the  rule  of  Lord  Baltimore's  colony ;  subjected  for  a 
time  to  the  dominion  of  the  Quaker  province  of  William  Penn,  from 


138  THE   COLONIAL   EBA.  [BOOK  II. 

that  it  emancipated  itself  in  time  to  be  justly  ranked  among  the 
original  Thirteen  States,  which  so  nobly  achieved  their  independ- 
ence. 

This  small  province  was  claimed  by  the  Dutch  in  right  of  discovery, 
as  well  as  the  country  on  the  other  side  of  Delaware  River  and  Bay ; 
and  in  1631,  a  colony  under  De  Vries  actually  left  the  Texel  for  the 
south  shore  of  that  bay,  and  settled  near  the  present  site  of  Lewes- 
town,  on  lands  acquired  the  year  before  by  Godyn  and  his  associates, 
Van  Rennsellaer,  Bloemart,  and  De  Lact.  That  colony,  consisting  of 
above  thirty  souls,  was,  hi  the  absence  of  De  Vries,  utterly  destroyed 
by  the  Indians  toward  the  close  of  the  following  year ;  yet  its  priority 
in  point  of  date  saved  it  from  being  included  in  Lord  Baltimore's 
charter,  and  secured  for  subsequent  settlers  the  benefits  of  a  separate 
colony  and  an  independent  State.  Before,  it  could  be  rescued  from 
the  Indians,  however,  and  colonized  a  second  time  by  the  Dutch,  it 
fell  to  the  possession  of  a  Scandinavian  prince. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  justly  pronounced  the  most  accomplished 
prince  of  modern  times,  and  the  greatest  benefactor  of  humanity 
in  the  line  of  Swedish  kings,  had  early  comprehended  the  ad- 
vantages of  foreign  commerce  and  distant  colonization.  Accord- 
ingly,  in  1626,  he  instituted  a  commercial  company,  with  exclusive 
privileges  to  trade  beyond  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  with  the 
right  of  planting  colonies.  The  stock  was  open  to  all  Europe.  The 
king  himself  pledged  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  from  the  royal 
treasury ;  the  chief  seat  of  business  was  Gottenburg,  the  second  city 
in  the  kingdom,  and  the  best  situated  for  commerce  in  the  open  seas. 
The  government  of  the  future  colonies  was  committed  to  a  royal 
council,  and  emigrants  were  to  be  invited  from  all  Europe.  TJie  New 
"World  was  described  as  a  paradise,  and  the  hope  of  better  fortunes 
on  its  distant  shores  was  strongly  excited  in  the  Scandinavian  mind. 
The  colony  proposed  to  be  planted  there  was  to  be  a  place  where 
"  the  honor  of  the  wives  and  daughters"  of  those  whom  wars  and 
bigotry  had  made  fugitives  might  be  safe ;  a  blessing  to  the  "  common 
man,"  as  well  as  to  the  "  whole  Protestant  world."*  As  opening  an 
asylum  for  persecuted  Protestants  of  all  nations,  the  project  was  well 
worthy  of  the  great  champion  of  Protestant  rights. 

But  Gustavus  Adolphus  did  not  live  to  carry  his  favorite  scheme 
into  effect.  When  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  were  compelled 
to  defend  their  violated  religious  privileges  by  taking  up  arms  against 
the  emperor,  they  made  the  first  offer  of  the  command  of  their  armies 
to  Christian  IV.,  of  Denmark ;  but  that  prince  proving  unequal  to  the 
task,  they  turned  their  eyes  to  the  youthful  king  of  Sweden,  who 

*  Argonautica  Gustaviana,  pp.  11,  16. 


CHAP.  VIII.]      CHARACTER    OF  THE   COLONISTS    OF   DELAWARE.  139 

hesitated  not  to  accept  their  summons.  Crossing  the  Baltic  with  his 
small  army  of  fifteen  thousand  faithful  Swedes,  Finns,  and  Scotch,  he 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  confederate  troops,  and  within  eighteen 
months  gained  the  series  of  splendid  victories  that  have  placed  him 
in  the  highest  rank  of  warrior-princes.  Having  driven  the  imperial 
troops  from  the  walls  of  Leipsic  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Ger- 
many, he  fell  at  last  on  the  plains  of  Liitzen,  on  the  16th  of  October, 
1632,  victory  even  there  crowning  his  efforts,  while  his  body,  covered 
with  wounds,  lay  undistinguished  among  the  slain.  Yet  even  the 
toils  and  horrors  of  that  war  could  not  make  the  brave  young  mon- 
arch forget  his  favorite  project.  A  few  days  before  that  last  fatal 
battle,  where,  it  has  been  well  said,  "  humanity  won  one  of  her 
most  glorious  victories,  and  lost  of  one  her  ablest  defenders,"  he 
recommended  to  the  people  of  Germany  the  colonial  project,  which 
he  still  continued  to  regard  as  "  the  jewel  of  his  kingdom."* 

The  enterprise,  however,  which  his  premature  death  prevented 
Gustavus  Adolphus  from  carrying  into  effect,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
his  minister  Oxenstiern,  the  ablest  statesman  of  that  age.   Emigrants 
for  Delaware  Bay,  furnished  with  provisions  for  themselves,  and  with 
merchandise  for  traffic  with  the  Indians,  accompanied  also  by  a  re- 
ligious teacher,  left  Sweden  in  1638,  in  two  ships,  the  Key  of  Calmar 
and  the  Griffin.     Upon  their  arrival,  they  bought  the  lands  on  the 
Delaware  from  its  mouth  up  to  the  falls  where  Trenton  now  stands ; 
and  near  the  mouth  of  Christiana  Creek  they  built  a  fort,  to  which 
they  gave  that  name,  in  honor  of  their  youthful  queen.     Tidings  of 
their  safe  arrival,  and  encouraging  accounts  of  the  country,  were  soon 
carried  back  to  Scandinavia,  and  naturally  inspired  many  of  the  peas- 
antry of  Sweden  and  Finland  with  a  wish  to  exchange  their  rocky, 
unproductive  soil  for  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.     More  bands  of 
emigrants  soon  went  thither,  and  many  who  would  fain  have  gone 
were  prevented  only  by  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  passage.     The 
plantations  gradually  extended  along  the  Delaware,  from  the  site  of 
"Wilmington  to  that  of  Philadelphia.     A  fort  constructed  of  huge 
hemlock  logs,  on  an  island  a  few  miles  below  Philadelphia,  defended 
the  Swedish  settlements,  and  became  the  head-quarters  of  Printz, 
their  governor.     The  whole  coimtry,  as  above  described,  was  called 
New  Sweden,  and  the  few  families  of  emigrants  from  Few  England 
that  happened  to  be  within  its  boundaries,  either  submitted  to  the 
Swedish  government,  or  else  withdrew  and  established  themselves 

elsewhere. 

Meanwhile  the  Dutch  reasserted  their  old  claims  to  the  country, 
planted  a  fort  at  Newcastle,  and  ultimately  reduced  New  Sweden 
*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  u\,  p.  285. 


140  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

under  their  dominion,  by  means  of  an  expedition  of  six  hundred  men, 
under  the  famous  Peter  Stuyvesant,  Governor  of  New  Netherlands. 
Thus,  in  1655,  terminated  the  power  of  Sweden  on  the  American 
continent,  after  it  had  lasted  above  seventeen  years.  The  Swedish 
colonists,  probably,  did  not  much  exceed  seven  hundred,  and  as  their 
descendants,  in  the  course  of  some  generations,  became  widely  scat- 
tered, and  blended  with  emigrants  of  a  different  lineage,  they  are 
supposed  to  constitute  one  part  in  two  hundred  of  the  present  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States.* 

Interesting  as  this  colony  is  from  its  early  history,  it  becomes  still 
more  so  because  of  its  practical  worth.  The  colonists  were  amiable 
and  peaceable  in  their  deportment ;  they  maintained  the  best  terms 
with  the  Indians;  they  were  frugal  and  industrious;  they  were 
attentive  to  the  education  of  their  children,  notwithstanding  the 
want  of  schools  and  the  difficulty  of  procuring  books  in  their  mother 
tongue  ;  and,  above  all,  they  were  careful  in  upholding  religious  insti- 
tutions and  ordinances.  Lutherans,  as  their  kindred  in  Sweden  are  to 
this  day,  they  long  preserved  their  national  liturgy  and  discij^line, 
besides  keephig  up  an  affectionate  intercourse  with  the  churches  in 
their  mother-country;  and  from  these  they  often  received  aid  in 
Bibles  and  other  religious  books,  as  well  as  in  money.  Having  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  southern  suburbs  of  Philadelphia,  previous 
to  the  colonization  of  Pennsylvania  by  William  Penn,  they  have  al- 
ways had  a  church  there,  known  to  this  day  as  the  "  Swedes'  Church," 
and  which,  with  two  or  three  more  in  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania, 
now  belongs  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal  communion.  The  late 
Doctor  Colin  was  the  last  of  the  long  line  of  Swedish  pastors. 

Taken  in  possession  by  the  Dutch,  in  1655,  New  Sweden  was, 
nine  years  after  that,  ceded  by  them  to  the  English.  It  was  then 
placed  for  some  time  under  the  administration  of  the  Governor  of 
New  York  ;  was  afterward  attached  to  Pennsylvania,  but  ultimately 
became  first  a  separate  colony,  and  then  an  independent  State.  Mean- 
while, its  population,  composed  of  the  descendants  of  Swedes,  of 
Quakers  who  accompanied  William  Penn,  of  settlers  from. New  En- 
gland, and  of  Scotch,  Irish,  and  a  few  emigrants  from  other  parts  of 
Europe,  steadily  increased.  Religion  has  ever  had  a  hap])y  and  not 
inconsiderable  influence  hi  this  little  commonwealth.  It  would, 
no  doubt,  have  been  greater  still,  had  slavery  never  existed  in  it. 
But  though  Delaware  is  a  slaveholding  State,  it  scarcely  deserves  the 
name,  the  number  of  slaves  there  being  so  small. 

*  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States." 


CHAP.  IX.]      CHAEACTEE  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.  141 

CHAPTER  IX. 

EELIGIOUS  CHAEACTEE  OF  THE  EARLY  COLONISTS. FOUNDEES  OF  PENN- 
SYLVANIA. 

The  history  of  William  Perm,  the  Quaker  philosopher  and  law- 
giver, is  very  generally  known.  The  son  of  a  distinguished  English 
admiral,  heir  to  a  fortune  considered  large  in  those  days,  accustomed 
from  his  youth  to  mingle  in  the  highest  circles,  educated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  rich  in  the  experience  and  observation  of  mankind 
acquired  by  much  travel,  and  versed  in  his  country's  laws,  he  seemed 
fitted  for  a  course  very  different  from  that  which  he  considered  to  be 
marked  out  for  him  in  after  life.  He  inherited  from  his  parents  a 
rooted  aversion  to  the  despotism  of  a  hierarchy,  and  having,  when  a 
student  at  Oxford,  ventured  to  attend  the  preaching  of  George  Fox, 
he  was  for  this  offence  expelled  from  the  university.  After  his  ex- 
pulsion, from  a  desire  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  doctrines 
and  spirit  of  the  French  Reformed  churches,  he  spent  some  time  at 
Saumur,  one  of  their  chief  seats  of  learning,  and  there  he  attended 
the  prelections  of  the  gifted  and  benevolent  Amyrault.  From  that 
time  he  returned  to  England,  and  in  1666  visited  Ireland,  where  he 
heard  Thomas  Loe  preach  on  "  the  faith  that  overcomes  the  world :" 
whereupon  he  was  immediately  filled  with  peace,  and  decided  upon 
folio  whig  out  his  future  plans  of  benevolence.  In  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  was  imprisoned  for  conscience'  sake.  "  Religion,"  said  he  to 
the  Irish  viceroy,  "  is  my  crime  and  my  innocence  ;  it  makes  me  a 
prisoner  to  malice,  but  my  own  free  man."  On  returning  to  England 
he  became  the  butt  of  unmeasured  ridicule,  from  the  witlings  of  the 
court,  which  was  that  of  one  of  the  most  dissolute  monarchs  that 
ever  lived.  Driven  penniless  from  his  father's  house,  he  found  com- 
passion where  it  takes  up  its  last  abode,  if  ever  it  leaves  this  world, 
in  a  mother's  heart.  Her  bounty  kept  him  above  want,  while  he  was 
preparing,  in  God's  providence,  to  become  an  author,  and  a  preacher 
of  the  doctrines  of  peace  to  princes,  priests,  and  people.  Expe- 
rience of  persecution  had  prepared  him  for  the  great  mission  of 
succoring  those  who  suffer  from  the  same  cause.  He  could  truly  say, 
with  the  Carthaginian  queen, 

"  Haud  ignara  mali  miseris  succurrere  disco." 

He  had  become  a  member  of  the  ever  "suffering  kingdom"  of  right- 
eousness. 
William  Penn's  personal  interests,  in  the  course  of  Providence, 


142  THE   COLONIAL   EBA.  [BOOK  II. 

coincided  with  his  benevolent  views,  in  leading  him  to  think  of  found- 
ing the  colony  to  which  he  at  length  so  assiduously  devoted  himself. 
His  father  having  a  large  sum  due  to  him  from  the  crown,  left  this 
not  very  hopeful  debt  as  a  legacy  to  his  son.  But  the  son  pro- 
posed to  his  royal  debtor  an  easy  mode  of  paying  it :  the  king  had 
only  to  make  him  a  grant  of  waste  land  in  the  New  World  ;  and  the 
suggestion  was  favorably  received,  for  the  profuse  and  profligate 
Charles  II.  had  been  his  father's  friend.  On  the  5th  of  March,  1681, 
he  received  a  title  to  a  territory  which  was  to  extend  from  the  Dela- 
ware River  five  degrees  of  longitude  westward,  and  from  the  thirty- 
ninth  to  the  forty-second  degree  of  north  latitude.  The  whole  of 
this,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  previous  grants,  of  no  great  extent, 
made  by  the  Duke  of  York,  was  to  be  his  ;  and  thus  all  that  remained 
of  the  territory  claimed  by  the  Dutch,  but  which  they  had  been  com- 
pelled to  cede  to  the  English,  became  not  a  place  of  refuge  merely, 
but  the  absolute  property  and  sure  abode  of  a  sect  which  had  prob- 
ably been  loaded  with  as  much  contempt  and  ridicule  as  had  ever 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  portion  of  the  human  race.  Their  peculiar 
dress  and  modes  of  speech,  no  doubt,  so  far  invited  this  treatment, 
while  their  principles  secured  impunity  to  such  as  meanly  chose  to 
attack  with  such  weapons  what  they  deemed  absurdity  and  fanaticism. 

Nor  was  it  only  for  the  persecuted  "  Friends"  in  England  that 
William  Penn  founded  his  colony  :  it  was  to  be  open,  also,  to  mem- 
bers of  the  same  society  in  America.  Incredible  as  it  may  appear, 
they  were  persecuted  in  New  England  by  the  very  men  who  them- 
selves had  been  driven  thither  by  persecution.  Twelve  Quakers  were 
banished  from  Massachusetts  by  order  of  the  General  Court,  in  1656, 
and  four  of  these,  who  had  returned,  were  actually  executed,  in  1669. 
That  same  year  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  to 
the  effect  "  that  any  commander  of  any  shipp,  or  vessell,  bringing 
into  the  collonie  any  person  or  persons  called  Quakers,  is  to  be  fined 
£100  ;  and  all  Quakers  apprehended  in  the  collonie  are  to  be  impris- 
oned till  they  abjure  this  countrie,  or  give  securitie  to  depart  from  it 
forthwith.  If  they  return  a  third  time,  they  are  to  be  punished  as 
felons.?'  * 

After  making  all  necessary  arrangements,  Penn  left  England  for 
his  ample  domain  in  America,  and  arrived  there  on  the  27th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1682.  Having  landed  at  Newcastle,  he  went  from  that  to 
Chester,  and  thence,  by  boat,  up  the  Delaware,  to  the  spot  where 
now  stands  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  His  first  care  was  to  acquire, 
by  fair  purchase,  a  title  from  the  Indians  to  so  much  land,  at  least,  as 
might  be  required  for  his  projected  colony,  and  this  transaction  took 
*  Hening's  "  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  Virginia." 


CHAP.  IX.]       CHARACTER  OF  THE  COLONISTS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.  143 

place  at  a  famous  council,  held  under  a  large  elm-tree  at  Shakamaxon, 
on  the  northern  edge  of  Philadelphia.  There  the  hearts  of  the  con- 
gregated chiefs  of  the  Algonquin  race  were  captivated  by  the  sim- 
plicity and  sincerity  of  Penn's  manners,  and  by  the  language  of 
Christian  affection  in  which  he  addressed  them.  "  We  will  live,"  said 
they,  in  reply  to  his  proposals,  "  in  love  with  William  Penn  and  his 
children,  and  with  his  children's  children,  as  long  as  the  moon  and 
sun  endure." 

The  year  following  was  devoted  by  the  philosopher  to  the  founding 
of  a  city,  to  be  called  Philadelphia,  between  the  Delaware  and  the 
Schuylkill  Rivers,  and  to  the  establishing  of  a  government  for  his 
people.  Hardly  could  a  pleasanter  situation  have  any  where  been 
found  than  that  which  he  selected  for  his  capital,  which  was  destined 
to  become  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  cities  in  America,  and  to  be 
the  birth-place  of  national  independence,  and  where  union  among 
the  liberated  colonies  was  to  be  secured  by  the  framing  of  a  Federal 
Constitution  for  the  whole.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  popular 
than  the  constitution  laid  down  for  his  own  colony,  with  the  exception 
of  his  veto  as  Proprietary — which  he  could  hardly  have  abandoned — 
and  an  acknowledgment  of  the  supremacy  of  the  English  crown  and 
government.  Council,  assembly,  judges,  and  petty  magistrates — all 
were  to  be  appointed  by  the  colonists  themselves. 

The  first  emigrants  to  Pennsylvania  were,  for  the  most  part,  Qua- 
kers ;  but  the  principle  of  unlimited  toleration,  upon  which  it  was 
established,  made  it  a  resort  for  people  of  all  creeds  and  of  none. 
Swedes,  Dutch,  and  New  Englanders  had  previously  established 
themselves  within  its  limits,  and  not  many  years  had  elapsed  when 
the  Quakers,  whom  Penn  had  specially  contemplated  as  the  future 
citizens  of  his  colony,  were  found  to  be  a  minority  among  the  inhab- 
itants. This,  however,  has  not  marred  the  harmony  and  tranquillity 
of  the  province.  No  act  of  persecution  or  intolerance  has  ever  dis- 
graced its  statute-book.  The  rights  of  the  Indians  were  always 
respected  ;  their  friendship  was  hardly  ever  interrupted. 

Friends'  "  meeting-houses,"  and  churches  of  other  denominations, 
soon  increased  with  the  population,  which  spread  by  degrees  into  the 
interior,  and  reached  the  most  western  limits  of  the  colony  within  a 
century  from  its  commencement. 

It  were  superfluous  in  me  to  pronounce  any  eulogium  on  the  mo- 
rality of  the  Quakers.  The  foundations  of  the  colony  of  William  Penn 
were  laid  in  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  and  to  the  blessed  influence  of 
that  religion  it  is  unquestionably  hidebted  for  much  of  the  remark- 
able prosperity  which  it  has  enjoyed.  But  the  Quaker  population 
now  forms  only  a  small  minority  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  espe- 


144  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

cially  in  its  central  and  western  parts.  I  shall  yet  have  occasion  to 
show  what  was  the  religious  character  of  the  emigrants  who  consti- 
tuted the  early  population  of  those  parts. 

Thus  have  I  completed  the  notice  of  the  religious  character  of  all 
the  original  colonies,  which,  in  settling  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  may 
be  said  to  have  founded  the  nation,  by  founding  its  civil  and  religious 
institutions :  or  rather  I  should  say,  I  have  spoken  of  the  colonies 
that  had  territorial  limits  as  such,  and  were  established  under  charters 
from  the  crown  of  England.  I  have  spoken  of  the  bases — the  lowest 
strata,  so  to  speak — of  the  colonization  of  the  United  States.  I  have 
yet  to  speak  of  the  superadded  colonies,  which  dispersed  themselves 
over  the  others,  without  having  any  territorial  limits  marked  out  to 
them  by  charters,  but  which  settled  here  or  there,  as  individuals  or 
groups  might  prefer.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  secondary,  but  still 
early  colonization,  exerted  an  immense  influence  upon  the  religious 
character  of  the  country,  and  in  many  cases,  through  the  wonderful 
providence  of  God,  supplied  what  was  wanting  in  the  religious  con- 
dition of  the  primary  or  territorial  colonization. 


CHAPTER    X. 

RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF   THE  EARLY   COLONISTS. EMIGRANTS 

FROM  WALES. 

Presbyterianism  is  said  to  have  had  many  zealous  adherents  in 
Wales  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  or  from  1648  to  1660;  and 
when  the  Restoration  came,  many  Welsh  Presbyterians,  including 
both  pastors  and  people,  sought  a  refuge  from  the  persecution  that 
ensued,  by  emigrating  to  America.  On  reaching  the  New  World, 
many  of  these  wandered  over  the  country,  and  were  glad  to  avail 
themselves  of  a  resting-place  wherever  it  could  be  found.  But  a 
natural  predilection  for  their  own  people,  language,  and  customs,  led 
others  to  keep  together  and  settle  on  the  same  spots :  a  course  almost 
indispensable  in  the  case  of  those  who  could  neither  understand  nor 
speak  English.  Hence  we  find  that  toward  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  no  fewer  than  six  townships  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Schuylkill  were  in  the  occupation  of  Welsh  colonists* 

The  success  of  those  earlier  emigrations  led  to  a  steady  and  even 
copious  transference  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Principality  to  America, 
*  Proud's  "History  of  Pennsylvania,"  vol.  L,  p.  221. 


CHAP.  XI.]         EMIGRANTS   FROM   SCOTLAND   AND   IRELAND.  145 

long  after  open  persecution  had  ceased  to  drive  them  from  then- 
native  hills  and  valleys.  About  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
a  colony  from  Wales  settled  in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  on  a 
large  tract  of  land  which  they  had  bought  before  they  left  home,  and 
gave  the  name  Cambria,  the  ancient  appellation  of  Wales,  to  a  whole 
county.  A  large  part  of  their  settlement  lies  on  a  sort  of  table-land, 
in  the  centre  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  and  the  chief  villages  are 
Armagh  and  Ebensburg,  the  latter  of  which  is  the  seat  of  justice  for 
the  county.  Two  or  three  faithful  pastors  accompanied  them  from 
Wales,  and  to  this  day,  I  believe,  they  conduct  then*  religious  services 
in  Welsh.  There  are,  likewise,  several  congregations  of  Welsh  Bap- 
tists in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  throughout  the  United  States 
not  fewer  perhaps  than  thirty  or  forty  churches  of  Calvinistic  Welsh 
Methodists. 

I  have  no  means  of  knowing  how  extensive  the  emigrations  from 
Wales,  from  first  to  last,  have  been ;  doubtless  they  have  been  far 
from  unimportant  in  point  of  numbers.  What,  however,,  is  of  most 
consequence  is,  that  they  have  been  good  in  point  of  character,  and 
have  already  given  to  America  many  distinguished  men.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Davies,  of  whom  I  shall  have  some  notice  to  give  hereafter,  prob- 
ably the  most  eloquent  preacher  in  America  in  his  day,  and,  at  his  ' 
death,  president  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  was,  if  I  mistake  not, 
of  Welsh  ancestry.  The  Morris  family,  so  numerous,  and  in  many 
of  its  members  so  distinguished,  is  of  Welsh  origin.  So,  also,  are  the 
Morgans.  Besides  these,  we  find  many  persons  of  the  name  of  Jones, 
Owen,  Griffiths,  Evans,  etc.,  all  of  Welsh  descent,  several  of  whom 
have  risen  to  eminence  in  the  Church  and  State.  I  may  add  that 
Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island,  whom  I  have  had  oc- 
casion already  to  notice,  was  a  native  of  Wales. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF  THE  EARLY   COLONISTS    OF  AMERICA. 

EMIGRANTS   FROM   SCOTLAND   AND   IRELAND. 

Next  to  the  Puritans  of  England  we  must  unquestionably  rank 
the  Scotch,  as  having  largely  contributed  to  form  the  religious  char- 
acter of  the  United  States.  A  few  words,  then,  as  to  the  causes  that 
have,  at  different  times,  led  so  many  of  the  natives  of  Scotland  to 
pass  over  to  America,  will  not  be  out  of  place,  and  will  prepare  the 

10 


146  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  H. 

reader  for  the  remarks  to  be  made  on  the  religious  character  of  emi- 
grants from  that  part  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

James  I.,  before  he  left  Scotland,  when  called  to  the  throne  of  En- 
gland in  1603,  assured  his  countrymen  of  his  love  to  their  Church, 
and  of  his  determination  to  support  it ;  but  no  sooner  had  he  crossed 
the  Tweed  than  he  manifested  a  predilection  for  Prelacy,  and  a  de- 
cided aversion  to  Presbytery,  as  being  of  an  essentially  republican 
tendency.  Flattered  and  caressed  by  the  aged  Whitgift,  by  Ban- 
croft, and  other  bishops,  he  soon  learned  to  hate  the  Presbyterians 
of  Scotland,  as  well  as  to  despise  the  Puritans  of  England ;  nor 
was  it  long  before  he  showed  a  fixed  purpose  to  change,  if  possible, 
the  ecclesiastical  government  of  his  northern  kingdom,  notwithstand- 
ing that  prudence  and  natural  timidity  deterred  him  from  abrupt 
measures. 

It  was  otherwise  with  his  unfortunate  son.  Charles  I.  resolved  to 
snatch  at  results  to  which  caution  and  cunning  might,  in  time,  have 
conducted  his  arbitrary,  but  timid  father.  He  began  with  ordering 
the  publication  of  a  Book  of  danons,  essentially  altering  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  these  he  tried  to  enforce  by  his 
own  authority.  He  next  caused  a  liturgy  to  be  drawn  up  and  pub- 
'  lished,  copied,  in  a  great  measure,  from  that  of  the  Church  of  En- 
gland, but  brought  by  Laud  into  a  closer  agreement  with  the  Rom- 
ish Missal ;  and  this  he  commanded  all  the  Scotch  ministers  to  use 
on  pain  of  suspension.  These  proceedings  led,  at  last,  to  open  resist- 
ance on  political  as  well  as  religious  grounds ;  for  they  involved  an 
assumption  of  powers  denied  to  the  king  by  the  Scottish  Constitu- 
tion, and  it  was  seen  and  felt  that  if  he  could  introduce  the  English 
Liturgy,  he  might,  at  some  future  time,  force  upon  them  the  Romish 
Mass.  The  wrong  attempted  in  Scotland  roused  the  sympathy  of 
England,  and  the  upshot,  as  Mr.  Hallam  remarks,  "  was  that  the  liber- 
ties of  England  were  preserved,  but  her  monarchy  was  overthrown." 

But  the  course  of  Charles  II.  was  even  worse  than  that  of  his 
father.  When  that  father  was  beheaded,  the  son  was  a  friendless  fu- 
gitive. The  Scotch  offered  to  receive  him  as  their  king,  and  to  assist 
him  in  recovering  the  throne  of  England,  on  his  pledging  himself,  by 
oath,  to  maintain  their  Presbyterian  form  of  Church  government. 
This  he  engaged  to  do,  and,  on  his  arriving  among  them,  he  sub- 
scribed the  Covenant.  The  Scotch,  thereupon,  took  up  arms  in  his 
cause,  but  were  defeated  by  Cromwell,  so  that  Charles  was  driven 
a  second  time  to  the  Continent.  When  restored,  in  1660,  to  the 
throne  of  England,  he  voluntarily  renewed  his  former  promise  to  the 
Scotch,  to  whom  he  was  greatly  indebted  for  his  restoration ;  but  no 
sooner  was  he  well  seated  on  that  throne  than  his  oaths  and  j:>romises 


CHAP.  XI. j         EMIGRANTS   FROM   SCOTLAND  AND   IRELAND.  147 

were  all  forgotten.  Presbyterianism  was  almost  immediately  abol- 
ished, and  Episcopacy  established  in  Scotland ;  and  that,  too,  in  the 
most  repulsive  form*.  The  bishops  were  invested  by  royal  mandate 
with  the  utmost  plenitude  of  prelatical  power,  and  a  new  law  for- 
bade speaking  against  the  king's  ecclesiastical  supremacy,  or  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  by  bishops  and  archbishops.  A  court  of 
High  Commission,  partly  composed  of  prelates,  and  armed  with  in- 
quisitorial powers,  was  set  up,  and  was  followed  by  scenes  of  persecu- 
tion and  oppression,  unparalleled  except  by  the  worst  doings  of 
Rome.  Numbers  of  learned  and  pious  ministers  were  ejected,  and 
though  their  places  were  filled,  for  the  most  part,  by  ignorant  and 
ungodly  men,*  the  people  were  compelled,  under  severe  penalties,  to 

*  The  author  would  not  be  understood,  for  a  moment,  to  place  in  the  same  cate- 
gory all  the  prelates,  and  all  the  parish  clergy,  introduced  into  the  Scottish  Estab- 
lished Church  by  the  measures  mentioned  in  the  text.  He  is  well  aware  that  among 
the  former  there  was  a  Robert  Leighton,  who  was  forced,  however,  by  the  atrocities 
of  his  associates,  to  relinquish  an  office  which  his  gentle  spirit  would  no  longer  suffer 
him  to  hold,  and  a  Henry  Scougal  among  the  latter.  Such  beautiful  characters  were 
enough  to  redeem,  if  that  were  possible,  the  worthlessness  of  a  whole  generation, 
composed  of  such  men  as  the  greater  number  of  the  intruded  clergy  are  known  to 
have  been.  The  author  could  not  avoid  referring  to  the  arbitrary  principles  and  hor- 
rible cruelties  of  the  Scottish  prelates,  and  of  the  statesmen  who  patronised  them, 
and  he  has  not  done  so  with  the  intention  of  casting  odium  on  Episcopacy  in  general; 
the  odium  being  due  to  the  men  and  their  principles,  not  to  their  office.  Should  it  be 
supposed  that  stronger  terms  than  the  truth  of  history  will  warrant  have  been  em- 
ployed in  speaking  of  those  men  and  their  doings,  let  the  reader  consult  Burnet's 
"History  of  his  own  Times;"  Dr.  Cook's  "History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland;"  or  Mr. 
Hallam's  "  Constitutional  History  of  England."  Let  two  short  extracts  from  the  last 
of  these  authorities  suffice : 

"The  enormities  of  this  detestable  government  are  far  too  numerous,  even  in 
species,  to  be  enumerated  in  this  slight  sketch,  and,  of  course,  most  instances  of 
cruelty  have  not  been  recorded.  The  privy  council  was  accustomed  to  extort  con- 
fessions by  torture ;  that  grim  divan  of  bishops,  lawyers,  and  peers,  sucking  the  groans 
of  each  undaunted  enthusiast,  in  the  hope  that  some  imperfect  avowal  might  lead  to 
the  sacrifice  of  other  victims,  or  at  least  warrant  the  execution  of  the  present."  And 
again:  "It  was  very  possible  that  Episcopacy  might  be  of  apostolical  institution;  but 
for  this  institution  houses  had  been  burned  and  fields  laid  waste,  and  the  Gospel  had 
been  preached  in  the  wilderness,  and  its  ministers  had  been  shot  in  their  prayers, 
and  husbands  had  been  murdered  before  their  wives,  and  virgins  had  been  defiled, 
and  many  had  died  by  the  executioner,  and  by  massacre,  and  in  imprisonment,  and 
in  exile,  and  slavery ;  and  women  had  been  tied  to  stakes  on  the  sea-shore  till  the  tide 
rose  to  overflow  them,  and  some  had  been  tortured  and  mutilated ;  it  was  a  religion 
of  the  boots  and  the  thumb-screw,  which  a  good  man  must  be  very  cold-blooded  in- 
deed if  he  did  not  hate,  and  reject  from  the  hands  which  offered  it.  For,  after  all,  it 
is  much  more  certain  that  the  Supreme  Being  abhors  cruelty  and  persecution,  than 
that  he  has  set  up  bishops  to  have  superiority  over  presbyters." — Const  Hist,  vol.  hi., 
pp.  435,  442. 


148  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

attend  their  worthless  ministrations.     The  ejected  ministers  were  not 
allowed  to  preach,  even  in  the  fields,  under  pain  of  death.     They 
might  pray  in  their  own  houses,  but  none  of  their  neighbors  were 
allowed  to  attend.     Even  the  nearest  relations  were  forbidden  to 
afford   shelter  to  the  denounced,  or  in  any  way  to  succor  them. 
All  land-owners  were  required  to  give  bonds  that  neither  they  nor 
their  dependants   should   attend   "conventicles,"  as   the  forbidden 
meetings  were  called.     The  laws  were  enforced  by  mutilation,  tor- 
ture, fines,  imprisonment,  banishment,   and   death.     Soldiers   were 
quartered  upon  defenceless  families,  and  allowed  to  harass  them  as 
they  pleased ;  men  were  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts,  and  shot  or 
gibbeted  upon  the  highways ;  and  this  dreadful  state  of  things  lasted 
nearly  thirty  years,  for  the  sole  object  of  forcing  upon  the  Scotch  a 
form   of  Church   government  which  they  conscientiously  disliked. 
Can  we  wonder  that  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  of  that  day  detested 
Prelacy,  as  not  the  occasion  only,  but  the  cause  of  their  sufferings  ? 
In  their  experience  it  was  identified  with  despotism,  superstition,  and 
irreligion ;  whereas  Presbyterianism  was  associated  with  the  love  of 
Liberty  and  Truth.     The  Scottish  Parliament  being  then  so  consti- 
tuted and  regulated  as  to  be  a  very  imperfect  exponent  of  the  will, 
and  a  very  feeble  advocate  of  the  rights,  of  the  nation,  it  was  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church,  therefore,  which  the  people  re- 
garded as  the  best  guardian  of  their  dearest  interests  and  privileges. 
In  the  suppression  of  free  Assemblies,  the  body  of  the  nation  prob- 
ably felt  themselves  more  grievously  wronged  than  had  Parliament 
itself  been  suppressed ;  and  such,  upon  the  whole,  was  the  state  of 
the  law,  and  the  oppressive  manner  in  which  it  was  administered, 
that  none  can  reasonably  wonder  that  the  most  loyal  people  to  be 
found  anywhere  should  have  attempted  to  rid  themselves  of  their 
oppressors  by  rising  against  them.    The  attempts  of  this  kind,  how- 
ever, whether  made  in  England  or  in  Scotland,  led  only  to  the  sacrifice 
of  some  valuable  lives ;  nor  was  it  until,  by  the  Revolution  of  1688, 
so  bloodless,  yet  so  complete,  the  Stuarts  were  again  removed  from 
the  throne,  that  a  better  era  dawned  upon  both  kingdoms. 

Such,  however,  was  the  severity  of  the  nation's  griefs  while  they 
lasted,  that  it  seems  strange  that  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  did  not 
abandon  their  country  en  masse.  But  they  were  withheld  by  the 
hope  of  better  times — a  hope  that  even  sometimes  arrested  plans  of 
extensive  emigration.  Thus,  after  a  company  of  thirty-six  noblemen 
and  gentlemen  had  contracted  for  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  Caro- 
linas,  as  an  asylum  for  their  persecuted  countrymen,  the  project  was 
relinquished,  in  hopes  of  the  success  of  the  abortive  attempt  for  which 
Russel  and  Sidney  suffered  in  England.     Many,  nevertheless,  went 


CHAP.  XI.]         EMIGRANTS   FROM   SCOTLAND   AND  IRELAND.  149 

over  from  Scotland  into  Ireland — many  emigrated  to  America ;  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  former,  or  of  their  descendants,  ultimately 
sought  a  resting-place  in  the  New  World.  This  emigration  from 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  after  it  had  thus  commenced  in  the  reisrns  of 
Charles  II.  and  James  II.,  was  continued,  from  other  causes,  down 
to  the  American  Revolution,  and  consisted,  almost  exclusively,  of 
Presbyterians.  It  was  not  until  a  later  epoch  that  the  emigration  of 
Roman  Catholics  from  Ireland  to  America  properly  commenced ;  at 
least,  until  then  it  was  too  inconsiderable  to  merit  notice. 

Let  us  now  see  to  what  parts  of  America  this  emigration  was 
directed,  and  which  have  enjoyed  most  of  the  happy  effects  of  its 
moral  influence. 

New  England  did  not,  on  many  accounts,  present  the  greatest  at- 
traction to  Scotch  emigrants.  Not  only  were  its  best  districts  already 
occupied,  but  in  almost  all  its  colonies  a  Church  was  established,  be- 
tween which  and  the  Presbyterian  there  might  not  be  all  the  harmony 
that  was  to  be  desired.  Some,  nevertheless,  did  go  to  New  England, 
and  received  a  kind  welcome  there.  According  to  Cotton  Mather, 
even  previous  to  1640,  four  thousand  Presbyterians  had  arrived  in 
that  province,  but  what  proportion  of  these  came  from  Scotland  and 
Ireland  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  At  a  later  period,  Lon- 
donderry, in  New  Hampshire,  was  founded  by  a  hundred  families  of 
Irish  Presbyterians,  who,  having  brought  their  pastor  with  them,  or- 
ganized a  Presbyterian  church  there.  Another  church  of  that  denom- 
ination was  formed  at  Boston  in  1729,  and  such  it  remained  until 
1786,  when  it  became  Congregational.  Other  Presbyterians  settled 
at  Pelham  and  Palmer. 

Neither  was  New  York,  for  some  time  at  least,  an  inviting  quarter 
to  Presbyterian  emigrants ;  the  establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  that  colony  toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the 
intolerance  to  which  it  led,  would  naturally  deter  them  from  making 
it  their  choice.  Some,  indeed,  had  arrived  previously  to  that  epoch, 
and  many  Scotch  and  Irish  settled  in  the  province  in  the  following 
century,  particularly  as  the  American  Revolution  was  drawing  on. 
Between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  emigrants  from  Scotland 
alone  arrived  at  New  York  in  1737,  and  twenty  years  later,  Scotch 
and  Irish  colonists  established  themselves  in  Ulster  county,  and  also 
at  Orange  and  Albany. 

In  1682,  William  Penn,  and  eleven  other  Quakers,  having  bought 
the  claims  of  Lord  Carteret's  heirs,  associated  with  themselves  twelve 
other  persons,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  were  Scotch,  with  the 
view  of  securing  as  extensive  an  emigration  as  possible  from  Scot- 
land, as  well  as  other  places.     Nor  were  they  disappointed ;  many 


150  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

were  induced  to  leave  that  country  and  the  north  of  Ireland,  and 
settle  in  East  New  Jersey,  from  the  favorable  accounts  they  heard  of 
that  colony.  "  It  is  judged  the  interest  of  the  government,"  said 
George  Scott,  of  Pitlochie,  a  Scotchman  of  rank  and  influence,  "  to 
suppress  Presbyterian  principles  altogether ;  the  whole  force  of  the 
law  of  this  kingdom  is  leveled  at  the  effectual  bearing  of  them  down. 
The  rigorous  putting  of  these  laws  in  execution  has,  in  a  great  part, 
ruined  many  of  those  who,  notwithstanding  hereof,  find  themselves 
in  conscience  obliged  to  retain  their  principles.  A  retreat,  where  by 
law  a  toleration  is  allowed,  doth  at  present  offer  itself  in  America, 
and  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  his  majesty's  dominions."*  "This 
is  the  era,"  says  Mr.  Bancroft,  "  at  which  East  New  Jersey,  till  now 
chiefly  colonized  from  New  England,  became  the  asylum  of  Scottish 
Presbyterians."  "  Is  it  strange,"  asks  that  author,  "  that  many  Scot- 
tish Presbyterians,  of  virtue,  education,  and  courage,  blending  a  love 
of  popular  liberty  with  religious  enthusiasm,  came  to  East  New  Jersey 
in  such  numbers  as  to  give  to  the  rising  commonwealth  a  character 
which  a  century  and  a  half  has  not  effaced  ?"f  Many  of  the  more 
wealthy  of  these  emigrants  brought  with  them  a  great  number  of 
servants,  and,  in  some  instances  transported  whole  families  of  poor 
laborers,  whom  they  placed  on  their  lands. \  And  in  speaking  of  the 
town  of  Freehold,  in  Monmouth  county,  one  of  the  earliest  settle- 
ments in  New  Jersey,  the  Rev.  William  Tennent,  long  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  that  place,  observes,  "The  settling  of  that 
place  with  a  Gospel  ministry  was  owing,  under  God,  to  the  agency 
of  some  Scotch  people  that  came  to  it ;  among  whom  there  were 
none  so  painstaking  in  this  blessed  work  as  one  Walter  Ker,  who  in 
1685,  for  his  faithful  and  conscientious  adherence  to  God  and  His 
Truth,  as  professed  by  the  Church  of  Scotland,  was  there  apprehend- 
ed and  sent  to  this  country  under  a  sentence  of  perpetual  banish- 
ment. By  which  it  appears  that  the  devil  and  his  instruments  lost 
their  aim  in  sending  him  from  home,  where  it  is  unlikely  he  could 
ever  have  been  so  serviceable  to  Christ's  kingdom  as  he  has  been 
here.  He  is  yet  (1744)  alive  ;  and  blessed  be  God,  flourishing  in  his 
old  age,  being  in  his  88th  year."§ 

But  it  was  to  Pennsylvania  that  the  largest  emigrations  of  Scotch 
and  Irish,  particularly  of  the  latter,  though  at  a  later  period,  took  place. 
About  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  they  began  to  arrive  in 
large  numbers.     It  is  said  that  nearly  six  thousand  Irish  arrived  in 

*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  411. 
f  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  414.  X  Gordon's  "History  of  New  Jersey,"  p.  51. 

§  The  Rev.  William  Tennent,  quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge  in  his  "Constitutional  History 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States." 


CHAP.  XI.]         EMIGRANTS   FROM   SCOTLAND   AND   IRELAND.  151 

1729 ;  and  that  up  to  the  middle  of  the  century  as  many  as  twelve 
thousand  came  over  every  year.  Speaking  of  that  period,  Proud,  in  his 
History  of  Pennsylvania,  says,  "  They  have  flowed  in  of  late  years 
from  the  north  of  Ireland  in  very  large  numbers."  They  settled  in 
the  eastern  and  middle  parts  of  the  State,  the  only  parts  then  inhab- 
ited by  white  men.     Cumberland  county  was  filled  with  them. 

From  Pennsylvania  they  emigrated  in  great  numbers  into  the 
western  parts  of  Maryland,  the  central  portions  of  Virginia,  and  the 
western  counties  of  North  Carolina.  A  thousand  families  are  said 
to  have  left  the  northern  colonies  for  the  last  of  these  provinces 
in  the  single  year  of  1764.  There  their  descendants  now  constitute 
a  dense  homogeneous  population,  occupying  the  whole  western  sec- 
tion of  the  State,  and  distinguished  by  the  strict  morality  and  un- 
bending principles  of  their  forefathers.  Five  or  six  hundred  Scotch 
settled  near  Fayetteville,  1ST.  C,  in  1749,  and  there  was  a  second  ar- 
rival from  the  same  country  in  1754,  after  which  a  steady  yearly  im- 
migration of  the  same  hardy  and  industrious  people  was  kept  up  for 
a  long  period.* 

But,  besides  the  emigration  of  Scotch  and  Irish  colonists  from 
Pennsylvania  into  Maryland,  the  latter  province  received  emigrants 
direct  from  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Colonel  Ninian  Beall,  a  native  of 
Fifeshire,  who  had  been  implicated  in  some  of  the  disturbances  in  his 
native  country,  fled  first  to  Barbadoes,  and  removed  thence  to  Mary- 
land, where  he  bought  an  immense  estate,  including  much  of  the 
ground  now  occupied  by  Washington  and  Georgetown.  About  two 
hundred  of  his  friends  and  neighbors  joined  him  at  his  request  about 
the  year  1690,  and  brought  along  with  them  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Taylor,  their  pastor. 

In  1684,  a  small  colony  of  persecuted  Scotch  settled  under  Lord 
Cardross,  in  South  Carolina.f  In  1737,  multitudes  of  husbandmen 
and  laborers  from  Ireland  embarked  for  that  province,];  and  within 
three  years  before  1773  no  fewer  than  sixteen  hundred  emigrants  from 
the  north  of  Ireland  settled  there.  Indeed,  of  all  European  countries, 
Ireland  furnished  South  Carolina  with  the  greatest  number  of  inhab- 
itants ;§  they  not  only  settled  in  the  interior,  but  also  on  Edisto  and 
the  other  islands  on  the  coast. 

*  The  Scotch  settlers  near  Fayetteville,  in  North  Carolina,  are  said  to  have  been, 
almost  without  exception,  from  the  Highlands.  Gaelic  is  still  spoken  by  some  of  the 
old  colonists,  and  I  understand  that  it  is  used  in  some  of  the  churches  in  that  quarter 
for  public  worship,  which,  I  may  add,  is  in  every  respect  conducted  as  in  Scotland. — 
See  Dr.  Hodge's  "  Constitutional  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church"  vol.  i.,  p.  66. 

\  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  173. 

\  Holmes's  Annals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  145. 

§  Ramsay's  "  History  of  South  Carolina,"  vol.  i.,  p.  20 ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  23,  548. 


152  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

Georgia,  too,  was  partly  colonized  by  Scotch  and  Irish,  who  emi- 
grated south-westward  from  Pennsylvania,  across  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  North  Carolina,  besides  receiving  no  small  proportion  of  its  first 
settlers  directly  from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 

Thus  it  is  manifest  that  the  Presbyterians  from  Scotland  and  the 
north  of  Ireland  have  largely  contributed  to  form  the  religious  char- 
acter of  the  United  States ;  particularly  in  the  middle  and  southern 
parts  of  the  country,  and,  by  consequence,  the  corresponding  parts 
of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  which  have  been  colonized  from  them. 
As  the  early  emigrants  from  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  not  only 
Protestants,  but  decidedly  religious  people,  they  did  much  to  give  a 
religious  tone  to  the  districts  in  which  they  established  themselves, 
being  precisely  those  that  most  stood  in  need  of  such  an  influence. 
So  that  in  this  we  have  another  instance  of  the  Divine  interposition 
in  behalf  of  a  country,  whose  whole  history  is  a  continued  illustration 
of  the  mercy  and  the  goodness  of  God. 

I  may  add,  in  concluding  this  chapter,  that  America  owes  to  the 
early  emigrations  from  Scotland  and  Ireland  not  a  few  of  the  men 
who  have  risen  to  the  highest  eminence  both  in  Church  and  in  State. 
The  Tennents,  the  Blairs,  the  Allisons  Avere  of  Scotch-Irish  origin ; 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  one  of  the  most  valuable  men  in  America  of  his 
day,  both  as  a  divine  and  as  a  statesman,  Dr.  Nisbet,  and  many  others, 
were  from  Scotland. 

The  son  of  a  poor  Irish  emigrant,  who  had  settled  in  North  Carolina, 
has  been  President  of  the  United  States.*  The  son  of  a  Scotch-Irish 
emigrant,  who  had  settled  first  in  Pennsylvania,*  and  removed  after- 
ward to  South  Carolina,  has  been  Vice  President.f 


CHAPTER  XII. 

RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER  OF  THE   EARLY   COLONISTS. — HUGUENOTS   FROM 

FRANCE. 

Next  to  the  English  Puritans  and  Scotch  Presbyterians  we  must 
rank  the  exiled  Huguenots,  or  French  Reformed,  as  having  done  most 
to  form  the  religious  character  of  the  United  States. 

The  Reformation  found  its  way  into  France  in  the  reign  of  Francis 
I.,  but  was  hated  by  that  monarch  on  a  two-fold  account.  First,  it 
placed  man  before  his  Creator  and  his  Judge,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  human  proxies,  or  the  possibility  of  standing  there  on  the 

*  General  Andrew  Jackson.  f  John  C.  Calhoun. 


CHAP.  XII.]  CHARACTER   OF   THE   HUGUENOTS.  153 

ground  of  human  merit.  It  placed  the  sinner  at  once  in  presence  of 
the  God  against  whom  he  had  sinned.  Second,  because,  in  Calvin's 
hands,  the  natural  development  of  his  principles  threatened  the  ques- 
tioning of  the  rights  of  despotic  power.  Hence,  although  the  king's 
love  of  literature,  and  his  patronage  of  learned  men,  led  him  for  a 
time  to  defend  the  chiefs  of  the  Reformation  in  France,  on  account 
of  the  interest  they  showed  in  the  revival  of  letters,  and  his  hatred 
of  the  scholastic  and  fanatical  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne,  Francis 
distinguished  himself  by  being  almost  the  first  ruler  that  put  a  Prot- 
estant to  death.  His  successors  but  too  closely  followed  his  example. 
Persecution,  though  intermitted  at  times,  owing  to  the  pressure  of 
circumstances,  was  resumed  when  that  pressure  ceased,  until  1598, 
when  Henry  IV.  granted  the  Edict  of  Nantes — a  measure  which  was 
far  from  according  to  the  Protestants  the  full  measure  of  their  rights, 
but  which  was  sacredly  observed  during  the  remainder  of  that  mon- 
arch's reign.  During  that  of  his  successor,  Louis  XIH.,  and  the  early 
years  of  Louis  XIV.,  that  famous  ordinance  was  no  better  than  an 
ill-observed  truce. 

Louis  XIV.,  after  having  come  to  the  crown  in  his  minority,  was 
now  approaching  his  fiftieth  year,  and  had  begun  to  feel  the  decline 
of  passions  which  he  had  long  indulged  without  a  regard  for  the  re- 
straints of  religion  and  morality,  other  than  a  habitual  compliance 
with  the  outward  forms  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  occasional  fits 
of  remorse,  that  were  soon  forgotten  amid  the  excitement  of  new 
pleasures.  In  proportion  as  his  relish  for  a  voluptuous  life  became 
blunted  by  increasing  age  and  satiety,  he  grew  more  and  more  anx- 
ious to  atone  in  some  way  for  long  years  of  sinful  indulgence,  by 
acts  of  extraordinary  devotion,  without  altogether  sacrificing,  how- 
ever, either  his  love  of  pleasure  or  the  pursuit  of  glory.  He  was  thus 
in  a  state  of  mind  admirably  calculated  to  make  him  the  tool  of  an 
order  of  men  who  have  acquired  the  highest  celebrity  for  their  pro- 
found knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  and  their  consummate  skill  in 
making  alike  its  strength  and  its  weakness  subserve  the  advancement 
of  their  power,  more  especially  in  the  case  of  persons  placed  in  stations 
of  authority  and  influence.  A  Jesuit  skilled  in  casuistry,  and  a  fas- 
cinating and  ambitious  woman,  were  bent,  the  one  on  making  the 
king,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  moderate  sentiments  toward  the 
Reformed,  and  had  long  provoked  their  enemies  by  his  respect  for  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  become  the  instrument  of  Rome  in  utterly  suppress- 
ing the  Reformation  in  France,  and,  if  possible,  throughout  Europe ; 
the  other,  on  making  herself  the  monarch's  wife.  To  attain  these 
ends,  they  played  into  each  other's  hands,  with  an  unrivaled  mastery 
of  all  the  arts  usually  employed  on  such  occasions.    The  confessor 


154  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

used  his  influence  in  confirming  the  favorite's  ascendancy  in  the  king's 
affections— the  favorite,  though  educated  a  Protestant,  and  under 
early  and  deep  obligations  to  a  Protestant  relation,  sacrificed  her 
friends,  and  perhaps  her  convictions,  by  professing  an  extravagant 
zeal  for  the  universal  reign  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  by 
suggesting  that  in  no  way  could  the  king  better  atone  for  his  past 
irregularities,  or  promote  his  own  glory,  than  by  laboring  "  for  the 
conversion  of  heretics."  Both  succeeded,  but  not  to  the  full  measure 
of  their  desires.  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  privately  married  to 
Louis  XIV.,  but  never  became  the  acknowledged  queen  of  France. 
The  Edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked,  but  the  Reformation  survives  in 
the  French  dominions  to  this  day  * 

The  king  had  come  under  too  many  solemn  obligations  to  observe 
that  Edict,  and  had  a  conscience  too  little  sophisticated  by  Jesuit 
morality  in  early  life,  to  be  brought  into  a  direct  revocation  of  Prot- 
estant privileges.  The  mode  by  which  his  scruples  were  overcome 
was  exceedingly  ingenious.  His  consent  was  first  obtained  to  a  mul- 
titude of  indirect  methods  of  diminishing  the  numbers  of  the  Re- 
formed ;  much  violence  and  fraud  unknown  to  him  were  mingled  with 
the  execution  of  those  measures,  and  he  was  then  persuaded  that  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  was  unnecessary,  since  those  in  whose  favor  it  had 
been  granted  had  ceased  to  exist  in  his  dominions.  Favors  of  every 
kind  were  promised  to  those  who  would  recant  the  alleged  errors 
transmitted  to  them  from  their  ancestors,  or  embraced  by  themselves ; 
offices  were  held  out  as  the  reward  of  such  meritorious  recantations, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  all  hope  of  public  employment,  and  even 
of  public  favor  in  any  form,  was  denied  to  such  as  refused  to  be  con- 
verted. Not  only  were  they  excluded  from  every  post  of  honor  or 
place  of  trust,  but  even  the  guilds  and  trades'  corporations  were  closed 
against  them.  No  Protestant  was  to  be  allowed  to  marry  a  Roman 
Catholic,     Bribery  was  also  employed,  and  converts  were  purchased 

for  gold. 

Proselytism,  nevertheless,  went  on  slowly,  and  death  threatened  to 
overtake  the  illustrious  apostle  before  he  could  see  his  subjects  united 
again  under  the  crosier  of  the  successor  of  Peter  the  fisherman.  The 
enterprise  must  needs  be  hastened  forward.  The  sacredness  of  the 
family  sanctuary  is  next  invaded.  Children  of  seven  years  of  age  are 
invited  to  abjure  the  faith  of  their  parents.  Protestant  ministers  be- 
gin to  be  tormented  in  every  way :  Protestant  chapels  are  pulled 
down,  or  confiscated  to  other  uses ;  Protestant  schools  are  shut  up ; 

*  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  probably  not  at  heart  in  favor  of  persecuting  Prot- 
estants ;  but  she  had  neither  the  principle  nor  the  firmness  to  oppose  it  as  she  ought 
to  have  done. 


CHAP.  XII.]  CHARACTER    OF  THE   HUGUENOTS.  155 

Protestant  funds  are  seized  and  diverted  from  their  legitimate  ends ; 
those  that  attempt  to  fly  are  forbidden  to  leave  France,  under  pain 
of  being  sent  to  the  galleys.  Vain  attempt !  The  conversions  still 
proceed  very  slowly. 

Next  come  scenes  of  violence.  Instead  of  Jesuit  missionaries, 
or,  rather,  along  with  those  missionaries,  dragoons  are  sent  into  the 
Protestant  districts,  to  be  quartered  on  the  inhabitants,  and  to  worry 
them  into  conversion.  Ferocity  and  lust  are  let  loose  under  every 
roof,  and  escape  is  hopeless. 

At  length  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  formally  revoked.  All  public 
worship  among  the  Protestants  was  suppressed ;  their  places  of  pub- 
He  worship  existed  no  more,  for  them  at  least.  The  old  Chancellor  Le 
Tellier.  could  exclaim,  "Now,  Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,"  and  the  royal  dupe  believed  that  he  had  united  all  dissenters 
with  the  Roman  Church. 

But  what  pen  can  describe  the  results  of  this  pretended  union  ? 
Property  plundered,  books  destroyed,  children  torn  from  their  parents, 
faithful  pastors  who  would  not  abandon  their  flocks  broken  on  the 
wheel,  the  bodies  of  all  who  died  unreconciled  to  the  Church  thrown 
to  the  beasts,  estates  given  up  to  relations  who  conformed  to  the 
Romish  Church,  and  protracted  tortures  employed  to  extort  recanta- 
tions of  Protestantism !  Men  were  even  roasted  at  slow  fires,  plunged 
into  wells,  and  wounded  with  knives,  and  red-hot  pincers.  The  loss  of 
life  can  not  now  be  computed,  but  it  has  been  asserted  that  ten 
thousand  persons  perished  at  the  stake  alone;  or  on  the  gibbet  and  the 
wheel.* 

In  consequence  of  these  proceedings,  it  is  believed  that  no  fewer 
than  half  a  million  of  Protestants  left  France.  It  was  in  vain  that 
the  frontiers  were  guarded.  Despair  was  more  ingenious  in  devising 
means  of  evasion  than  was  bigotry  in  its  endeavors  to  prevent  it. 
Another  half  million,  unable  to  escape,  remained  in  France,  yet  could 
not  be  reduced  to  absolute  conformity  with  the  established  creed  and 
worship.  Fanaticism  grew  weary  in  hunting  down  its  victims,  and 
found  nothing  harder  to  subdue  than  the  human  mind,  when  once 
disenthralled  by  Truth. 

Those  Huguenots  that  escaped  sought  refuge  in  all  the  Protestant 
countries  of  Europe,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  in  America,  car- 
rying with  them  the  useful  arts  wherever  they  went,  and  founding 
many  new  manufactures  in  Germany,  Holland,  and  the  British  Islands. 
An  entire  suburb  of  London  came  to  be  inhabited  by  French  mechan- 
ics, and  they  had  six  churches  at  one  time  in  that  city.  The  Prince 
of  Orange  took  whole  regiments  of  brave  refugees  into  his  service, 

*  De  Kulkiere,  (Euvres,  v.,  p.  221. 


156  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

and  retained  them  after  he  became  William  III.  of  England.  Most 
affecting  narratives  have  come  down  to  our  times  from  the  actors  in 
those  scenes,  and  yet  filial  piety  has  not  been  so  diligent  as  it  ought 
to  have  been  in  collecting  and  preserving  them. 

"  In  our  American  colonies,"  says  the  eloquent  historian  to  whom 
I  have  been  so  often  indebted,  "they  were  welcome  everywhere. 
The  religious  sympathies  of  New  England  were  awakened.  Did  any 
arrive  in  poverty,  having  barely  escaped  with  life — the  towns  of  Mas- 
sachusetts contributed  liberally  to  their  support,  and  provided  them 
with  lands ;  others  repaired  to  New  York ;  but  a  warmer  climate 
was  more  inviting  to  the  exiles  of  Languedoc,  and  South  Carolina 
became  the  chief  resort  of  the  Huguenots.  What  though  the  attempt 
to  emigrate  was,  by  the  law  of  France,  a  felony  ?  in  spite  of  every 
precaution  of  the  police,  five  hundred  thousand  souls  escaped  from 
the  country.  The  unfortunate  were  more  wakeful  to  fly  than  the 
ministers  of  tyranny  to  restrain. 

"  '  We  quitted  home  by  night,  leaving  the  soldiers  in  their  beds, 
and  abandoning  the  house  with  its  furniture,'  said  Judith,  the  young 
wife  of  Pierre  Manigault ;  '  we  contrived  to  hide  ourselves  for  ten 
days  at  Romans,  in  Dauphiny,  while  a  search  was  made  for  us  ;  but 
our  faithful  hostess  would  not  betray  us.'  Nor  could  they  escape  to 
the  sea-board  except  by  a  circuitous  journey  through  Germany  and 
Holland,  and  thence  to  England,  in  the  depths  of  winter.  *  Having 
embarked  at  London,  we  were  sadly  off.  The  spotted  fever  appeared 
on  board,  and  many  died  of  the  disease ;  among  these,  our  aged 
mother.  We  touched  at  Bermuda,  where  the  vessel  was  seized. 
Our  money  was  all  spent ;  with  great  difficulty  we  procured  a  passage 
in  another  vessel.  After  our  arrival  in  Carolina,  we  suffered  every 
kind  of  evil.  In  eighteen  months,  our  eldest  brother,  unaccustomed 
to  the  hard  labor  which  we  were  obliged  to  undergo,  died  of  a  fever. 
Since  our  leaving  France  we  had  experienced  every  sort  of  affliction 
— disease,  pestilence,  famine,  poverty,  hard  labor.  I  have  been  six 
months  without  tasting  bread,  working  like  a  slave;  and  I  have 
passed  three  or  four  years  without  having  it  when  I  wanted  it.  And 
yet,'  adds  the  excellent  woman,  in  the  spirit  of  grateful  resignation, 
'  God  has  done  great  things  for  us  in  enabling  us  to  bear  up  under  so 

many  trials.' 

"  This  family  was  but  one  of  many  that  found  a  shelter  in  Carolina, 
the  general  asylum  of  the  Calvinist  refugees.  Escaping  from  a  land 
where  the  profession  of  their  religion  was  a  felony,  where  their  es- 
tates were  liable  to  become  confiscated  in  favor  of  the  apostate, 
where  the  preaching  of  their  faith  was  a  crime  to  be  expiated  on  the 
wheel,  where  their  children  might  be  torn  from  them  to  be  subjected 


CHAP.  XII.]  CHARACTER   OF   THE   HUGUENOTS.  157 

to  their  nearest  Catholic  relation— the  fugitives  from  Languedoc,  on 
the  Mediterranean,  from  Rochelle,  and  Saintonge,  and  Bordeaux,  the 
Provinces  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  from  St.  Quentin,  Poictiers,  and  the 
beautiful  valley  of  Tours,  from  St.  Lo,  and  Dieppe,  men  who  had  the 
virtues  of  the  English  Puritans  without  their  bigotry  came  to  the 
land  to  which  the  tolerant  benevolence  of  Shaftesbury*  had  invited 
the  believer  of  every  creed.  From  a  land  that  had  suffered  its  king 
in  wanton  bigotry  to  drive  half  a  million  of  its  best  citizens  into 
exile,  they  came  to  the  land  which  was  the  hospitable  refuge  of  the 
oppressed ;  where  superstition  and  fanaticism,  infidelity  and  faith, 
cold  speculation  and  animated  zeal,  were  alike  admitted  without  ques- 
tion, and  where  the  fires  of  religious  persecution  were  never  to  be 
kindled.  There  they  obtained  an  assignment  of  lands,  and  soon  had 
tenements ;  there  they  might  safely  make  the  woods  the  scene  of 
their  devotions,  and  join  the  simple  incense  of  their  psalms  to  the 
melodies  of  the  winds  among  the  ancient  groves.  Their  church  was 
in  Charleston,  and  thither  on  every  Lord's  day,  gathering  from  the 
plantations  on  the  banks  of  the  Cooper,  and  taking  advantage  of  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  they  might  all  regularly  be  seen,  the  pa- 
rents with  their  children,  whom  no  bigot  could  wrest  from  them, 
making  their  way  in  light  skiffs,  through  scenes  so  tranquil  that 
silence  was  broken  only  by  the  rippling  of  the  oars  and  the  hum  of  the 
flourishing  village  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers. 

"  Other  Huguenot  emigrants  established  themselves  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Santee,  in  a  region  which  has  since  been  celebrated  for 
affluence  and  refined  hospitality. 

"  The  United  States  are  full  of  monuments  of  the  emigrations  from 
France.  When  the  struggle  for  independence  arrived,  the  son  of 
Judith  Manigault  intrusted  the  vast  fortune  he  had  acquired  to  the 
service  of  the  country  that  had  adopted  his  mother ;  the  hall  in  Bos- 
ton, where  the  eloquence  of  New  England  rocked  the  infant  Spirit 
of  Independence,  was  the  gift  of  the  son  of  a  Huguenot ;  when  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  for  the  independence  of  our  country  was  framing, 
the  grandson  of  a  Huguenot,  acquainted  from  childhood  with  the 
wrongs  of  his  ancestors,  would  not  allow  his  jealousies  of  France  to 
be  lulled,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  stretching  the  boundary 
of  the  States  to  the  Mississippi.  In  our  north-eastern  frontier  State, 
the  name  of  the  oldest  college  bears  witness  to  the  wise  liberality  of 


*  The  "  Constitutions"  which  Mr.  Locke  prepared  for  Carolina,  and  to  which  Mr. 
Bancroft  alludes,  promised,  not  equal  rights,  but  "  toleration"  to  "Jews,  heathens,  and 
other  dissenters,"  to  "men  of  any  religion."  The  Episcopal  Church  was  to  be  estab- 
lished by  law. 


158  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

a  descendant  of  the  Huguenots.    The  children  of  the  Calvinists  of 
France  have  reason  to  respect  the  memory  of  their  ancestors."* 

The  emigration  of  the  Huguenots  to  America  is  an  exceedingly 
interesting  event  in  the  history  of  that  country.  It  commenced 
earlier,  and  was  more  extensive  than  is  generally  supposed.  Even 
previously  to  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  some  of  the 
Protestant  leaders,  as  we  have  seen,  whether  from  feeling  their  posi- 
tion to  be  even  then  intolerable,  or  from  their  anticipations  of  a  still 
darker  future,  proposed  to  establish  a  colony  and  a  mission  in  Brazil 
— the  mission  being  the  first  ever  projected  by  Protestants.  An  ad- 
miral of  France,  the  brave  Coligny,  who  was  afterward  a  victim  in 
the  above  massacre,  entered  warmly  into  the  undertaking,  and  Cal- 
vin urged  it  on  with  all  his  might,  and  selected  three  excellent 
ministers,  who  had  been  trained  under  his  own  eye  at  Geneva,  to 
accompany  the  emigrants.  The  expedition  set  out  in  1556,  but 
proved  peculiarly  disastrous.  The  commander  relapsed  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  and  having  put  the  three  ministers  to  death,  returned 
to  France,  leaving  the  remains  of  the  colony  to  be  massacred  by  the 
Portuguese  !  Nor  did  better  success  attend  two  attempts  made  by 
the  good  admiral  to  plant  colonies  in  North  America,  the  one  in 
South  Carolina,  the  other  in  Florida.  It  seemed  as  if  the  time  had 
not  yet  come  for  the  planting  of  good  colonies,  and  that  neither  re- 
ligion nor  persecution  had  as  yet  sufiiciently  ripened  the  Protestants 
for  the  enterprise. 

From  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Rochelle  to  that  of  the  Revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  there  had  been  a  continual  emigration  of 
French  Protestants  to  the  English  colonies  in  America,  which,  after 
the  latter  of  these  two  events,  was  greatly  augmented,  as  is  abund- 
antly proved  by  the  public  acts  of  those  colonies.  The  first  notice 
of  the  kind  to  be  found  is  an  act  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
in  1662,  to  this  effect,  "  that  John  Touton,  a  French  doctor  and  in- 
habitant of  Rochelle,  made  application  to  the  General  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  behalf  of  himself  and  other  Protestants,  expelled  from 
their  habitations  on  account  of  their  religion,  that  they  might  have 
liberty  to  live  there,  which  was  readily  granted  to  them."f  In  1686, 
a  grant  of  eleven  thousand  acres  was  made  to  -another  company  of 
French  Protestants  who  had  settled  at  Oxford,  in  the  same  colony.J 
In  that  year,  too,  a  French  Protestant  Church  was  erected  at  Boston, 
which,  ten  years  after,  had  the  Reverend  Mr.  Daille  for  its  pastor. 
A  century  later,  when  the  French  Protestants  had  ceased  to  use  the 
French  language,  and  had  become  merged  in  other  churches,  their 

*  Bancroa's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  it,  p.  180-183. 

f  Holmes's  "  American  Annals"  for  that  year.  %  Ibid. 


CHAP,  XII.]  CHARACTER    OF   THE   HUGUENOTS.  159 

place  of  worship  fell  into  the  hands  of  some  Roman  Catholic  refugees 
from  France. 

In  1666,  an  act  for  the  naturalization  of  French  Protestants  was 
passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  ;  acts  to  the  like  effect  were 
passed  in  Virginia,  in  1671 ;  hi  the  Carolinas,  in  1696  ;  and  in  New 
York,  in  1703* 

New  York  became  an  asylum  for  the  Huguenots  at  a  very  early 
date  ;  for  even  before  it  was  surrendered  to  England,  namely,  about 
1656,  they  were  so  numerous  there  that  the  public  documents  of  the 
colony  had  to  be  published  in  French  as  well  as  in  Dutch  ;f  and  in 
1708,  Smith,  the  historian  of  that  colony,  says  that,  next  to  the 
Dutch,  they  were  the  most  numerous  and  wealthiest  class  of  the  pop- 
ulation. From  an  early  period  they  had  in  that  city  a  church,  which 
exists  at  the  present  day.  It  has  long  been  attached  to  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church,  and  has  a  Frenchman  for  its  rector. 

New  Rochelle,  about  twenty  miles  above  the  city  of  New  York, 
on  the  East  River,  or  Sound,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called,  was  set- 
tled solely  by  Huguenots  from  Rochelle  in  France,  and  the  French 
tongue,  both  in  public  worship  and  common  parlance,  was  in  use  even 
until  after  the  American  Revolution.  There  are  many  of  the  descend- 
ants of  French  Huguenots  in  Ulster  and  Dutchess  counties  in  the 
State  of  New  York. 

The  late  Reverend  Dr.  Miller,  so  long  a  distinguished  professor 
of  Church  History  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  New 
Jersey,  had  the  following  interesting  facts,  respecting  the  early  in- 
habitants of  New  Rochelle,  communicated  to  him :  "  When  the  Hu- 
guenots first  settled  in  that  neighborhood,  their  only  place  of  worship 
was  in  the  city  of  New  York.  They  had  taken  lands  on  terms  that 
required  the  utmost  exertions  of  men,  women,  and  children  among 
them  to  render  tillable.  They  were,  therefore,  in  the  habit  of  work- 
ing hard  till  Saturday  night,  spending  the  night  in  trudging  down  on 
foot  to  the  city,  attending  worship  twice  the  next  day,  and  walking 
home  the  same  night  to  be  ready  for  work  hi  the  morning.  Amid  all 
these  hardships,  they  wrote  to  France  to  tell  what  great  privileges 
they  enjoyed.''^ 

In  1679,  Charles  II.  sent,  at  his  own  expense,  in  two  ships,  a  com- 
pany of  Huguenots  to  South  Carolina,  in  order  that  they  might  there 
cultivate  the  vine,  the  olive,  etc. ;  and  from  that  time  there  was  an 

*  Huguenots  had  long  been  settled  in  both  the  Carolinas  and  New  York  before 
they  were  naturalized.  This  arose  solely  from  internal  difficulties,  which  rendered 
their  naturalization,  for  the  moment,  impossible,  not  from  any  unwillingness  to  re- 
ceive them. 

•j-  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  h\,  p.  302. 

%  "  History  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  New  York." 


160  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

extensive  emigration  of  French  Protestants  to  the  colonies.  Collec- 
tions were  made  for  them  in  England  in  the  reign  of  James  II.,  and 
the  English  Parliament  at  one  time  aided  them  with  a  grant  of 
£15,000.*  In  1690,  William  III.  sent  a  large  colony  of  them  to  Vir- 
ginia ;  in  addition  to  which,  that  colony  received  three  hundred  fami- 
lies in  1699,  followed  successively  by  two  hundred,  and  afterward  by 
one  hundred  families  more.  In  1752,  no  fewer  than  one  thousand 
six  hundred  foreign  Protestants,  chiefly  French,  settled  in  South  Car- 
olina, and  above  two  hundred  more  in  1764. 

In  1733,  three  hundred  and  seventy  Swiss  Protestant  families  set- 
tled in  South  Carolina,  under  the  conduct  of  Jean  Pierre  Pury,  of 
Neuchatel;  the  British  government  granting  them  forty  thousand 
acres  of  land,  and  £400  sterling  for  every  hundred  adult  emigrants 
landed  in  the  colony. f 

In  some  of  the  colonies  where  an  Established  Church  was  supported 
by  a  tax,  special  acts  were  passed  for  relieving  French  Protestants  of 
that  burden,  and  for  granting  them  liberty  of  worship.  Thus,  in 
1700,  the  colony  of  Virginia  enacted  as  follows:  "Whereas  a  con- 
siderable number  of  French  Protestant  refugees  have  been  lately  im- 
ported into  his  majesty's  colony  and  dominion,  and  several  of  which 
refugees  have  seated  themselves  above  the  fall  of  James's  River,  at  or 
near  the  place  commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  the  Mon- 
acan  towns,  etc.,  the  said  settlement  be  erected  into  a  parish,  not 
liable  to  other  parochial  assessments."  This  exemption  was  to  last 
for  seven  years,  and  was  afterward  renewed  for  seven  more.! 

These  Huguenots,  wherever  sufficiently  numerous,  at  first  used 
their  own  language  in  public  worship,  and  had  churches  of  their  own, 
until,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  and  those  only  for  a  time,  they  fell 
into  either  the  Presbyterian  or  the  Episcopal  denomination.  This  must 
be  taken  as  a  general  statement,  for  their  descendants  may  now  be 
found  in  almost  all  communions,  as  well  as  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Many  members,  too,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  churohes  are 
descended  from  Huguenots,  who  had  first  taken  refuge  in  Holland,  and 
afterward  emigrated  to  America.  ISTor  must  we  forget  the  descend- 
ants of  Huguenots  who  found  their  first  asylum  in  England  and  Scot- 
land. Among  these  was  the  late  excellent  Divie  Bethune,  whose  an- 
cestors came  originally  from  the  town  of  Bethune,  not  far  from  Calais. 

On  looking  over  the  roll  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  there  may  be  found  the  Huguenot  names  of 
Dupre,  Du  Bosse,  Quillin,  Lanneau,  Legare,  Rosamond,  Dana,  Cou- 

*  Holmes's  "  American  Annals."  f  Ibid. 

%  Ibid.,  pp.  432,  4*72,  492.  Hening's  "Statutes,"  p.  201.  Dr.  Hawks's  "Episco- 
pal Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  19. 


CHAP.  XII.]  CHAEACTEK   OF   THE   HUGUENOTS.  161 

sac,  Lequeux,  Bores,  Hamet,  Rechon,  Bize,  Benoist,  Berbant,  Mar- 
chant,  Mallard,  Belville,  Molyneux,  Chevalier,  Bayard,  Sayre,  De 
Saint  Croix,  Boudinot,  Le  Roy,  Ogier,  Janvier,  Gillet,  Purviance, 
Guiteau,  Boyer,  Simon,  etc.,  etc.* 

As  the  entire  population  of  the  American  colonies  amounted  only 
to  about  two  hundred  thousand  souls  in  I701,f  more  than  forty  years 
after  the  commencement  of  the  Huguenot  emigration,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  that  number  must  have  been  French  Protestants,  and  Hugue- 
not blood  accordingly  must  be  extensively  diffused  among  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  at  the  present  day.J  It  is  very  obvious 
that  so  large  an  accession  of  people,  whose  very  presence  in  America 
proved  the  consistency  of  their  religious  character,  and  who  were 
generally  distinguished  by  simple  and  sincere  piety,  must  have  been 
a  great  blessing  to  the  land  of  their  adoption,  especially  to  the  South- 
ern States,  where  it  was  most  required.  Their  coming  to  America, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  been  blest,  under  God,  to  them  and  to  their 
descendants.  Many  of  the  first  families  in  New  York,  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  Carolinas,  as  well  as  in  other  States,  are  to  be  found 
among  them,  as  may  be  seen  in  many  cases  from  their  names, 
although  these  have  often  been  lost  through  intermarriages,  or  can 
with  difficulty  be  recognized,  owing  to  their  being  spelled  as  they  are 
pronounced  by  Anglo-Americans.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  persons 
that  have  ever  adorned  the  United  States  were  of  Huguenot  descent. 
Such  were  no  fewer  than  three  out  of  the  seven  presidents  of  Con- 
gress, and,  hi  a  sense,  of  the  whole  nation,  during  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  namely,  John  Jay,  Henry  Laurens,  and  Elias  Boudinot — 
all  excellent  men. 

I  conclude  this  chapter  in  the  words  of  a  distinguished  clergyman 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America.§  "  And  never,  probably,  did 
any  people  better  repay  the  hospitable  kindness  of  the  land  which  af- 
forded them  a  refuge.  Many  of  their  descendants  are  still  left  in 
New  York,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  other  parts  of  our  country ; 
and  among  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  State,  in  the  halls  of  legis- 
lation and  of  justice,  as  well  as  in  the  sacred  office,  may  be  found  the 
names  of  some  of  the  French  refugees.  No  man  in  America  need 
ever  blush  to  own  himself  one  of  their  descendants ;  for  the  observa- 
tion has  more  than  once  been  made,  and  it  is  believed  to  be  true, 
that  among  their  descendants  the  instances  have  been  rare  indeed  of 
individuals  who  have  been  arraigned  for  crime  before  the  courts  of 
the  country." 

*  Lang's  "  Eeligion  and  Education  in  America)"  p.  24.      f  Holmes's  "Annals." 
X  Lang,  pp.  22,  23. 

§  Eev.  Dr.  Hawks's  u  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  "Virginia." 

11 


162  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER    OF   THE  EARLY    COLONISTS. — EMIGRANTS 

FROM    GERMANT. 

Germans  began  to  emigrate  to  America  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  the  first  comers  were  probably  sufferers  in 
the  devastations  committed  by  the  French  under  Turenne  in  the  Up- 
per Palatinate :  a  country  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine,  having 
Manheim  for  its  capital,  and  including  a  portion  of  the  territory 
which  has  since  been  transferred  from  the  German  Empire  to  France. 
In  1674  the  whole  of  it  was  rendered  almost  utterly  desolate  by  the 
troops  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  had  no  better  motive  for  perpetrating 
such  atrocities  than  that  the  invaded  province  was  part  of  the  empire 
with  which  he  was  then  at  war,  and,  next,  that  its  inhabitants  were 
almost  all  Protestants.  So  effectually  did  these  troops  do  their  mas- 
ter's bidding,  that  the  Elector  Palatine  could  at  one  time  see,  from 
his  palace  at  Manheim,  two  cities  and  twenty-five  villages  in  flames ! 
In  this  work  of  horror  Turenne,  no  doubt,  proved  to  his  royal  mas- 
ter's satisfaction  the  sincerity  of  his  conversion  from  Protestantism  to 
Romanism,  but  he  forever  tarnished  by  it  his  own  great  name. 

As  persecution  continued  what  war  and  rapine  had  begun,  when 
the  Palatinate  fell  under  the  government  of  a  bigot,  many  German 
Protestants  emigrated  to  the  English  colonies  in  America ;  and  it 
may  be  remarked,  that  previously  to  the  American  Revolution,  the 
German  emigration,  though  not  always  confined  to  the  Palatinate, 
and  though  many  of  the  emigrants  came  from  the  southern  part  of 
Germany,  continued  to  be  almost  purely  Protestant. 

About  two  thousand  seven  hundred  "Palatines,"  as  they  were 
called,  who  had  sought  refuge  in  England,  were  sent  out  by  the 
British  government  under  Colonel  Hunter  in  1710,  when  that  officer 
was  transferred  from  the  Governorship  of  Virginia  to  that  of  New 
York ;  and  German  settlements  were  formed  about  that  time,  and 
some  years  following,  on  the  "  German  Flats,"  and  in  other  parts 
of  the  latter  province. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  individuals  who  came  from  Germany 
to  the  United  States  arrived  with  the  Swedes  in  1638,  and  settled  on 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson. 

In  1681-84,  some  Germans,  followers  of  Simon  Menno,  settled  near 
Philadelphia  and  founded  Germantown.  The  "  awfully  cold  winter 
of  1709,"  led  to  the  emigration  of  thirty  thousand  Germans  from  the 
Rhine  to  England,  of  whom  it  is  said  that  five  thousand  came  with 


CHAP.  XIII.]       CHARACTER    OF   EMIGRANTS   PROM   GERMANY.  163 

Governor  Hunter  in  1710  to  New  York,  and  settled  on  the  Hudson 
and  the  Mohawk.  They  were  mainly  from  the  "  Palatinate."  In  1707, 
Mennonites  from  Switzerland  and  South  Germany  settled  in  great 
numbers  in  what  is  now  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania  ;  and  in 
subsequent  years,  such  was  the  influx  of  those  emigrants,  that  they 
and  their  descendants  were  estimated,  in  1772,  at  a  third  of  the 
whole  population  of  that  province,  then  amounting  to  between 
two  and  three  hundred  thousand.*  In  a  letter  dated  October 
14,  1730,  Mr.  Andrews  says:  "There  is  besides  in  this  province  a 
vast  number  of  Palatines,  and  they  come  in  still  every  year.  Those 
that  have  come  of  late  are  mostly  Presbyterians,  or,  as  they  call 
themselves,  Reformed ;  the  Palatinate  being  about  three  fifths  of  that 
sort  of  people."  There  were,  however,  many  Lutherans  mixed  with 
them,  as  Mr.  A.  afterward  remarks,  while  he  adds :  "In  other  parts 
of  the  country  they  are  chiefly  Reformed,  so  that,  I  suppose,  the 
Presbyterian  party  are  as  numerous  as  the  Quakers,  or  near  it."f  In 
the  year  1749,  twelve  thousand  Germans  arrived  in  that  colony,  and 
for  several  years  thereafter  nearly  the  same  number  came.J 

In  1732,  a  few  Moravians  settled  in  the  same  district  of  country, 
and  a  few  years  later  those  who  came  over  with  Oglethorpe  to  Geor- 
gia emigrated  from  that  colony  to  Pennsylvania,  and  founded  the 
settlements  of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  near  Easton,  in  that  State. 
Before  the  Revolution,  Germans  were  to  be  found  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Caro- 
linas,  Georgia,  and  also  in  Maine.  Not  long  after  the  Revolution,  the 
emigration  from  Germany  began  again.  Indeed,  hundreds  of  the 
"  Hessians"  of  the  English  armies  remained  in  America.  It  has,  how- 
ever, been  mainly  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  that  the  German 
immigration  has  become  very  great.  From  1842  to  1846,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  Germans  reached  this 
country  by  way  of  Bremen  alone.  And  during  the  last  ten  years 
it  is  estimated  that  not  much  less  than  a  million  of  people  from  the 
land  of  Luther  and  Hermann  have  come  to  us. 

The  earlier  emigrations  from  Germany  spread  from  Pennsylvania 
into  Maryland  and  Virginia.  "The  year  1713  was  rendered  memor- 
able by  an  act  of  kindness  shown  to  certain  emigrants,  similar  to  that 
which  had  been  manifested  toward  the  French  refugees.  It  seems 
that  a  small  body  of  Germans  had  settled  above  the  falls  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock, on  the  southern  branch  of  the  river,  in  the  coimty  of 
Essex.  This  was  at  that  period  the  frontier  of  civilization;  and, 
therefore,  it  was  alike  the  suggestion  of  interest  and  humanity  to 

*  Proud's  "  History  of  Pennsylvania,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  273. 

f  Dr.  Hodge's  "Constitutional  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  vol.  i.,  p.  50, 

%  Proud's  "History  of  Pennsylvania,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  273,  274. 


164  THE   COLONIAL   EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

afford  protection  and  encouragement  to  these  foreigners.  Accord- 
ingly, they  were  exempted,  as  the  French  had  been,  from  all  ordi- 
nary taxes  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  and  were  formed  into  the 
a  Parish  of  St.  George,"  with  power  to  employ  their  own  minister 
and  upon  their  own  terms."* 

Many  Germans  emigrated  to  the  Carolinas  also.  In  1709  above 
six  hundred  arrived,  and  from  the  name  of  their  settlement,  New- 
bern,  they  are  supposed  to  have  been  Swiss-Germans  from  the  canton 
of  Berne.f  From  1730  to  1750,  South  Carolina  recived  large. acces- 
sions from  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Germany,  and  a  great  many 
"Palatines"  arrived  every  year.J  In  1764,  five  or  six  hundred  sent 
over  from  London,  and  had  a  township  set  apart  for  them.§  Some 
years  later  a  considerable  number  of  German  families,  after  having 
settled  in  Maine,  left  that  province  to  join  their  countrymen  at  Lon- 
donderry in  South  Carolina,  but  most  of  these  repented  having  taken 
that  step,  and  returned  to  Maine,  where  their  descendants  are  to  be 
found  at  this  day.|| 

Georgia  had  Germans  among  its  very  first  colonists.  A  band  of 
these  were  led  thither  by  Colonel  Oglethorpe,  and  re-enforcements 
from  time  to  time  arrived  from  Europe. 

The  Germans  who  emigrated  to  America  during  the  colonial  era, 
being  almost  all  Protestants,  organized  upon  their  arrival  two  Com- 
munions or  Churches,  upon  the  great  doctrinal  principles  which  had 
divided  them  into  two  denominations  in  Germany — the  Reformed, 
or  the  Calvinists,  and  the  Church  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  or 
Lutherans.  The  history  of  these  churches  down  to  the  present  day 
will  fall  under  our  notice  elsewhere.  But  although  difference  of 
language  compelled  them  in  the  first  instance  to  have  churches  of 
their  own,  many  of  their  descendants,  partly  from  having  adopted 
the  English  tongue,  partly  from  their  wide  dispersion  over  the  coun- 
try, are  now  members  of  the  Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  Methodist,  and 
Baptist  Churches. 

Among  the  Germans  who  settled  in  America  were  two  small,  but 
interesting  portions  of  the  ancient  Sclavonic  churches  of  Bohemia,  as 

*  Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  81. 

f  Williamson's  "  History  of  North  Carolina,"  vol.  i.,  p.  184. 

\  Ramsay's  "History  of  South  Carolina,"  vol.  i.,  p.  11. 

§  Holmes's  "American  Annals,"  vol. ii.,  p.  268. 

|  There  is  an  interesting  account  of  this  colony  in  the  American  Quarterly  Regis- 
ter for  November,  1840.  It  was  commenced,  it  would  seem,  in  1139,  and  received 
several  accessions  from  Germany,  but  never  became  very  strong.  It  suffered  much 
in  its  early  days  from  the  Indians,  and  also  from  lawsuits  about  the  titles  to  the 
lands  occupied  by  the  emigrants.  The  chief  place  in  the  colony  is  called  Waldobo- 
rough,  where  there  is  a  church  and  a  pastor,  but  the  German  language  is  now 
disused. 


CHAP.  XIII.]      CHARACTER   OF   EMIGRANTS   FROM   GERMANY.  165 

if  to  show  that  even  the  great  Eastern  branch  of  the  Christian  Church 
was  to  have  its  representatives  also  in  the  New  World,  and  to  con- 
tribute to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  Christian  empire  there.  These 
were  the  United  Brethren,  or  Moravians,  as  they  are  more  commonly 
called,  and  some  members  of  the  churches  of  Bohemia.  The  Mora- 
vians came  directly  from  Herrnhut,  the  mother  city  of  the  whole  fra- 
ternity that  adopt  the  renovated  system,  received  by  some  of  the 
remains  of  the  ancient  race  from  Count  Zinzendorf,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century.  The  Bohemians  came  in  a  dispersed  state  by 
way  of  Holland,  but  not  having  organized  themselves  as  a  distinct 
communion,  these  children  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  were 
soon  merged  in  the  Protestant  clmrches  of  the  land  of  their  adoption. 
Not  so  with  the  United  Brethren,  who  preserve  their  own  organiza- 
tion and  peculiar  institutions  to  this  day.  Besides  a  few  churches  in 
such  large  cities  as  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  some  scattered 
throughout  the  interior,  they  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  three 
settlements  of  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  Lititz  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
Salem  in  North  Carolina.  But  I  shall  speak  of  their  history  and  pres- 
ent number  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Previous  to  the  Revolution,  the  German  emigration  was  not  only 
extensive,  but  also,  to  a  considerable  degree  at  least,  pure.  The 
emigrants  had  left  Europe  on  account  of  their  religion,  and  brought 
with  them  into  America  the  simple  and  tranquil  habits,  and  the 
frugal  industry  that  characterize  the  nation  from  which  they  came. 
Not  only  was  their  general  standard  of  morality  high,  but  there  were 
not  wanting  among  them  a  goodly  number  of  sincere  Christians,  dis- 
tinguished for  the  cultivation  of  all  the  Christian  virtues.  But  ever 
since  the  Revolution,  and  especially  during  the  last  thirty  years,  a 
very  numerous  emigration  from  Germany  to  the  United  States  has 
taken  place,  consisting  both  of  Protestants  and  of  Roman  Catholics,  in- 
fluenced in  expatriating  themselves  chiefly  by  worldly  considerations, 
and  much  inferior  in  point  of  religious  character  to  those  godly  emi- 
grants of  the  same  race  who  had  been  driven  to  our  shores  by  perse- 
cution and  oppression  at  home. 

The  descendants  of  German  settlers  are  very  numerous  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  other  Southern  States,  as  well  as 
in  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Wisconsin 
and  Iowa.*  Indeed,  they  are  by  far  the  most  numerous  of  all  the 
emigrants  to  America  that  are  not  of  the  British  stock.  But  their 
influence  on  the  religious  character  of  the  nation  has  not  been  equa] 
to  that  of  the  Puritans,  the  Scotch,  or  the  Huguenots. 

The  first  Bible  printed  in  America  was  Luther's  version. 
*  There  are  many  Germans  also  in  Texas. 


166  THE   COLONIAL  EEA,  [BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

EELIGIOUS   CHAEACTEE    OF   THE  EAELY   COLONISTS. EMIGEANTS 

FEOM  POLAND. 

Even  Poland  was  called  upon  to  furnish  her  contingent  toward 
the  colonization  of  America,  and  sent  over  some  excellent  people, 
whose  descendants  are  now  dispersed  over  the  country. 

I  know  not  whether  the  fact  I  am  about  to  mention  stands  re- 
corded in  any  history,  but  it  may,  without  hesitation,  be  received  as 
true  in  all  material  points.  I  received  it  myself  from  some  excellent 
ministers  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  who  are  personally  ac- 
quainted with  a  considerable  number  of  the  descendants  of  the  colo- 
nists to  whom  it  relates.  They  state  that  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  a  Count  Sobieski,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
famous  John  Sobieski  III.,  who  routed  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of 
Choczin  in  1673,  and  chased  them  from  the  walls  of  Vienna  in  1683, 
led  a  colony  of  about  two  hundred  Protestants  from  Poland  to  the 
shores  of  America,  there  to  enjoy  a  religious  freedom  which  was  not 
to  be  fomid  in  their  native  country. 

In  this  tradition  there  is  nothing  strange.  The  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation  made  a  considerable  progress  for  a  time  in  Poland,  and 
one  or  two  of  the  kings  of  that  country  were  well  disposed  toward 
it.  Nearly  half  the  nobles  embraced  it.  Stipulations  somewhat  like 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  were  even  made,  for  securing  liberty  of  con- 
science and  of  worship  to  the  Protestants.  But  these  were  afterward 
disregarded,  the  Protestants  persecuted,  and  their  doctrines  so  ef- 
fectually suppressed,  that  a  Protestant  Pole  is  hardly  to  be  found 
now  in  the  whole  kingdom ;  for  the  greater  part  of  those  Protestants 
whom  one  meets  with  there,  are  of  the  German,  not  of  the  Polish  race. 
Thus  there  is  nothing  incredible  in  the  representation  of  Poland,  too, 
in  a  country  where  the  persecuted  of  every  land  have  found  a  home. 

This  Polish  colony  settled  in  the  valleys  of  the  Passaic  and  Raritan 
Rivers  in  New  Jersey,  where  there  are  some  of  their  descendants  at 
the  present  day,  while  others  are  dispersed  over  various  parts  of  the 
country.  The  name  of  Sobieski,  corrupted  into  that  of  Zabriskie,  is 
retained  by  a  highly  respectable  family,  some  members  of  which  are 
to  be  found  in  one  district  of  New  Jersey,  and  others  in  the  city  of 
New  York. 

How  wonderful  are  the  ways  of  God !  Poland  chose  to  cleave  to 
Romanism  and  rejected  the  Protestant  Reformation,  and  how  has 
Romanism  served  her  in  her  dreadful  struggle  for  national  independ- 


CHAP.  XV.]      EMIGRANTS   FEOM  THE   VALLEYS   OF   PIEDMONT.  167 

ence  in  1830-31?  This  question  is  best  answered  by  the  pope's 
bull,*  addressed  to  the  bishops  of  the  kingdom  in  relation  to  that 
war,  a  bull  which  was  fatal  to  the  Revolution. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER    OF   THE  EARLY   COLONISTS. — EMIGRANTS  FROM 

THE  VALLEYS    OF   PIEDMONT. 

While  even  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Poland  thus  sent  forth  their 
little  bands  of  faithful  men  to  America,  it  is  not  surprising  that  we 
should  find  some  witnesses  to  the  Truth  proceeding  from  the  Valleys 
of  Piedmont,  to  place  themselves  in  the  ranks  of  those  whom  God 
was  thus  calling,  from  so  many  nations,  to  take  part  in  peopling  the 
New  World  with  professors  of  the  pure  Gospel.  It  was  most  fitting 
that  among  those  there  should  be  some,  at  least,  to  represent  that 
martyr-people,  veritable  living  relics  of  those  churches  in  the  north 
of  Italy  and  south-east  of  France,  which  had  remained  faithful  to  the 
Truth  during  long  ages  of  apostacy,  and  whose  preservation  was  so 
appropriately  symbolized  by  "  the  bush  unconsumed  in  the  midst  of 
the  flames." 

These  had  heard,  in  the  recesses  of  their  valleys,  of  the  wonderful 
movement  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  and  France.  They  sent 
a  deputation  to  Berne  and  Basel  to  learn  from  Bucer  and  (Ecolam- 
padius  what  were  the  sentiments  of  the  Reformers,  and  what  those 
doctrines  which  were  turning  the  world  upside  down.  They  heard 
with  joy  that  the  faith  of  the  Reformers  was  the  same  as  their  own, 
and  hastened,  accordingly,  to  unite  themselves  to  the  general  body 
of  faithful  men,  who,  through  much  tribulation,  were  casting  off  the 
yoke  of  that  spiritual  Babylon,  drunk  with  the  blood  of  saints,  which 
had  been  endeavoring  for  so  many  ages  to  crush  their  forefathers. 

But  before  long  the  persecution,  which  was  to  fall  upon  the  whole 
Protestant  body,  reached  them  also,  and  with  fresh  violence.  Neither 
the  seclusion  of  their  valleys,  nor  the  insignificance  of  their  numbers, 
could  save  them  from  this  stroke.  Then  it  was  that  the  voice  o^f 
Cromwell  spoke  for  them  with  a  power  which  even  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  dared  not  disregard.  And  then  the  pen  of  England's  great- 
est poet  was  no  less  ready  to  teach  a  persecuting  prince  the  duty 
that  he  owed  to  suffering  humanity,  than  it  was  "  to  assert  eternal 

*  This  bull  is  given  at  length  in  the  work  of  the  Abbe  de  la  Mennais  entitled 
*'  Rome." 


168  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

providence,  and  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man."  Those  valleys 
contain  enduring  monuments  of  British  benevolence ;  the  fund  con- 
tributed at  that  time  by  the  Christians  of  England  has  aided  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  their  poor  inhabitants  ever  since.  But 
such  as  had  fled  from  persecution  before  the  voice  of  Britain  was 
thus  lifted  up,  were  to  be  provided  with  an  asylum,  and  for  this  they 
were  indebted  to  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  which  offered  them  a  free 
passage  to  America.  There  the  few  hundreds  that  embraced  the  offer 
found  a  welcome  reception  awaiting  them.* 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

SUMMARY. 


Such,  as  respects  the  religious  character  of  the  colonists,  was  the 
early  colonization  of  the  United  States ;  and  well  may  it  excite  our 
wonder  as  altogether  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
What  were  the  colonies  of  Egypt,  of  Phoenicia,  of  Greece,  and  Rome  ? 
what  the  colonies  of  France,  Spam,  and  Portugal,  when  compared 
with  those  we  have  been  considering?  Before  leaving  the  subject, 
let  us  take  a  general  survey  of  their  character. 

1.  They  were  not  composed  of  the  rich,  the  voluptuous,  the  idle, 
the  effeminate,  and  the  profligate,  neither  were  they,  generally  speak- 
ing, composed  of  poor,  spiritless,  dependent,  and  helpless  persons. 
They  rather  came  from  that  middle  class  of  society,  which  is  placed  in 
the  happy  medium  between  sordid  poverty  and  overgrown  wealth. 
They  knew  that  whatever  comfort  or  enjoyment  they  could  look  for 
in  the  New  World,  was  only  to  be  attained  by  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  their  industry,  frugality  and  temperance. 

2.  They  were  not  an  ignorant  rabble,  such  as  many  ancient  and 
some  modern  States  have  been  obliged  to  expel  from  their  borders. 
Taken  in  the  mass,  they  were  well-informed — many  of  them  remark- 
ably so  for  the  age  in  which  they  lived — and  which  in  the  case  of  none 
of  them  was  an  age  of  darkness.  Letters  had  revived ;  the  art  of 
printing  had  diffused  a  great  amount  of  valuable  knowledge  among 
the  middle  ranks  of  society,  and  was  fast  carrying  it  down  to  the 
lowest.    With  few  exceptions,  they  had  acquired  the  elements  of  a 

*  "  Albany  Records,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  223.  Lambrechtsten,  p.  65,  without  quoting  his 
authority,  says  six  hundred  came  over.  Mr.  Bancroft,  vol.  ii.,  p.  322,  thinks  this  an 
over-statement.  A  second  emigration  was  proposed  in  1663,  but  the  project  failed. 
Those  who  came  settled  at  various  places  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  and  collections 
were  often  made  for  them  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  churches. 


CHAP.  XVI.]       *  SUMMARY.  169 

good  education.  There  were  few  persons  in  any  of  the  colonies  that 
could  not  read.  They  were,  moreover,  a  thinking  people,  and  very 
unfit  to  be  the  slaves  of  despotic  power. 

3.  They  were  a  virtuous  people ;  not  a  vicious  herd,  such  as  used 
to  be  sent  out  by  ancient  States,  and  such  as  chiefly  colonized  South 
America  and  Mexico,  men  of  unbridled  passions  and  slaves  to  the 
basest  lusts.  The  morality  of  the  early  colonists  of  the  United  States 
was  unrivaled  in  any  community  of  equal  extent,  and  has  been  lauded 
by  almost  all  who  have  written  about  them,  as  well  as  by  those  who 
have  governed  them. 

4.  They  were  religious  men.  They  believed  and  felt  that  Chris- 
tianity is  no  vain  fancy — a  fact  that  holds  true  even  as  respects  those 
of  them  with  whom  religious  motives  were  not  the  chief  inducement 
for  expatriating  themselves.  The  overwhelming  majority  stood  ac- 
quitted of  the  slightest  approach  to  infidelity.  Neither  were  they 
what  are  called  "  philosophers,"  attempting  to  propagate  certain  new 
theories  respecting  human  society,  and  suggesting  new  methods  for 
rendering  it  perfect.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  them  were  simple 
Christians,  who  knew  of  no  way  by  which  men  can  be  good  or  happy 
but  that  pointed  out  by  God  in  His  Word.  There  was  not  a  single 
St.  Simon  or  Robert  Owen  to  be  found  among  them.  Some  of  them, 
indeed,  were  irreligious  men ;  some  were  even  openly  wicked,  and  op- 
posed to  all  that  is  good.  But  these,  in  most  of  the  colonies,  formed 
a  very  small  minority. 

Nor  was  their  religion  inoperative.  It  produced  the  fruits  of 
righteousness.  They  have  been  blamed  for  their  conduct  to  the  In- 
dians, but  not  with  so  much  justice  as  has  been  supposed.  No  doubt 
there  were  instances  of  individual  wrong,  but  they  can  not  be  charged 
with  any  general  want  of  justice  or  kindness  to  the  Aborigines.  In 
almost  every  case  they  bought  from  those  prior  occupants  the  lands 
on  which  they  settled.  But  on  this,  and  on  some  other  points  of  a 
general  nature,  I  shall  have  more  to  say  in  another  place. 

5.  With  few  exceptions,  the  first  colonists  were  Protestants ;  in- 
deed, Lord  Baltimore's  was  the  only  Roman  Catholic  colony,  and  even 
in  it  the  Romanists  formed  but  a  small  minority  long  before  the  Rev- 
olution of  1775.  The  great  mass  had  sacrificed  much,  some  their  all, 
for  the  Protestant  faith.  They  were  Protestants  in  the  sense  of  men 
who  took  the  Bible  for  their  guide,  who  believed  what  it  taught,  not 
what  human  authority  put  in  its  place.  "  What  saith  the  Lord  ?" 
this  was  what  they  desired  first  of  all,  and  above  all,  to  know.  And 
it  was  the  study  of  the  Bible  that  opened  their  eyes  to  truths  which 
bore  upon  every  possible  relation  of  life,  and  upon  every  duty.  There 
they  learned  to  look  upon  all  men  as  children  of  the  same  heavenly 


170  THE  COLONIAL   EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

Father,  as  redeemed  by  the  same  Saviour,  as  going  to  the  same  bar 
of  judgment,  before  which  all  must  stand  stripped  of  the  factitious 
distinctions  of  this  world.  They  saw  no  reason,  therefore,  why  one 
man  should  lord  it  over  another,  since  all  "  are  of  one  flesh,"  and  if 
Christians,  brethren  in  Christ.  And  they  learned  from  the  Bible  that 
obedience  is  due  to  rulers,  not  because  they  are  different  in  blood  or 
rank  from  other  men,  but  because  government  is  "  an  ordinance  of 
God."  Obedience  to  God  secured  their  obedience  to  civil  rulers.  As 
God  can  not  command  what  is  wrong,  no  ruler  can  be  justified  in 
doing  so,  nor  can  he  expect  obedience  if  he  does.  And  while  they 
learned  from  the  Bible  what  were  their  duties,  so  they  learned  there 
also  what  were  their  rights.  This  led  them  at  once  to  practise  the 
former,  and  to  demand  the  latter. 

6.  The  great  majority  of  them  had  suffered  much  oppression  and 
persecution,  and  in  that  severe  but  effectual  school  had  learned  lessons 
not  to  be  acquired  in  any  other.  It  led  them  to  question  many  things 
to  which  otherwise  their  thoughts  might  never  have  been  directed, 
and  it  gave  them  irresistible  power  of  argument  in  favor  of  the  right 
of  the  human  mind  to  freedom  of  thought.  Indeed,  it  is  remarkable 
how  large  a  proportion  of  the  early  colonists  of  the  United  States 
were  driven  from  Europe  by  oppression.  Although  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas  were  not  expressly  established  as  asylums  for  the  wronged, 
yet  during  the  Commonwealth  in  England  they  afforded  a  refuge  to 
the  "  Cavalier"  and  the  "  Churchman,"  as  they  did  afterward  to  the 
Huguenot  and  German  Protestant.  Georgia  was  colonized  as  an 
asylum  for  the  imprisoned  and  "  persecuted  Protestants ;"  Maryland, 
as  the  home  of  persecuted  Roman  Catholics ;  and  the  colony  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  was  to  be  a  general  blessing  to  the  "  whole  Protestant 
world,"  by  offering  a  shelter  to  all  who  stood  in  need  of  one.  Even 
ISTew  York,  though  founded  by  Dutch  merchants,  with  an  eye  to  trade 
alone,  opened  its  arms  to  the  persecuted  Bohemian,  and  to  the  inhab- 
itant of  the  Italian  Valleys.  So  that,  in  fact,  all  these  colonies  were 
originally  peopled  more  or  less,  and  some  of  them  exclusively,  by  the 
victims  of  oppression  and  persecution ;  hence  the  remark  of  one  of 
our  historians  is  no  less  just  than  eloquent,  that  "  tyranny  and  injustice 
peopled  America  with  men  nurtured  in  suffering  and  adversity.  The 
history  of  our  colonization  is  the  history  of  the  crimes  of  Eu- 
rope."* 

V.  Though  incapable  as  yet  of  emancipating  themselves  from  all  the 
prejudices  and  errors  of  past  ages,  with  respect  to  the  rights  of  con- 
science, they  were  at  least  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the  world  on  these 
points,  and  founded  an  empire  in  which  religious  liberty  is  at  this  day 
*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  251. 


CHAP.  XVII.]  CHURCH   AND   STATE,    IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 71 

more  fully  enjoyed  than  anywhere  else — in  short,  is  in  every  respect 
perfect. 

8.  Lastly,  of  the  greater  number  of  the  early  colonists  it  may  be 
said,  that  they  expatriated  themselves  from  the  Old  World,  not  merely 
to  find  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  forests  of  the  New,  but  that  they 
might  extend  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  by  founding  States  where  the 
Truth  should  not  be  impeded  by  the  hindrances  that  opposed  its 
progress  elsewhere.  This  was  remarkably  the  case  with  the  Puritans 
of  New  England ;  but  a  like  spirit  animated  the  pious  men  who  set- 
tled in  other  parts  of  the  country.  They  looked  to  futurity,  and 
caught  glimpses  of  the  glorious  progress  which  the  Gospel  was  to 
make  among  their  children  and  children's  children.  This  comforted 
them  in  sorrow,  and  sustained  them  under  trials.  They  lived  by  faith, 
and  their  hope  was  not  disappointed. 


CHAPTER   XVII.  ' 

RELATIONS    BETWEEN  THE    CHURCHES    AND   THE    CIVIL   POWER   IN  THE 
COLONIES  OP  AMERICA. 1.  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  treating  of  the  religious  character  of  the  early  Anglo-American 
colonies,  I  have  spoken  but  incidentally  of  their  forms  of  Church 
government,  and  even  now  proceed  to  consider  these  only  in  so  far 
as  may  be  required  for  a  right  understanding  of  the  established  rela- 
tions between  their  Churches  and  the  civil  government.  I  shall  else- 
where treat  of  the  various  religious  communions  in  the  United  States, 
or,  rather,  of  the  diverse  forms  in  which  the  Church  presents  itself  to 
the  world  ;  and  the  doctrines  peculiar  to  each.  We  have  here  to  do 
only  with  the  relations  which  the  State  bore  in  the  different  colonies 
to  the  Church ;  and  where  these  two  bodies  were  united,  we  shall  see 
what  were  the  nature  and  extent  of  that  union. 

Many  persons  whom  I  have  met  with  in  Europe  seem  to  have 
been  altogether  unaware  of  the  existence  of  any  such  union  in  any 
part  of  the  United  States,  and,  still  more,  have  had  no  correct  idea 
of  the  nature  of  that  union  in  the  different  parts  of  the  country  where 
it  was  to  be  found. 

If  we  consider  for  a  moment  what  was  the  state  of  the  Christian 
world  when  these  colonies  were  planted,  in  the  early  part  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  we  must  see  that  the  mass  of  the  colonists  would 
be  very  little  disposed  to  have  the  Church  completely  separated  from 


172  THE  COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  H. 

the  State  in  their  infant  settlements,  and  the  former  deriving  no  support 
from  the  latter.  The  Church  and  the  State  were  at  that  time  inti- 
mately united  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe ;  and  the  opinion  was 
almost  universally  entertained  that  the  one  could  not  safely  exist  with- 
out the  direct  countenance  of  the  other.  It  is  not  even  certain  that 
England,  or  any  other  country,  would  have  granted  charters  for  the 
founding  of  permanent  colonies,  unless  upon  the  condition  expressed, 
or  well  understood,  that  religion  was  received  with  public  sanction 
and  support.  Assuredly,  James  I.,  at  least,  was  not  likely  to-  consent 
to  any  thing  else. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  first  colonists  themselves  had  no  idea  of 
abolishing  the  connection  which  they  saw  everywhere  established  be- 
tween the  civil  powers  and  the  Church  of  Christ.  To  begin  with 
New  England,  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  its  Puritan  col- 
onists, whether  we  look  to  their  declarations  or  to  their  acts,  never  con- 
templated the  founding  of  communities  in  which  the  Church  should 
have  no  alliance  with  the  State.  Their  object — and  it  was  one  that 
was  dearer  to  them  than  life  itself — was  to  found  such  civil  communi- 
ties as  should  be  most  favorable  to  the  cause  of  pure  religion.  They 
had  left  England  in  order  to  escape  from  a  government  which,  in 
their  view,  hindered  the  progress  of  Divine  truth,  oppressed  the  con- 
science, and  was  inexpressibly  injurious  to  the  immortal  interests  of 
men's  souls.  "  They  had  seen  in  their  native  country  the  entire  sub- 
jection of  the  Church  to  the  supreme  civil  power ;  reformation  begin- 
ning and  ending  according  to  the  caprices  of  the  hereditary  sovereign ; 
the  Church  neither  purified  from  superstition,  ignorance,  and  scandal, 
nor  permitted  to  purify  itself;  ambitious,  time-serving,  tyrannical 
men,  the  minions  of  the  court,  appointed  to  the  high  places  of  prel- 
acy ;  and  faithful,  skillful,  and  laborious  preachers  of  the  Word  of 
God  silenced,  imprisoned,  and  deprived  of  all  means  of  subsistence, 
according  to  the  interests  and  aims  of  him  or  her  who,  by  the  law  of 
inheritance,  happened  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  kingdom.  All  this 
seemed  to  them  not  only  preposterous,  but  intolerable ;  and,  there- 
fore, to  escape  from  such  a  state  of  things,  and  to  be  where  they 
could  freely  practice  '  Church  Reformation,'  they  emigrated."* 

In  the  formation,  likewise,  of  their  civil  institutions  in  the  New 
World,  they  determined  that,  whatever  else  might  be  sacrificed,  the 
purity  and  liberty  of  their  churches  should  be  inviolate.  Bearing 
this  in  mind,  they  founded  commonwealths  in  which  the  churches  were 
not  to  be  subordinate  to  the  State.  Not  that  they  were  "Fifth  mon- 
archy men :"  they  had  no  wish  that  the  Church  should  engross  to 

*  Reverend  Dr.  Bacon's  "  Historical  Discourses  on  the  Completion  of  Two  Hundred 
Tears  from  the  beginning  of  the  first  Church  in  New  Haven,"  pp.  11,  18. 


CHAP.  XVII.]  CHUECH   AND   STATE,    IN   NEW   ENGLAND.  173 

itself  the  powers  of  the  State,  and  so  rule  in  civil  as  well  as  in  eccle- 
siastical matters.  But  they  thought  it  better  that  the  State  should  be 
accommodated  to  the  Church,  than  the  Church  to  the  State.  "  It  is 
better,"  said  Mr.  Cotton,  "  that  the  commonwealth  be  fashioned  to 
the  setting  forth  of  God's  House,  which  is  His  Church,  than  to  accom- 
modate the  Church  frame  to  the  civil  State."* 

With  this  in  view,  they  sought  to  avail  themselves  of  all  the  lights 
furnished  by  the  experience  of  ancient  as  well  as  modern  States,  and 
looking  especially  to  the  Constitution  of  England  as  it  then  stood, 
they  framed  civil  governments  in  which,  as  they  hoped,  not  only  the 
temporal,  but,  still  more,  the  spiritual  interests  of  mankind  might  best 
be  promoted.  They  considered  that  they  had  a  right  to  do  so,  and 
held  opinions  on  this«point  directly  at  variance  with  those  of  the  age 
in  which  they  lived.  The  fashion  then  was  to  deduce  all  authority 
from  the  Divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  theory  of  civil  power  was 
that  of  uninterrupted  hereditary  succession.  But  the  Puritan  found- 
ers of  New  England  thought  that  "  they  were  free  to  cast  themselves 
into  that  mould  and  form  of  commonwealth  which  appeared  best  for 
them,"  in  reference  to  their  grand  purpose  :  nor  did  they  doubt  that 
a  government  thus  originating  in  voluntary  compact,  would  have 
equal  right  to  the  exercise  of  civil  authority  with  that  of  any  earthly 
potentate. 

But  whatever  were  the  details  of  their  policy,  and  whatever  the 
results  of  some  parts  of  it,  it  is  most  certain  that  they  intended  that 
the  Church  should  in  no  sense  be  subject  to  the  State.  They  held 
the  great  and  glorious  doctrine  that  Christ  is  the  only  Head  and 
Ruler  op  the  Church,  and  that  no  human  legislation  has  a  right  to 
interfere  with  His.  It  has  been  said  that  they  took  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth for  their  model  in  civil  politics,  and  this  is  so  far  true. 
But  it  holds  as  to  their  penal  code  more  than  with  respect  to  the 
forms  of  their  civil  governments.  With  the  exception  of  the  first 
few  years  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Haven  colonies,  there 
was  no  such  blending  of  civil  and  religious  authority  as  existed  in 
the  Jewish  Republic.  There  was  much,  however,  in  the  Hebrew 
commonwealth  and  laws  that  seemed  adapted  to  the  circumstances 
of  men,  who  had  just  exchanged  what  they  considered  a  worse  than 
Egyptian  bondage  for  a  Canaan  inhabited  by  the  "  heathen,"  whom 
they  were  soon  to  be  compelled  to  "  drive  out."  The  two  cases  were 
more  alike  than  at  first  strikes  a  superficial  observer,  f    There  were 

*  Cotton's  "Letter  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal,"  in  "  Hutchinson's  History  of  New  En- 
gland," vol.  i.,  p.  49?. 

f  "  The  Laws  of  Moses  were  given  to  a  community  emigrating  from  their  native 
country  to  a  land  which  they  were  to  acquire  and  occupy  for  the  great  purpose  of 


1 74  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

parts  of  the  Mosaic  law,  excluding,  of  course,  all  that  was  typical, 
ceremonial,  and  local,  which  the  colonists  thought  they  might  do  well 
to  adopt,  until,  in  the  course  of  time,  they  should  find  reasons  for 
changing  to  something  better.  Had  it  been  the  laws  of  Solon,  Ly- 
curgus,  Nnma,  or  Alfred,  which  they  adopted,  some  who  now  ridi- 
cule would  perhaps  have  applauded  them,  as  if  Moses  were  inferior  to 
any  of  those  lawgivers.  There  are  men  who  know  more  of  the  laws 
of  Solon,  and  even  of  Minos,  than  about  Moses,  and  who,  in  their 
ignorance  talk  of  the  Jews  of  the  days  of  Moses  as  if  almost,  if  not 
altogether,  savages  :  not  knowing  that  they  were  quite  as  much  civ- 
ilized as  any  of  their  cotemporaries,  and  had  institutions  prescribed 
to  them  by  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  Lawgiver. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  Plymouth  settlers, 
all  the  first  New  England  colonists — all  who  founded  Massachusetts 
Bay,  New  Hampshire,  Maine,  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  Providence, 
and  Rhode  Island — up  to  their  leaving  England,  were  members  of 
the  Established  Church.  The  Plymouth  people  alone  were  Inde- 
pendents,* had  had  their  church  organized  on  that  principle  for  years, 

maintaining  in  simplicity  and  purity  the  worship  of  the  one  true  God.  The  founders 
of  this  colony  came  hither  for  the  self-same  purpose.  Their  emigration  from  their  na- 
tive country  was  a  rehgious  emigration.  Every  other  interest  of  their  community 
was  held  subordinate  to  the  purity  of  their  religious  faith  and  practice.  So  far,  then, 
as  this  point  of  comparison  is  concerned,  the  laws  which  were  given  to  Israel  in  the 
wilderness  may  have  been  suited  to  the  wants  of  a  religious  colony  planting  itself  in 
America. 

"  The  laws  of  Moses  were  given  to  a  people  who  were  to  live  not  only  surrounded 
by  heathen  tribes  on  every  frontier  save  the  sea-board,  but  also  with  the  heathen 
inhabitants,  worshippers  of  the  devil,  intermixed  among  them,  not  fellow-citizens, 
but  men  of  another  and  barbarous  race ;  and  the  laws  were  therefore  framed  with  a 
special  reference  to  the  corrupting  influence  of  such  neighborhood  and  intercourse. 
Similar  to  this  was  the  condition  of  our  fathers.  The  Canaanite  was  in  the  land,  with 
his  barbarous  vices,  with  his  heathenish  and  hideous  superstitions ;  and  their  servants 
and  children  were  to  be  guarded  against  the  contamination  of  intercourse  with  beings 
so  degraded. 

"  The  laws  of  the  Hebrews  were  designed  for  a  free  people.  Under  those  laws, 
so  unlike  all  the  institutions  of  Oriental  despotism,  there  was  no  absolute  power,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  the  hereditary  priesthood,  whose  privileges,  as  a  class,  were 
well  balanced  by  their  labors  and  disabilities,  no  privileged  classes.  The  aim  of 
those  laws  was  'equal  and  exact  justice;'  and  equal  and  exact  justice  is  the  only 
freedom.  Equal  and  exact  justice,  in  the  laws  and  in  the  administration  of  the  laws, 
infuses  freedom  into  the  being  of  a  people,  secures  the  widest  and  most  useful  distri- 
bution of  the  means  of  enjoyment,  and  affords  scope  for  the  activity  and  healthful 
stimulus  to  the  affections  of  every  individual.  The  people  whose  habits  and  senti- 
ments are  formed  under  such  an  administration  of  justice,  will  be  a  free  people." — 
Bacon's  "Historical  Discourses,'"  pp.  30,  31. 

*  They  were  not,  properly  speaking,  Separatists,  in  the  distinctive  sense  in  which 
that  word  was  used  at  that  epoch,  viz.,  those  who  not  only  refused  to  have  any  sort 


CHAP.  XVII.]         CHURCH   AND   STATE,    IN  NEW   ENGLAND.  175 

and  were  such  even  before  they  went  to  Holland.  If  any  of  the 
other  original  colonists  of  New  England  had  been  thrust  out  from 
the  Established  Church  of  the  mother  country,  they  had  not  organ- 
ized themselves  on  any  other  principle  ;  and,  however  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  its  rulers  and  to  some  of  its  ceremonies  and  usages,  their 
attachment  to  the  Church  itself,  as  well  as  to  many  of  those  whom 
they  had  left  within  its  pale,  is  manifest  from  the  letter  of  Governor 
Winthrop  and  his  associates,  just  after  embarking  for  America. 

But  on  arriving  there  they  immediately  proceeded  to  the  founding 
of  an  ecclesiastical  economy  upon  the  Independent  plan,  having  for 
its  essential  principles,  "That,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  every 
Church  ought  to  be  confined  within  the  limits  of  a  single  congrega- 
tion, and  that  the  government  should  be  democratical ;  that  Churches 
should  be  constituted  by  such  as  desired  to  be  members,  making  a 
confession  of  their  faith  in  the  presence  of  each  other,  and  signing  a 
covenant ;  that  the  whole  power  of  admitting  and  excluding  mem- 
bers, with  the  deciding  of  all  controversies,  was  in  the  brotherhood ; 
that  church-officers,  for  preaching  the  Word  and  taking  care  of  the 
poor,  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  free  suffrages  of  the  brethren  ;  that 
in  Church  censures,  there  should  be  an  entire  separation  of  the  eccle- 
siastical from  the  civil  sword;  that  Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  Church; 
that  a  liturgy  is  not  necessary;  and  that  all  ceremonies  not  prescribed 
by  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  rejected." 

But  how  are  we  to  account  for  a  change  in  their  views  so  sudden 
and  so  great  ?  Even  when  Winthrop  left  England,  in  1630,  neither 
the  Presbyterian  nor  the  Independent  doctrines,  as  to  Church  gov- 
ernment, had  made  that  progress  in  public  opinion  which  they  had 
made  when  the  Long  Parliament,  and  Cromwell  and  his  army,  began 
to  play  their  parts.  It  is  quite  possible,  or,  rather,  all  but  certain, 
that  several  of  the  ministers  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  were 
low  Episcopalians,  and  friends  of  Archbishop  Usher's  scheme ;  but 
if  all  the  leading  colonists  were  as  much  inclined  to  Presbyterian- 
ism  as  some  have  thought,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  why  they  did 
not  establish  that  form  of  government.  It  is  difficult  to  make  out, 
on  the  other  hand,  why  they  diverged  so  widely,  and  at  once,  from 
the  Episcopal  economy,  as  to  adopt  Independency,  which  is  almost 
antipodal. 

This,  it  appears  to  me,  may  be  referred  to  two  or  three  causes. 

of  communion  with  the  Established  Church,  but  denounced  all  who  did.  The  Sep- 
aratists were  exceedingly  bitter  in  their  hostility  to  every  thing  which  bore  the  name 
of  the  Established  Church  of  England.  The  farewell  address  of  John  Robinson  to 
the  Pilgrims  who  left  Leyden  to  plant  the  colony  at  Plymouth,  breathed  a  very  dif- 
ferent spirit. 


176  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  n. 

First,  it  is  natural  that,  on  quitting  England,  where  they  had  suffered 
so  much  from  Prelacy,  they  should  renounce  an  ecclesiastical  system 
that  conferred  upon  any  men  powers  so  capable  of  being  abused;  nor 
can  it  be  thought  surprising  that  in  such  circumstances  they  should 
go  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  prefer  an  ecclesiastical  government 
of  the  most  democratical  sort.  Another,  and  much  more  powerful 
reason  for  their  rejecting  Episcopacy,  would  be  that  they  might  es- 
cape the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops,  which  would  otherwise  unques- 
tionably have  followed  them.  And,  lastly,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  were  much  influenced  by  what  they  saw  and  heard  of  the 
Plymouth  colony.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  division  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  settlers,  under  Endicott,  reached  Salem  in 
1628,  and  that  the  main  body,  under  Winthrop,  followed  in  1630, 
and  founded  Boston.  It  would  seem  that  the  Reverend  Mr.  Higgin- 
son,  the  distinguished  minister  in  Endicott's  colony,  led  the  way  in 
effecting  the  change,  he  having,  upon  his  arrival  at  Salem,  or  soon 
afterward,  introduced  the  Independent  plan  among  his  people,  though 
not  without  much  difficulty,  being  opposed  by  the  two  Brownes, 
John  and  Samuel,  who,  in  consequence  of  this  opposition,  had  to  re- 
turn to  England.  Mr.  Higginson  was  disposed  to  receive  very  favor- 
ably the  accounts  transmitted  from  the  Plymouth  colony  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Bay.  It  is  true  that  Edward  Winslow,  in  his  "  Brief 
Narrative,"  as  well  as  Cotton,  in  his  "  Way,"  etc.,  undertakes  to  prove 
that  Plymouth  did  not  exert  the  influence  that  has  been  ascribed  to 
it,  and  which  even  by  Gorton  and  his  accomplices  has  been  charged 
against  it  as  a  crime.  But  I  think  it  clear  that  they  admit  the  sub- 
stance of  the  charge.* 

*  "Winslow  says,  "  It  is  true,  I  confess,  that  some  of  the  chief  of  them,"  referring 
to  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  "advised  with  us  how  they  should  do  to  fall 
upon  a  right  platform  of  worship,  and  desired  to  that  end,  since  God  had  honored  us 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  commonwealth  and  to  settle  a  Church  in  it,  to  show  them 
whereupon  our  practice  was  grounded ;  and  if  they  found,  upon  due  search,  it  was 
built  upon  the  "Word  of  God,  they  would  be  willing  to  take  up  what  was  from  God." 
He  then  goes  on  to  say  that  they  of  Plymouth  showed  them  the  warrant  for  their 
government  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Gospels ;  and  that  their 
friends,  the  other  colonists,  were  well  pleased  therewith,  and  also  agreed  to  walk  in 
the  same  way,  so  far  as  God  should  reveal  His  will  to  them,  from  time  to  time,  in  His 
Word.  As  for  Cotton,  he  says,  "The  dissuader  is  much  mistaken  when  he  saith, 
'  The  congregation  of  Plymouth  did  incontinently  leaven  all  the  vicinity,'  seeing  for 
many  years  there  was  no  vicinity  to  be  leavened.  And  Salem  itself,  that  was  gath- 
ered into  church  order  seven  or  eight  years  after  them,  was  above  forty  miles  distant 
from  them.  And  though  it  be  very  likely  that  some  of  the  first-comers  (meaning  En- 
dicott and  Higginson)  might  help  their  theory  by  hearing  and  discerning  their  prac- 
tice at  Plymouth,  yet  therein  is  the  Scripture  fulfilled,  '  The  Kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal  till  all  was 
leavened.' " 


CHAP.  XVII.]         CHURCH   AND    STATE,    IN   NEW   ENGLAND.  177 

The  Church,  then,  that  was  established  in  all  the  New  England 
colonies,  with  the  exception  of  Providence  and  Rhode  Island,*  was 
what  is  termed  in  the  United  States,  Congregational,  and  in  England, 
Independent :  though  there  is  some  difference  between  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  the  former  of  these  countries,  and  the  Independent 
in  the  latter,  as  I  shall  show  in  another  part  of  this  work.  I  speak 
here  of  the  form  of  government.  As  for  doctrines,  they  were  essen- 
tially those  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England;  in 
•  other  words,  Calvinistic. 

Let  us  now  see  what  were  the  relations  between  the  Church  and 
the  State  or  "  Commonwealth,"  in  New  England.  In  every  colony 
there,  except  the  two  above  mentioned,  the  object  of  one  of  the  first 
acts  of  civil  legislation  was  to  provide  for  the  support  of  public  wor- 
ship ;  and  other  laws  followed  from  time  to  time  to  the  same  effect, 
as  circumstances  required.  Without  going  into  unnecessary  details, 
suffice  it  to  say,  that  parishes  or  "  towns"  of  a  convenient  size  were 
ordered  to  be  laid  out,  and  the  people  were  directed  by  the  proper  au- 
thorities of  their  respective  towns  to  levy  taxes  for  erecting  and  keep- 
ing in  due  repair  a  suitable  "  meeting-house,"  for  the  maintenance  of 
a  pastor  or  minister,  and  for  all  other  necessary  expenses  connected 
with  public  worship.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  exemption  from  this  law 
was  allowed  for  a  long  time  after  the  colonies  were  founded.  Such 
was  the  fundamental  union  of  Church  and  State  in  the  colonies  that 
now  form  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Maine. 

The  next  law  adopted  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  dates  from 
1631,  the  year  after  the  arrival  of  Winthrop  and  his  company,  and, 
as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  it  was  pregnant  at  once  with  evil  and  with 
good.  It  ran  thus :  "  To  the  end  that  the  body  of  the  commons  may 
be  preserved  of  honest  and  good  men,  it  is  ordered  and  agreed,  that 
for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this 
body  politic  but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the  churches  within 
the  limits  of  the  same."f  In  other  words,  no  one  was  to  vote  at  elec- 
tions, or  could  be  chosen  to  any  office  in  the  commonwealth,  without 
being  a  member  of  one  of  the  churches.  This  law  was  long  in  force  in 
Massachusetts  and  in  Maine,  which,  until  1820,  was  a  part  of  that  State; 
but  it  never  prevailed,  I  believe,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  was  un- 
known, of  course,  in  Rhode  Island.  But  a  like  law  existed  from  the 
first  in  New  Haven,  and  when  that  colony  was  united,  in  1662,  with 

°  And  it  too  may  be  called  Congregational,  for  it  was  founded  by  Baptists,  whose 
churches  are  essentially  Independent  in  form  of  government. 
f  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  360. 

12 


178  THE   COLONIAL    ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

Connecticut,  where  this  had  not  been  the  case,  it  became,  I  believe, 
part  of  the  legislation  of  the  united  colony. 

Thus  we  find  two  fundamental  laws  on  this  subject  prevailing  in 
New  England — the  one  universal,  with  the  exception  of  Rhode  Island ; 
the  other  confined  to  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Maine.  In 
restricting  the  exercise  of  political  power  to  men  who,  as  members 
of  the  Church,  were  presumed  to  be  loyal  to  the  grand  principle  of 
the  colony  to  which  they  belonged,  namely,  the  maintenance  of  purity 
of  doctrine  and  liberty  of  worship,  as  the  first  consideration,  and  of 
free  political  government  as  necessary  to  it,  the  authors  of  that  law 
doubtless  contemplated  rather  the  protection  of  their  colonists  from 
apprehended  dangers  than  the  direct  promotion  of  piety. 

The  principle,  in  fact,  down  to  the  foimding  of  these  colonies,  seems 
to  have  been  adopted  substantially  by  all  nations,  Popish  and  Protest- 
ant, Mohammedan  and  Heathen :  so  much  so  that  Davenport  said, 
"  These  very  Indians,  that  worship  the  devil,"  acted  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple ;  so  that,  in  his  judgment,  "it  seemed  to  be  a  principle  imprinted 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  all  men,  the  equity  of  it."*  We  need 
hardly  remind  the  reader  that  this  allegiance  to  the  Christian  Faith 
was,  until  very  lately,  indispensable  to  the  holding  of  any  office  under 
the  crown  in  England,  and  that  receiving  the  sacrament  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church  was  the  legal  test  of  a  man's  possessing  it. 

In  conclusion,  I  ought  to  state,  that  in  the  New  England  colonies 
the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  had  no  part,  as  such,  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment. They  were  confined  to  their  proper  office  and  work.  Yet  no 
men  had  more  influence,  even  in  affairs  of  state.  As  a  body  of  en- 
lightened patriots,  whose  opinion  it  was  important  to  obtain,  they 
were  consulted  by  the  political  authorities  in  every  hour  of  difficulty ; 
and  although  cases  might  be  found  in  which  the  leading  men  among 
them,  at  least,  did  not  advise  their  fellow-citizens  wisely,  it  was  much 
otherwise  in  the  great  majority  of  instances.  Such  was  the  state  of 
things  throughout  the  whole  colonial  age  ;  and  to  this  day,  in  no  other 
country  is  the  legitimate  influence  of  the  clergy  in  public  affairs — 
an  influence^derived  from  their  intelligence,  united  with  religion,  vir- 
tue, and  public  spirit — more  manifest,  or  more  salutary,  than  in  New 
England.  If  these  colonies  might  be  compared,  in  their  earlier 
periods,  to  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  it  is  certain  that,  wherever 
there  was  a  Moses,  there  was  also  an  Aaron ;  and  the  influence  of 
Winthrop,  and  Haynes,  and  Bradford,  and  Eaton,  was  not  greater  or 
happier  than  that  of  their  compeers  and  coadjutors,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Cotton,  and  Hooker,  and  Brewster,  and  Davenport. 

*  "Discourse  about  Civil  Government,"  p.  24,  as  quoted  in  Dr.  Bacon's  "Historical 
Discourses." 


CHAP.  XVIII. J      CHURCH   AND   STATE   IN  THE    OTHER   PROVINCES  1^9 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

RELATIONS   BETWEEN  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE    CIVIL   POWER  IN  THE 
COLONIES. 2.   THE   SOUTHERN  AND   MIDDLE   PROVINCES. 

Virginia,  too,  like  New  England,  was  first  colonized  by  members 
of  the  Church  of  England ;  but  there  was  a  vast  difference  between 
the  views  of  the  admirers  of  the  English  Prelacy  of  that  time,  and 
those  of  the  Puritans.  The  Established  Church  was  then  composed, 
in  fact,  of  two  great  divisions,  which  in  spirit,  at  least,  have  more  or 
less  existed  ever  since,  and  were  represented  in  the  colonization  of 
America  by  the  High  Churchmen  and  Cavaliers  of  the  South,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Puritans  of  the  North  on  the  other.  While  the 
latter  left  England  in  order  to  escape  from  the  oppression  inflicted  on 
them  by  the  Prelacy,  abetted  by  the  Crown,  the  former  had  no  com- 
plaint against  either,  but  carried  with  them  a  cordial  attachment  to 
both. 

In  the  original  charter  of  James  I.  to  Virginia,  it  was  especially 
enjoined  that  religion  should  be  established  according  to  the  doctrines 
and  rites  of  the  Church  of  England ;  every  emigrant  was  bound  to 
allegiance  to  the  king,  and  to  conformity  with  the  royal  creed.*  Still, 
it  does  not  appear  that  any  provision  was  made  for  the  clergy  until 
1619,  that  is,  twelve  years  after  the  commencement  of  the  colony.  A 
Legislative  Assembly,  elected  by  the  colonists,  met  that  year  for  the 
first  time,  and  passed  laws  for  the  formation  of  parishes  and  the  regu- 
lar maintenance  of  the  clergy ;  accordingly,  the  establishment  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  dates  formally,  if  not  really,  from  that  year. 

Previously  to  this,  however,  and  during  the  governorship  of  Sir 
Thomas  Dale,  the  London  Company  sent  over  to  Virginia  a  set  of 
"  laws,  divine,  moral,  and  martial,"  being,  apparently,  the  first-fruits 
of  Sir  Thomas  Smith's  legislation ;  and  from  their  Draconian  charac- 
ter, they  give  us  some  idea  of  the  notions  entertained  in  those  times 
of  the  ways  whereby  religion  might  be  promoted  by  the  civil  power. 
They  were  so  bad,  it  is  true,  as  to  be  little,  if  at  all  enforced.  In 
short,  they  soon  fell  into  complete  desuetude,  and  were  disclaimed,  at 
length,  by  the  company,  without  whose  sanction  they  seem  to  have 
been  prepared  and  sent.  Yet  there  is  ample  evidence  to  prove  that 
they  breathed  very  much  the  spirit  of  the  times  that  produced  them, 
and  of  the  party  in  the  Church  of  England  to  which  their  author 
belonged— a  spirit  which,  thank  God  !  has  long  since  ceased  to  exist 
in  any  portion  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  that  country. 

*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  L,  p.  123. 


180  THE   COLONIAL   EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

The  first  of  those  laws  bearing  upon  religion  enjoins  on  the  offi- 
cers of  the  colony,  of  every  description,  to  have  a  care  that  "  the 
Alinightie  God  bee  duly  and  daily  served,"  that  the  people  "  heare 
sermons,"  that  they  themselves  set  a  good  example  therein,  and  that 
they  punish  such  as  shall  be  often  and  willfully  absent,  "  according  to 
martial  law  in  the  case  provided." 

The  second  law  forbids,  upon  pain  of  death,  speaking  against  the 
sacred  Trinity,  or  any  Person  of  the  same,  or  against  the  known  arti- 
cles of  the  Christian  Faith. 

The  third  law  forbids  blasphemy  of  God's  holy  name,  upon  pain 
of  death ;  and  the  use  of  all  unlawful  oaths,  upon  severe  punishment 
for  the  first  offence,  the  boring  of  the  tongue  with  a  bodkin  for  the 
second,  and  death  for  the  third. 

The  fourth  law  forbids,  upon  pain  of  death,  speaking  disrespect- 
fully of  the  Word  of  God,  as  well  as  the  treating  of  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  with  disrespect ;  and  enjoins  the  "  holding  of  them  in  all  rever- 
ent regard  and  dutiful  entreatie,"  under  penalty  of  being  whipped 
three  times,  and  of  "  asking  forgiveness  in  the  assembly  of  the  con- 
gregation three  severall  Saboth  daies." 

The  fifth  law  enjoins  upon  all  to  attend,  morning  and  evening,  every 
week-day,  in  the  church  for  service,  at  the  tolling  of  the  bell,  upon 
pain  of  losing  their  daily  allowances*  for  the  first  omission,  to  be 
whipped  for  the  second,  and  sent  to  the  galleys  for  six  months  for  the 
third.  It  also  forbids  all  violation  of  the  Sabbath  by  gaming,  and 
commands  the  people  to  prepare  themselves  by  private  prayer  for  the 
proper  attendance  upon  the  public  worshij),  forenoon  and  afternoon, 
upon  pain  of  losing  their  week's  allowance  for  the  first  omission,  the 
same  and  a  whipping  for  the  second,  and  death  for  the  third. 

The  sixth  enjoins  upon  every  minister  within  the  colony  to  preach 
every  Sabbath  morning,  and  catechize  in  the  afternoon ;  to  have  a 
service  morning  and  evening  every  day,  and  preach  on  Wednesday; 
"to  chuse  unto  him  foure  of  the  most  religious  and  better  disposed" 
to  maintain  a  sort  of  spiritual  police,  and  to  see  that  the  church  be 
kept  in  a  good  and  decent  state,  and  that  he  keep  a  register  of  births, 
deaths,  baptisms,  etc.,  "  upon  the  burthen  of  a  neglectfull  conscience, 
and  upon  paine  of  losing  their  entertainment." 

The  seventh  law  commands  "  all  who  were  then  in  the  colony,  or 
who  shall  thenceforth  arrive,  to  repair  to  the  minister,  that  he  may 
know,  by  conference  had,  their  religious  knowledge ;  and  if  any  be 

*  For  some  time  after  the  colony  of  Virginia  was  planted,  all  provisions  were 
served  out  from  the  common  storehouse.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  this  plan 
of  having  all  things  in  common  gave  place  to  the  "individual  principle"  of  each  hav- 
ing what  he  could  gain  by  his  personal  exertions. 


CHAP.  XVin.]     CHURCH   AND   STATE   IN  THE    OTHER   PROVINCES.  181 

deficient,  they  are  enjoined  to  go  to  him,  at  times  which  he  shall  ap- 
point, to  receive  further  instructions,  which,  if  they  refuse  to  do,  the 
governor,  upon  representation  of  the  fact,  shall  order  the  delinquent 
to  be  whipped  once  for  the  first  omission,  twice  for  the  second,  and 
every  day  till  acknowledgment  be  made  and  forgiveness  asked  for 
the  third ;  and  also  commands  every  man  to  answer,  when  catechized 
respecting  his  faith  and  knowledge  upon  the  Sabbath,  upon  pain  of 
the  same  peril."* 

Such  was  Sir  Thomas  Smith's  code,  and  a  wonderful  specimen  of 
legislation  it  is.  To  the  credit  of  the  governor  and  council,  it  seems 
never  to  have  been  enforced. 

Previously  to  the  dissolution  of  the  company,  in  1624,  the  colonial 
Legislature  passed  a  number  of  laws  relating  to  the  Church ;  three  of 
the  most  important  were  as  follows : 

1.  That  in  every  plantation  where  the  people  were  wont  to  meet 
for  the  worship  of  God,  there  should  be  a  house  or  room  set  apart  for 
that  purpose,  and  not  converted  to  any  temporal  use  whatsoever ; 
and  that  a  place  should  be  impaled  and  sequestered  only  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead. 

2.  That  whosoever  should  absent  himself  from  Divine  service  any 
Sunday,  without  an  allowable  excuse,  should  forfeit  a  pound  of  to- 
bacco ;  and  that  he  who  absented  himself  a  month  should  forfeit  fifty 
pounds  of  tobacco. f 

3.  That  there  should  be  a  conformity  in  the  Church  as  near  as 
might  be,  both  in  substance  and  circumstance,  to  the  canons  of  the 
Church  of  England ;  and  that  all  persons  should  yield  a  ready  obedi- 
ence to  them  upon  pain  of  censure.]; 

Upon  the  company  being  dissolved,  the  colony  fell  under  the  imme- 
diate government  of  the  crown,  which  thenceforth  appointed  the 
.governors,  as  well  as  decided,  in  the  last  instance,  upon  all  laws 
passed  by  the  Assembly,  the  Council,  and  the  governor.  And  from 
about  the  year  1629,  the  laws  requiring  conformity  to  the  Established 
Church  were  strictly  enforced,  and  infractions  of  them  visited  with 
severe  penalties. 

*  These  laws  must  be  considered  far  more  intolerant  and  abhorrent  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  than  any  of  the  statutes  taken  by  the  New  England  Puritans  from  those 
of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth. 

f  Tobacco  was  the  chief  article  of  traffic  which  the  country  produced  at  that  time, 
and  was  often  used  as  a  substitute  for  a  monetary  circulating  medium. 

\  It  will  be  seen,  from  these  laws,  that  the  actual  legislation  of  the  more  liberal 
"  Cavaliers"  of  the  South  was  not  a  whit  more  tolerant  than  that  of  the  bigoted 
"Roundheads"  of  New  England.  So  it  ever  is;  the  religion  of  the  world,  with  all  its 
vaunted  liberality,  is  found  to  be  more  intolerant,  wherever  it  has  a  chance,  than 
serious,  earnest,  evangelical  piety. 


182  THE   COLONIAL  ERA. 

During  the  period  of  the  "  Grand  Rebellion"  in  England,  ai 
the  Commonwealth  lasted,  Virginia  sympathized  strongly  t 
cause  of  the  tottering,  and,  eventually,  fallen  throne  and  al 
many  of  the  friends  of  both  found  refuge  there  during  Cr( 
Protectorate.  It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  co] 
not  meet  with  such  a  recompense  from  the  restored  royal  hou 
loyalty  justly  merited. 

In  1662,  in  obedience  to  instructions  from  the  crown,  the  " 
Legislature  enacted  several  laws  for  the  more  effectual  suppoi 
Established  Church,  the  promotion  of  the  education  of  youtl 
ally,  and  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  particular.  Bu 
long  before  the  "  college"  contemplated  by  these  laws  was 
established. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  if  not  even  sooner,  the 
Virginia,  requiring  strict  conformity  to  the  Established  Chur 
either  have  been  modified,  or  have  begun  to  fall  into  negle< 
being  positive  evidence  that  Presbyterian  meetings  were  '. 
public  worship  in  1722.  From  that  period  until  the  Re^ 
avowed  dissenters  increased  steadily  and  rapidly,  and  previ 
1775  there  were  many  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  Lutheran,  and 
churches  within  the  colony.  Still,  the  Episcopal  Church  pr 
ated,  and  it  alone  was  supported  by  law. 

Maryland,  founded  by  Roman  Catholics,  had  no  union  of 
and  State,  no  legal  provision  for  any  religious  sect,  and  tolei 
until  1692,*  when  Protestant  Episcopacy  was  established  by 
country  divided  into  parishes,  and  the  clergy,  as  in  Virgii 
ported  by  a  tax  upon  the  inhabitants.  This  was  one  of  the  r 
the  Revolution  of  1688  in  England,  and  of  the  wide-spreac 
rence  of  popery  which  prevailed  at  that  time,  and  long  aft 
both  in  the  mother-country  and  her  colonies.  Gradually, 
without  encountering  many  obstacles,  the  Episcopal  Chu 
vanced  in  the  number  of  its  parishes  and  clergy  until  the  A 
Revolution,  and  though  all  other  sects  had  ever  been  toleral 
the  only  one  supported  by  the  State.  Of  the  good  and  bai 
of  that  establishment  we  shall  speak  hereafter. 

In  South  Carolina,  all  sects  were  at  first  protected  by  the  '. 
♦ 

*  Strictly  speaking,  it  might  be  said  that  this  statement  is  not  quite  ex 
when  Cromwell's  commissioners  came  into  possession  of  the  colony,  in  165^ 
islature,  which  was  wholly  subservient  to  Clay  borne,  a  tool  of  the  Protector 
law  suppressing  public  worship  among  Roman  Catholics  and  Episcopalia 
four  years  afterward,  Fendall,  acting  as  governor,  at  first  in  the  name  of  th< 
taries,  and  afterward  by  his  own  usurpation,  undertook  to  persecute  the 
But  both  these  exceptions  were  of  short  duration. 


CHAP.  XVIII.l      CHURCH   AND    STATE   IN   THE   OTHER   PROVINCES.  183 

taries.  In  1704,  however,  the  friends  of  the  Episcopal  Church  having, 
by  the  arts  of  Nathaniel  Moore,  obtained  a  majority  of  one  in  the 
Representative  Assembly  of  a  colony  two  thirds  of  whose  inhabitants 
were  not  Episcopalians,  abruptly  disfranchised  all  but  themselves, 
and  gave  the  Church  of  England  a  monopoly  of  political  power.  But 
the  dissenters  having  appealed  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  England, 
the  acts  complained  of  were  annulled  by  the  crown,  and,  conse- 
quently, repealed  by  the  Colonial  Assembly,  two  years  afterward. 
Nevertheless,  although  the  dissenters  were  tolerated,  and  admitted 
to  a  share  in  the  civil  government,  the  Church  of  England  remained 
the  Established  Church  of  the  province  until  the  Revolution.* 

In  the  same  year,  1*704,  influenced  by  zeal  or  bigotry,  the  Pro- 
prietaries forced  a  Church  Establishment  upon  the  people  of  North 
Carolina,  though  presenting  at  that  time  an  assemblage  of  ahnost  all 
religious  denominations — Quakers,  Lutherans,  Presbyterians,  Inde- 
pendents, etc.  But,  according  to  the  royalists,  the  majority  were 
"  Quakers,  Atheists,  Deists,  and  other  evil-disposed  persons."  From 
that  time  glebes  and  a  clergy  began  to  be  spoken  of,  and  churches 
were  ordered  to  be  erected  at  the  public  cost.  But  we  shall  see  that 
the  Established  Church  made  slow  progress  in  North  Carolina. 

As  long  as  New  York  was  under  the  Dutch  government,  the 
churches  of  that  colony  supported  their  pastors  by  voluntary  contri- 
butions, and  there  was  no  union  of  Church  and  State.f  But  on  its 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  as  the  royal  governors  and  other 
officers  sent  over  to  administer  public  affairs  were  all  admirers  of  the 
Established  Church  of  England,  they  very  naturally  wished  to  see  it 
supersede  the  Dutch  Church,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  English 
tongue  supplanted  the  Dutch  as  the  language  of  the  colony.  Gov- 
ernor Fletcher,  accordingly,  in  1693,  prevailed  on  the  legislature  to 
pass  an  act  for  the  establishment  of  certain  churches  and  ministers, 
reserving  the  right  of  presentation  to  the  vestrymen  and  church- 
wardens. This  act  was  so  construed,  two  years  after,  that  Episcopal 
ministers  alone  received  the  benefit  of  it,  although  this  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  the  expectation  or  the  intention  of  the  legislature. 
From  that  period  till  the  Revolution,  the  Episcopal  was  the  Estab- 

*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  iii.,  pp.  18,  19. 

f  It  can  not  be  said,  I  fear,  that  the  early  Dutch  colonists,  or,  rather,  their  colonial 
governors,  were  very  tolerant.  Though  there  was  no  union  of  the  Church  and  State, 
they  were  very  jealous  of  allowing  any  other  than  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  to 
exist  among  them.  A  little  band  of  Lutherans,  who  joined  the  colony  almost  at  its 
commencement,  were  not  allowed  to  hold  their  worship  publicly  until  the  country 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English.— Professor  Schmucker's  "Retrospect  of  Luther- 
anism  in  the  United  States"  p.  6. 


184  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  .     [BOOK  II. 

lished  Church,  although,  at  the  time  of  its  becoming  so,  it  was  reckoned 
that  nine  tenths  of  the  population  belonged  to  other  communions. 

East  and  West  New  Jersey,  united  into  one  province,  and  placed 
under  the  administration  of  the  crown  in  1702,  had  its  future  govern- 
ment laid  down  in  the  commission  and  instructions  to  Lord  Corn- 
bury.  Toleration  being  allowed  by  these  to  all  but  papists,  and 
special  "  favor"  invoked  for  the  Church  of  England,  that  Church  was 
so  far  established  there,  seventy-three  years  before  the  American 
Revolution.  In  Pennsylvania  there  never  was  any  union  of  Church 
and  State,  nor,  so  far  as  I  know,  any  attempt  to  bring  it  about.  Del- 
aware was  separated  from  Pennsylvania  in  1691,  and  from  that  time 
had  its  own  governors,  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  crown. 
But  in  Delaware,  as  well  as  in  New  Jersey  and  in  Georgia,  the  col- 
ony of  the  good  cavalier,  James  Oglethorpe,  who  loved  "  the  King 
and  the  Church,"  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  an  establish- 
ment :  as  the  "  favor"  shown  to  the  Episcopal  Church  secured  a  main- 
tenance for  a  very  small  number  of  ministers  only,  and  that  more  for 
the  benefit  and  gratification  of  the  officers  connected  with  the  govern- 
ment, and  their  families,  than  with  the  view  of  reaching  the  bulk  of 
the  people,  who  preferred  other  modes  of  worship. 

In  fine,  as  the  colonial  period  drew  to  a  close,  there  were  only  two 
colonies  in  which  the  civil  power  did  not  employ  its  influence  in  sup- 
porting one  or  other  of  two  Communions  or  Churches.  In  New 
England  it  gave  its  support  to  Congregationalism,  or,  as  it  is  called 
in  Britain,  Independency,  that  being  established  in  all  the  colonies 
of  that  province,  with  the  single  but  small  exception  of  Rhode  Island. 
In  the  colonies  to  the  south  of  these,  from  New  York  to  Georgia, 
with  the  exception  of  Pennsylvania,  Episcopacy  was  the  favored 
form.  Even  in  these  last,  however,  there  were  material  differences 
in  the  extent  to  which  the  principle  of  a  Church  establishment  was 
carried  out.  In  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  North  Carolina,  and  Geor- 
gia, that  establishment  was  quite  inconsiderable ;  whereas  in  Virginia, 
Maryland,  New  York,  and  South  Carolina,  it  may  be  regarded  as 
having  been  widely  and  powerfully  influential. 

Were  we  to  select  two  colonies  from  each  of  these  divisions  as 
examples  of  the  two  favored  types  of  Church  government,  so  diverse, 
yet  about  equally  favored  by  legal  enactments  and  a  public  provision, 
we  should  take  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  in  the  North,  and 
Virginia  and  Maryland  in  the  South.  In  these  we  may  compare  and 
contrast  the  nature  and  influence  of  Independency,  or  the  most  pop- 
ular form  of  Church  organization,  with  Episcopacy ;  or  Puritanism 
with  High-churchism,  among  the  descendants  of  the  Anglo-Saxons 
and  the  Normans  of  the  New  World. 


CHAP.  XIX.]  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  185 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE    INFLUENCES    OF  THE  UNION    OF   CHURCH    AND   STATE   AS   IT   FOR- 
MERLY  EXISTED   IN   AMERICA. 1.    IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

In  entering  upon  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  wish  simply  to  state 
the  results,  good  or  evil,  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  America, 
in  so  far  as  these  were  the  proper  fruits  of  the  particular  sort  of  union 
existing  in  one  or  other,  respectively,  of  the  two  important  sections 
of  the  country  just  mentioned ;  and  I  have  no  intention  of  discussing 
the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  such  a  relation  of  the  Church 
and  the  State  in  the  abstract.  We  have,  therefore,  to  look  for  the 
actual  results  in  America,  not  for  what  they  might  have  been  in 
other  circumstances.  And  as  the  union  between  Church  and  State 
in  the  North  differed  in  some  important  respects  from  that  which 
.prevailed  in  the  South,  I  shall  give  a  separate  consideration  to  each, 
and  begin  with  New  England. 

Let  us  first  consider  what  were  the  advantages  resulting  from  this 
union. 

1.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  it  proved  beneficial,  by  securing  the 
ministrations  of  the  Gospel  to  the  colonial  settlements,  as  fast  as  these 
were  formed.  The  law  provided  that  the  country  occupied  should 
be  divided  into  "  towns,"  or  parishes,  with  well-defined  boundaries, 
and  that  as  soon  as  a  certain  number  of  families  should  be  found  re- 
siding within  these  boundaries,  a  meeting  should  be  called  by  the 
proper  local  officers,  and  steps  taken  for  the  establishment  of  public 
worship.  The  expense  of  building  such  a  church  as  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants,  or  legal  voters,  might  choose  to  erect,  was,  like  other 
taxes,  to  be  levied  on  the  people  of  the  township,  according  to  their 
properties  and  polls,  and  the  pastor's  stipend  was,  in  like  manner,  to 
be  fixed  by  the  decision  of  the  majority  at  a  meeting  of  legal  voters, 
■  and  raised  by  a  general  yearly  tax. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  township  was  left  to  decide  what  sort 
of  building  should  be  erected,  how  much  should  be  expended  upon 
it,  and  the  amount  of  the  pastor's  stipend.  As  the  pastor  was  chosen 
by  the  people,  without  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  civil  au- 
thorities, or  any  other  person,  individual  or  corporate,  the  evils  of 
patronage  were  unknown.  In  the  choice  of  a  pastor,  however,  be  it 
observed,  that  it  was  the  invariable  rule  from  the  first,  that  he  should 
be  called  by  the  "  church,"  that  is,  by  the  body  of  believers  or  actual 
members  of  the  church — the  communicants — and  afterward  by  the 


186  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  IL 

"  town,"  that  is,  by  the  legal  voters,  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  them 
being  requisite  to  the  validity  of  a  call.  This  plan,  so  eminently 
democratical,  seemed  calculated  to  give  all  parties  their  rights.  In 
case  of  the  "  church"  and  the  "  town"  disagreeing  as  to  the  choice 
of  a  pastor,  some  means  were  almost  always  found  for  bringing  about 
unanimity.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the  plan  pursued  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  in  Massachusetts,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
in  all  the  other  New  England  States,  where  the  civil  power  was  in 
union  with  the  Church. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  such  a  law  as  this,  if  enforced,  must  have 
made  the  establishment  of  public  worship  keep  pace  with  the  increase 
of  the  population,  wherever  that  became  numerous  enough,  in  any 
given  direction,  for  the  building  of  churches ;  and  also  must  have  se- 
cured to  ministers  of  the  Gospel  a  steadier,  and  possibly,  too,  an 
ampler  support  than  otherwise.  But  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
the  New  England  Puritans,  with  the  dispositions  and  the  objects  they 
had  in  view  in  coming  to  the  New  World,  would  not  have  accom- 
plished of  their  own  accord,  and  on  what  is  called  the  voluntary  plan, 
very  nearly  the  same  results,  as  we  see  is  now  done  in  Maine  and 
elsewhere,  since  the  union  between  Church  and  State  has  ceased.  I 
am  willing,  however,  to  allow  that  the  system  I  have  described  was 
in  this  respect  decidedly  beneficial.  The  mere  support  of  public  wor- 
ship was  certainly  never  provided  for  in  a  more  popular  or  less  ex- 
ceptionable manner.  I  speak  of  the  law  as  it  stood  at  the  outset,  and 
for  a  long  while  thereafter.  We  shall  see  presently  what  evils  flowed 
from  it. 

2.  I  have  already  stated  that  in  Massachusetts,  and  if  not  in  the 
Connecticut  colony,  at  least  in  that  of  New  Haven,  political  trust 
and  power  were  confined  to  members  of  the  churches.  It  were  ab- 
surd to  suppose  that  this  law  was  adopted  as  a  means  of  promoting 
religion ;  its  authors  were  too  well  acquainted  with  human  nature  to 
have  any  such  expectation.  Their  grand  object  was  to  confine  the 
exercise  of  political  power  to  persons  in  whom  they  could  confide. 
As  they  have  been  severely  censured  for  their  intolerance  in  this 
respect — very  much,  I  conceive,  from  ignorance  of  their  peculiar  posi- 
tion— I  maybe  allowed  to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  subject.  They 
had  made  a  long  voyage  to  establish  a  colony  in  the  wilderness, 
where  they  and  their  children  might  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience,  and 
worship  God  in  purity.  Being  all  of  one  mind  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, as  well  as  other  great  points,  they  thought  that  they  were 
fully  authorized  to  establish  such  a  colony,  and  certainly  it  would  be 
hard  to  prove  that  they  were  not.  In  these  circumstances,  what 
more  natural  than  their  endeavoring  to  prevent  persons  from  coming 


CHAP.  XIX. J        INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  187 

in  among  them  to  defeat  their  object  ?  Desiring,  above  all  things,  that 
their  institutions  might  continue  to  be  pervaded  in  all  time  coming 
with  the  spirit  in  which  they  had  been  commenced,  they  determined, 
in  order  to  secure  this,  that  none  but  the  members  of  their  churches 
should  enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizens,  and  by  this  they 
hoped  to  guard  against  both  internal  and  external  enemies.  Dread- 
ing interference  on  the  part  of  England,  alarmed  lest  the  partisans  of 
the  Prelacy,  from  which  they  had  just  escaped,  should  come  among 
them  and  overthrow  their  institutions,  both  civil  and  religious,  their 
object  was  to  put  an  impassable  gulf  between  themselves  and  persons 
who  had  no  sympathy  with  their  views  and  feelings.  And  this  ob- 
ject they  certainly  accomplished.  They  rescued  their  institutions 
from  the  clutches  of  Charles  I.  and  Archbishop  Laud.*  But  in 
doing  so  they  exposed  themselves  to  the  greatest  of  evils — evils 
whose  disastrous  influence  on  Truth  have  not  ceased  to  be  felt  down 
to  this  day. 

3.  While  the  above  law,  no  doubt,  had  the  effect  of  keeping  out 
of  the  government  of  the  colony  all  influences  wmich  in  those  trying 
times  might  militate  against  its  best  interests,  it  is  no  less  certain 
that  it  kept  away  men  of  a  troublesome  character.  Many,  in  fact, 
who  made  the  experiment,  speedily  became  weary  of  a  colony 
where  their  restless  spirits  found  little  or  no  scope  for  interference, 
and  accordingly  soon  left,  either  for  some  other  colony,  or  for  En- 
gland. 

*  It  is  well  known  that  "Winthrop  and  his  company  were  scarcely  settled  three 
years  in  Massachusetts,  before  King  Charles  began  to  repent  that  he  had  consented 
to  the  charter.  The  success  of  the  Puritans  in  America  awakened  the  jealousy  of 
Laud  and  all  the  High  Church  party  among  the  clergy.  Proof  was  produced  of  mar- 
riages having  been  performed  in  the  colony  by  civil  magistrates ;  and  it  was  discov- 
ered that  the  whole  colonial  system  of  Church  government  was  at  variance  with  the 
laws  of  England.  A  most  formidable  conspiracy  was  formed  against  New  England, 
and  never  were  colonies  in  greater  danger.  Even  the  letters  patent  were  ordered, 
by  the  royal  council,  to  be  produced  in  England;  and  nothing  but  the  greatest  adroit- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  colonists  postponed  a  compliance  with  the  measure ;  for 
the  primate,- Archbishop  Laud,  and  his  associates  actually  received  full  power  over 
the  American  plantations,  to  establish  the  government,  dictate  laws,  govern  the 
Church,  etc.,  etc.  Every  thing  seemed  to  threaten  ruin.  In  the  mean  while  the 
colonists  remonstrated,  defended  themselves  in  their  letters  as  well  as  they  could, 
and  raised  money  to  fortify  Boston.  They  had  great  need,  truly,  to  be  vigilant  in 
respect  to  the  admission  of  persons  to  authority  among  them.  As  it  was,  nothing 
saved  them,  probably,  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  in  Great  Britain,  which 
gave  Charles  I.  enough  to  do  at  home.     Por  the  details  of  these  matters  the  reader  is 

m 

referred  to  the  writings  of  Winthrop,  Savage,  Hubbard,  Hutchinson,  Hazzard,  and 
the  excellent  statement  in  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United^States,"  vol.  i.,  p. 
405-414. 


188  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

Such,  I  consider,  were  the  most  important  advantages  resulting 
from  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  Massachusetts,  and  some  other 
of  the  New  England  colonies ;  and  I  am  not  disposed  to  deny  that 
these  advantages  were  of  no  small  moment  in  the  circumstances  in 
which  the  colonists  were  placed.  I  have  next  to  point  out  some  of 
the  evils  resulting  from  it. 

1.  It  gave  rise  to  internal  difficulties  of  the  gravest  nature  with 
such  of  the  colonists  as  were  not  disposed  to  agree  to  all  the  meas- 
ures by  which  it  was  carried  out,  and  led  to  the  adoption  of  the 
harshest  proceedings  against  those  persons.  One  of  the  first  cases 
of  this  kind  was  that  of  Roger  Williams,  in  1633-35,  and  it  shook 
the  colony  to  its  centre.  That  remarkable  man  had  been  educated 
for  the  English  bar  under  the  patronage  of  Sir  Edward  Coke ;  but 
influenced  by  the  conviction  that  he  was  called  to  the  ministry,  he 
took  orders  in  the  Established  Church.  Expelled  from  that  Church 
by  the  bishops,  on  account  of  his  Puritanical  principles,  he  came  to 
Boston  in  1631. 

Taught  by  persecution  to  examine  how  far  human  governments 
are  authorized  to  legislate  for  the  human  mind,  and  to  bind  its  facul- 
ties by  their  decisions,  Williams  soon  perceived  that  a  course  was 
pursued  in  America  which  he  could  not  but  condemn  as  repugnant 
to  the  rights  of  conscience.  Regarding  all  intolerance  as  sinful, 
he  maintained  that  "  the  doctrine  of  persecution  for  cause  of  con- 
science is  most  evidently  and  lamentably  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of 
Jesus  Christ."  The  law  required  the  attendance  of  every  man  at 
public  worship ;  Williams  pronounced  this  to  be  wrong,  for  to  drag 
the  unwilling  to  public  worship  looked  like  requiring  hypocrisy.  Not 
less  did  he  oppose  the  law  that  taxed  all  men  for  the  support  of  a 
system  of  religious  worship  which  some  might  dislike  and  conscien- 
tiously disapprove.  "What!"  exclaimed  his  antagonists,  "is  not  the 
laborer  worthy  of  his  hire  ?"  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  from  them  that 
hire  him."  Public  functionaries  were  to  be  taken  only  from  among 
members  of  the  Church ;  Williams  argued  that,  with  like  propriety, 
"  a  doctor  of  physic,  or  a  pilot,"  might  be  selected  according  to  his 
skill  in  theology  and  his  standing  in  the  Church.*  In  the  end,  Roger 
Williams  was  banished  from  the  colony,  and  having  retired  to  Narra- 
gansett  Bay,  there  he  became  a  Baptist,  and  foimded  what  is  now 
the  State  called  Rhode  Island.  Absolute  religious  liberty  was  estab- 
lished there  from  the  first. 

The  next  case  occurred  in  1637,  and  ended  in  the  expulsion  of 
Wheelwright,  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  Aspinwall,  who,  although  they 
held  some  very  extravagant  notions  on  certain  points,  would  have 
*  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  3V0. 


CHAP.  XIX.]        INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  189 

been  harmless  persons  had  the  only  weapon  employed  against  them 
been  Truth. 

Testimony  to  the  like  effect  is  borne  by  the  history  of  the  colony 
in  subsequent  years.  "  Since  a  particular  form  of  worship  had  become 
a  part  of  the  civil  establishment,  irreligion  was  now  to  be  punished 
as  a  civil  offence.  The  state  was  a  model  of  Christ's  kingdom  on 
earth ;  treason  against  the  civil  government  was  treason  against 
Christ ;  and  reciprocally,  as  the  Gospel  had  the  right  paramount, 
blasphemy,  or  whatever  a  jury  might  call  blasphemy,  was  the  high- 
est offence  in  the  catalogue  of  crimes.  To  deny  any  book  of  the  Old 
or  New  Testament  to  be  the  written  and  infallible  Word  of  God,  was 
punished  by  fine  or  by  stripes,  and  in  case  of  obstinacy,  by  exile  or 
death.  Absence  from  the  ministry  of  the  Word  was  punished  by 
fine."*  Every  thing  indicated  that  this  union  between  Church  and 
State  was  operating  in  such  a  manner  as  rapidly  to  undermine  the 
rights  and  principles  of  both.  The  Anabaptists  were  treated  in  some 
cases  with  great  harshness,  and  when,  in  1651,  the  Quakers  made  an 
attempt  to  establish  themselves  in  the  colony,  they  were  expelled  and 
prohibited  from  returning  upon  pain  of  death:  a  penalty  actually 
inflicted  on  four  of  them  who  returned  in  contravention  of  this 
enactment. 

These  Quakers,  it  is  true,  behaved  in  the  most  fanatical  and  out- 
rageous manner.  They  attacked  the  magistrates  with  the  grossest 
insults,  and  interrupted  public  worship  with  their  riotous  proceedings. 
Even  women  among  them,  forgetting  the  proprieties  and  decencies 
of  their  sex,  and  claiming  Divine  direction  for  their  absurd  and 
abominable  caprices,  smeared  their  faces,  and  ran  naked  through  the 
streets !  It  were  absurd  to  compare  them  with  the  peaceable  and 
excellent  people  who  bear  that  name  in  our  day.  They  gave  no  evi- 
dence whatever  of  knowing  what  true  religion  means.  Still,  their 
punishment  ought  not  to  have  been  so  extreme,  and  should  have 
been  inflicted  for  violating  the  decorum  of  society,  not  for  their  sup- 
posed heretical  opinions.f    ISTow,  measures  so  disgraceful  and  injurious 

*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  370. 

f  Penalties  involving  mutilation,  such  as  boring  the  tongue  with  a  hot  iron,  and 
cutting  off  the  ears,  were  enacted  against  the  Quakers  in  1657,  and  thus  found  a 
place  in  the  statute-book  of  Massachusetts,  but  were  soon  repealed,  the  colony  being 
ashamed  of  them.  The  fact  was,  as  Mr.  Bancroft  says,  vol.  i.,  p.  451,  "the  creation 
of  a  national  and  uncompromising  Church  led  the  Congregationalists  of  Massachu- 
setts to  the  indulgence  of  the  passions  which  disgraced  their  English  persecutors,  and 
Laud  was  justified  by  the  men  whom  he  wronged." 

But  before  the  reader  pronounces  sentence,  without  mitigation,  upon  the  Puritans 
of  Massachusetts,  he  should  refresh  his  remembrance  of  what  was  going  on  in  En- 
gland about  the  year  1633.     There  was  William  Prynne,  Esq.,  barrister-at-law,  who 


190  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  [BOOK  II. 

to  the  colony,  and  so  contrary  to  what  one  would  expect  from  men 
of  such  excellence  in  other  respects,  would  never  have  been  adopted 
had  it  not  been  for  laws  unhappily  dictated  by  the  colonial  union 
between  Church  and  State. 

Forty  years  later,  twenty  persons  were  put  to  death  for  witch- 
craft !  Now  it  is  obvious  that  so  absurd  a  spectacle  would  never 
have  taken  place  among  so  enlightened  a  people  as  the  colonists  of 
Massachusetts,  within  the  bounds  of  which  all  these  executions  took 
place,  had  not  the  union  of  the  Church  and  the  State  led  the  govern- 
ment so  often  to  act  on  grounds  purely  religious,  and  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  subjects  which  no  political  government  is  capable  of  decid- 
ing upon.*  At  all  events,  the  embarrassment  created  by  Roger 
Williams,  the  "  Antinomian  controversy,"  as  the  contest  with  Wheel- 
right,  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  Aspinwall  was  called,  and  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Anabaptists  and  Quakers,  unquestionably  arose  from  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws  passed  in  favor  of  the  theocratic  institutions 
of  the  colony,  and  were  the  legitimate  results  of  the  established  union 

was  condemned  for  writing  a  constructive  libel  on  the  queen,  by  attacking  the 
theatre,  to  be  excluded  from  his  profession,  to  lose  both  his  ears,  to  stand  in  the  pillory 
and  pay  a  fine  of  £5,000,  and  to  suffer  imprisonment  for  the  rest  of  his  life!  Dr. 
Bast  wick,  a  physician,  about  the  same  time,  was  condemned  by  the  High  Commis- 
sion to  be  excluded  from  his  profession,  excommunicated,  fined  £1,000,  and  impris- 
oned till  he  should  recant,  for  having  published  a  book  in  which  he  denied  that 
bishops  are  superior  to  presbyters !  And  then  there  was  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton,  a 
Scotch  divine,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Archbishop  Leighton,  who  was  condemned 
in  1630,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  pay  a  fine  of  £10,000,  to  be  whipped  at  the  pillory  at 
Westminster,  to  have  one  of  his  ears  cut  off,  and  one  side  of  his  nose  slit ;  then  to 
be  taken  to  the  prison  for  a  few  days ;  then  brought  to  the  pillory  at  Cheapside  to 
be  whipped,  have  the  other  ear  cut  off,  and  the  other  side  of  his  nose  slit,  and  be 
shut  up  in  prison  the  rest  of  his  days !  These  are  unquestionable  facts.  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  wholesale  massacre  of  the  Protestants  in  France,  in  Belgium,  in 
Bohemia,  and  in  Moravia  ?  To  say  nothing  of  scenes  in  Scotland  in  the  days  of  the 
last  two  Stuarts  ?  Verily,  religious  liberty  was  but  ill  understood  in  those  days ! 
And  is  it  well  understood,  even  now,  in  most  countries  of  Europe  ? 

*  The  putting  of  witches  to  death  in  Massachusetts  was  a  legitimate  result  of  the 
attempt  to  build  up  a  sort  of  theocracy,  having  for  its  basis  the  civil  institutions  of 
the  Jewish  commonwealth.  But  were  witches  nowhere  put  to  death  in  those  days 
save  in  New  England  ?     Let  the  reader  search  and  see. 

I  ought  to  add,  that  the  rules  of  Massachusetts  put  the  Quakers  to  death,  and 
banished  the  "  Antinomians"  and  "Anabaptists,"  not  because  of  their  religious  tenets, 
but  because  of  their  violations  of  the  civil  laws.  This  is  the  justification  which  they 
pleaded,  and  it  was  the  best  they  could  make.  Miserable  excuse !  But  just  so  it 
is :  wherever  there  is  such  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  heresy  and  heretical  prac- 
tices are  apt  to  become  violations  of  the  civil  code,  and  are  punished  no  longer  as 
errors  in  religion,  but  as  infractions  of  the  laws  of  the  land.  So  the  defenders  of  the 
Inquisition  have  always  spoken  and  written  in  justification  of  that  awful  and  most 
iniquitous  tribunal. 


CHAP.  XIX.]        INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  191 

between  Church  and  State.     They  had  a  special  reference  to  the  law 
compelling  every  man  to  attend  the  public  worship  of  the  colony. 

2.  Much  more  disastrous  were  the  consequences  flowing  from  an- 
other and  still  more  fundamental  law,  passed  by  the  Conscript  Fathers 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut — that  of  making  church  member- 
ship requisite  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizen- 
ship. Nor  was  it  long  before  these  consequences  appeared.  Not 
only  did  many  persons  find  admission  into  the  colonies  as  settlers 
who  were  not  members  of  any  church,  in  the  sense  almost  invariably 
attached  to  the  term  in  America — that  is,  communicants,  or,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called,  "  full  members" — but,  what  the  worthy  found- 
ers seem  not  to  have  anticipated,  some  of  their  own  children  grew 
up  manifestly  "  unconverted,"  and,  consequently,  did  not  become 
communicants ;  the.  churches  planted  by  the  New  England  Fathers 
having  maintained  at  first  the  strictest  discipline,  and  allowed  none 
to  become  communicants  until  they  had  satisfied  the  proper  church 
authorities  that  they  were  converted  persons,  and  had  the  religious 
knowledge  without  which  they  could  not  fitly  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Persons  who  had  not  these  requisites,  as  might  be  expected, 
thought  it  very  hard  to  be  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  citizenship, 
although,  as  was  generally  the  case,  their  lives  were  perfectly  regular 
and  moral.  They  therefore  complained,  and  their  complaints  were 
felt  to  be  reasonable,  and  such  as  parental  love,  even  in  the  breast  of 
a  Brutus,  could  not  long  resist. 

In  these  circumstances,  what  was  the  course  pursued  by  the  co- 
lonial legislators,  after  taking  council  of  their  spiritual  guides  ?  In- 
stead of  abolishing  the  law,  they  decided  that  all  baptized  persons 
might  be  regarded  as  members  of  the  Church,  thus  directly  interfer- 
ing with  matters  wholly  beyond  the  sphere  of  civil  legislation,  and 
contravening,  likewise,  a  former  decision  of  the  Church  :  for  although 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  persons  baptized  in  infancy  are  in  their 
youth  members  of  the  Church,  it  is  only  as  pupils  or  wards,  and  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  membership  of  persons  who  have  made 
a  profession  of  their  faith  after  conversion,  and  at  an  age  that  qualifies 
them  for  taking  such  a  step.  Such,  at  least,  is,  I  apprehend,  the 
opinion  of  all  churches  that  maintain  a  strict  discipline.  The  New 
England  fathers  felt  this  difficulty,  and  accordingly  it  was  not  to  all 
baptized  persons  that  they  gave  the  rights  of  citizens,  but  to  baptized 
persons  of  good  moral  deportment,  who  came  publicly  forward  and 
owned  in  the  church  the  covenant  made  for  them  by  their  parents  at 
baptism.  I  give  the  substance,  if  not  the  exact  words  of  the  law. 
This  compromise  settled  the  matter  for  a  time,  by  providing  for  the 
case  of  their  own  young  men. 


192  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

This  law  was  not  so  hurtful  in  its  consequences  to  the  State  as  it 
was  to  religion.  The  churches  were  filled  with  baptized  persons  who 
"  owned  the  covenant,"  and  with  the  lapse  of  time  the  number  of 
"  full  members,"  or  communicants,  diminished.  Many  now  enjoyed 
civil  privileges  in  virtue  of  a  less  intimate  connection  with  the  Church ; 
this  was  all  that  they  desired,  and  with  this  they  were  too  apt  to  be 
content.  But  the  evil  went  far  beyond  this.  To  escape  from  a  state 
of  things  in  which  the  churches,  though  filled  with  baptized  people, 
had  comparatively  few  "  communicants,"  many  of  the  pastors  were 
led  into  the  dangerous,  I  may  say  the  fatal  error,  of  considering  the 
Lord's  Supper  to  be  a  means  of  grace,  in  the  same  sense  that  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  is  such,  and  that  all  well-disposed  persons 
may  be  admitted  to  it  as  a  means  of  conversion  to  the  unconverted, 
as  well  as  of  edification  to  "  believers,"  or  converted  persons. 

Not  that  this  was  enjoined  on  the  churches  as  a  law  of  the  State. 
But  it  was  the  natural  and  almost  inevitable,  though  indirect,  conse- 
quence of  the  law  adjudging  all  baptized  persons  who  "  renewed  the 
covenant"  to  be  considered  members  of  the  church,  and  entitled  to 
the  civil  privileges  attached  to  that  relation.  It  is  easy  to  see  what 
would  follow.  The  former  measure  filled  the  churches  with  baptized 
people  who  owned  the  covenant ;  the  latter  practice  filled  the  churches 
with  unconverted  communicants.  In  the  course  of  a  few  generations 
the  standard  of  religious  truth  and  practice  fell  lower  and  lower. 
This  decline  necessarily  bore  upon  the  character  of  the  pastors,  for 
upon  the  occurrence  of  a  vacancy,  the  choice,  in  too  many  cases,  was 
sure  to  fall  upon  a  pastor  equally  low  in  point  of  religious  character 
with  the  parties  by  whom  he  was  chosen.  Such  a  state  of  things 
opened  the  way  effectually  for  the  admission  .  of  false  doctrine,  and 
the  more  so,  inasmuch  as  there  was  no  effectual  control  beyond  and 
above  what  was  to  be  found  in  each  individual  church.  But  this  sub- 
ject I  may  dismiss  for  the  present,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  recur 
to  it  when  we  come  to  consider  the  rise  and  progress  of  Unitarianism 
in  the  United  States. 

So  much  for  the  evil  consequences  flowing  from  two  of  the  meas- 
ures by  which  the  New  England  fathers  endeavored  to  carry  into 
operation  their  ideas  on  the  subject  of  the  union  that  should  subsist 
between  the  Church  and  the  State.  Let  us  now  look  at  the  mischief 
produced  by  a  third  measure — that,  namely,  requiring  each  "  town" 
to  maintain  public  worship  by  levying  a  tax  upon  all  the  inhabitants. 

3.  As  the  people  were  invested  by  law  with  an  absolute  control 
over  the  application  of  the  money  so  raised,  no  great  evil  seemed,  at 
first  sight,  likely  to  arise  from  such  a  mode  of  supporting  the  churches : 
and  it  may  readily  be  supposed  that  at  the  outset,  when  the  colonists 


CHAP.  XIX.]        INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  193 

formed  a  homogeneous  society,  and  were  all  either  members  of  the 
established  churches,  or  cordial  friends  and  admirers  of  their  system 
of  doctrine  and  church  polity,  this  assessment  for  their  support  would 
be  submitted  to  without  reluctance.  But  in  process  of  time,  when, 
whether  from  the  accession  of  fresh  emigrants,  or  from  the  growing 
up  of  the  children  of  the  original  colonists  into  manhood,  there  hap- 
pened to  be  found  in  any  particular  town  a  considerable  number  of 
inhabitants  who  either  disliked  the  services  of  the  parish  church,  or 
were  indifferent  to  religion  altogether,  it  is  clear  that  such  a  law 
would  be  considered  both  burdensome  and  unjust.  Men  can  never 
be  made  to  feel  that  they  may  with  equity  be  required  to  pay  taxes  in 
any  shape,  to  support  a  church  which  they  dislike,  and  to  which  they 
may  have  conscientious  objections.  Hence  arose  serious  difficulties, 
aggravated  afterward  when  the  Legislature  was  compelled,  by  the 
progress  of  true  principles  of  legislation,  to  extend  the  rights  of  citi- 
zenship, and  permission  to  have  a  worship  of  their  own,  to  persons  of 
all  sects.  It  seemed  unjust  that  these,  while  supporting  their  own 
churches,  should  be  compelled,  in  addition,  to  contribute  toward  the 
maintenance  of  the  parish,  or  "  town"  churches,  which  for  a  long- 
time they  were  called  upon  to  do. 

A  law,  however,  was  passed  at  length,  not  exempting  those  who 
did  not  attend  the  parish  church  from  all  taxation,  but  allowing  them 
to  appropriate  their  proportion  to  the  support  of  public  worship  ac- 
cording to  their  own  wishes.  Fair  as  this  seemed,  it  proved  most 
disastrous  in  its  consequences  to  the  interests  of  true  religion.  The 
haters  of  Evangelical  Christianity  could  now  say,  "  Well,  since  we 
must  be  taxed  in  support  of  religion,  we  will  have  what  suits  us ;" 
and  in  many  places  societies,  for  it  would  be  improper  to  call  them 
churches,  of  Universalists*  and  Unitarians  began  to  be  formed,  and 
false  preachers  found  support  where,  but  for  this  law,  no  such  societies 
or  preachers  would  ever  have  existed.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the 
mischiefs  that  have  flowed  from  this  unfortunate  measure,  not  only  and 
particularly  in  Massachusetts,  but  likewise  in  Connecticut,  Maine, 
and,  I  believe,  in  New  Hampshire  also.  With  the  aid  of  such  a  law 
thousands,  who  are  now  indifferent  to  truth  or  error,  might  easily  be 
driven  into  Universalism,  or  some  other  dangerous  heresy,  in  any 
part  of  the  United  States,  or,  rather,  in  any  part  of  the  world  where 
religious  opinion  is  unrestrained. 

4.  Only  one  further  measure  was  required  in  order  to  make  this 
law  for  the  support  of  public  worship  as  fatal  as  possible  to  the  in- 

*  By  Universalists  I  mean  those  professed  Christians  in  America  who,  with  many 
shades  of  difference  on  the  subject,  agree  in  holding  that  eventually  all  men  will  be 
saved.     I  shall  have  to  speak  of  them  more  at  large  in  another  place. 

13 


194  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

terests  of  true  religion  in  Massachusetts.  This  was  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  that  State,  pronounced  some  thirty  or  thirty-five 
years  ago,  by  which  the  distinction  which  had  previously  existed  "be- 
tween the  "  church"  and  the  "  town"  or  "  parish,"  was  destroyed  in 
the  view  of  the  law ;  and  the  "town,"  that  is,  the  body  of  the  people 
who  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  parish  church,  was  allowed  to 
exercise  a  control  in  the  calling  of  a  pastor  and  in  every  thing  else. 
There  then  ensued  great  distress  in  not  a  few  parishes.  In  every  in- 
stance in  which  the  majority  of  the  "  town"  were  opposed  to  evan- 
gelical religion,  they  had  it  in  their  power,  by  stopping  his  salary,  to 
turn  away  a  faithful  pastor,  and  to  choose  a  Universalist  or  Unitarian 
in  his  place.*  This  actually  took  place  in  numerous  instances,  and 
the  church,  or  at  least  the  faithful  part  of  it,  which  was  often  the 
majority,  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  edifice  in  which  their  fathers 
had  worshipped,  with  whatever  endowments  it  might  have,  and  to 
build  for  themselves  a  new  place  of  worship,  call  a  pastor,  and  sup- 
port him  on  the  voluntary  plan.  The  evil,  however,  which  might 
have  gone  to  still  greater  lengths,  was  arrested  in  Massachusetts  in 
1833,  by  the  final  dissolution  of  the  union  between  Church  and  State, 
in  a  way  to  be  hereafter  briefly  described. 

Such  is  a  simple,  brief,  and,  I  trust,  comprehensible  view  of  the 
chief  consequences  resulting  in  New  England  from  the  union  of 
Church  and  State,  long  maintained  in  that  part  of  America.  The 
reader  will  draw  his  own  conclusions  from  this  exhibition  of  facts,  in 
all  essential  points  unquestionably  correct.  That  some  of  these  con- 
sequences were  beneficial,  none  will  deny  ;  but  that  these  were  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  others  of  an  opposite  tendency,  is,  I  think, 
no  less  manifest.! 

*  In  many  cases  there  was  no  great  difficulty  in  getting  such  a  majority,  by  per- 
suading the  Universalists  and  others,  who  might  have  ceased  for  years  to  allow 
themselves  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  parish,  or  congregation,  or  society, 
worshiping  at  the  parish  church,  to  return  at  least  for  a  year  or  so,  since  by  so  doing, 
and  paying  again  the  assessment  for  the  parish  church,  they  could  vote  at  its  meet- 
ings. 

f  The  reader  will  find  in  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims,"  vol.  i.  (a  work  published  in 
Boston  in  1826-1833),  the  fullest  details  on  this  subject  that  have  appeared  as  yet  in 
any  one  publication. 


CHAP.  XX.]        INFLUENCE   OP   THE   UNION   IN    OTHER   STATES.  195 

CHAPTER   XX. 

THE  INFLUENCES   OF   THE   UNION    OF    CHURCH    AND    STATE. — 2.   IN  THE 

SOUTHERN   AND   MIDDLE   STATES. 

Having  seen  what  a  Church  Establishment  did  for  Congregation- 
alism in  New  England,  we  have  now  to  see  what  it  did  for  Episcopacy 
in  other  provinces,  and  particularly  in  the  South.  In  the  case  of  the 
latter,  as  in  the  former,  the  nature  of  the  connection  between  Church 
and  State,  and  the  kind  of  Church  establishment,  were  very  different 
in  different  colonies.  That  connection  was  closest,  and  the  support 
given  to  religion  most  effective,  in  Virginia  ;  next  to  it  in  these  re- 
spects comes  Maryland,  and  New  York  occupies  the  third  place. 

In  Virginia,  we  find  that  the  three  main  laws  connecting  the 
Church  and  the  State  were  substantially  the  same  as  those  of  Massa- 
chusetts at  a  later  date.  1.  The  country  was  divided  into  parishes, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  were  required  to  build,  furnish,  and  uphold 
churches,  or  places  of  worship,  and  maintain  a  pastor,  by  an  assess- 
ment proportioned  to  their  respective  means,  these  being  estimated 
by  the  quantity  of  tobacco  that  they  raised,  as  that  was  the  chief  ar- 
ticle of  their  commerce  and  of  their  wealth.  2.  The  people  were 
required  to  attend  the  established  churches,  which  were  for  a  long 
time  the  only  ones  that  existed,  or  that  were  permitted  to  exist  in 
the  colony.  3.  The  rights  of  citizenship  were  confined  to  members 
of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Now,  it  is  beyond  dispute  that  the  division  of  the  country  into 
parishes,  the  erection  of  churches,  and  the  providing  of  glebes  for  the 
rectors  and  ministers,  was  useful  both  in  Virginia  and  in  Maryland. 
The  picture  presented  by  Dr.  Hawks,  in  his  interesting  and  valuable 
sketches  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  those  colonies,  is  delightful  as 
far  as  relates  to  these  outward  and  material  matters.  Besides,  there 
was  a  special  necessity  for  some  such  legislation  in  Episcopalian  colo- 
nies of  the  High  Church  party,  if  I  may  so  designate  them,  as  was 
the  case  with  Virginia  :  for,  although  it  might  be  unfair  to  tax  them 
with  a  total,  or  almost  total,  want  of  true  living  piety,  they  certainly 
had  not  the  fervent  zeal,  the  devoted  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  which  mingled  with  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Puritans.  If, 
in  fact,  in  any  part  of  America,  the  union  of  Church  and  State  was 
beneficial,  not  to  say  indispensable,  in  securing  the  formation  of  par- 
ishes and  the  building  of  churches,  it  was  in  the  Southern  colonies : 
planted  as  they  were  by  the  friends  of  Prelacy  par  excellence,  men 
afraid  of  fanaticism  in  religion,  whatever  they  might  think  of  it  in 


196  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

some  other  things.  These  advantages  were,  in  process  of  time,  se- 
cured at  intervals  along  the  banks  of  the  noble  rivers  of  Virginia, 
until,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  that  colony  could 
boast  of  ninety-seven  parishes,  more  than  that  number  of  churches, 
if  we  include  chapels-of-ease,  and  above  a  hundred  ministers. 

This  is  the  chief,  or,  rather,  the  only  benefit  conferred  on  Virginia 
by  the  connection  of  the  Church  with  the  State  ;  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  clergy,  as  Dr.  Hawks  remarks,  can  hardly  be  reckoned  one, 
inasmuch  as  that  was  nearly,  if  not  altogether  voluntary  on  the  part 
of  the  parishioners,  and  was  by  no  means  enforced  as  the  law  con- 
templated. During  a  large  part  of  the  colonial  period,  too,  the  want 
of  ministers  greatly  diminished  the  advantages  that  might  have  ac- 
crued from  having  parishes  marked  out  and  churches  built  in  them. 
Thus,  in  1619,  there  were  eleven  parishes  and  only  five  ministers; 
and  in  1661,  the  parishes  in  Virginia  were  about  fifty,  and  the  minis- 
ters only  about  a  fifth  part  of  that  number.* 

But  granting  that  the  support  secured  by  law  to  Episcopacy  was 
ample,  which  in  Virginia  it  was  not,  let  us  notice  some  of  the  evils 
attending  this  union  of  Church  and  State,  and  see  whether  they  did 
not  counterbalance  all  the  admitted  good.  The  first  of  these,  and  it 
was  no  trifling  one,  was  the  antipathy  which  such  compulsory  meas- 
ures created  toward  the  favored  Church.  Men  were  displeased,  and 
felt  aggrieved  at  being  taxed  for  the  support  of  a  church  whose  serv- 
ices they  did  not  frequent,  but  to  which  they  might  otherwise  have 
felt  no  hostility,  nay,  to  which  they  might  by  a  different  course  have 
been  won.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  those  colonies  where  the 
favor  shown  to  the  Episcopal  Church  did  not  exclude  the  toleration 
of  other  religious  bodies ;  that  is,  in  all  of  those  where  Episcopacy  was 
established  except  Virginia.  Episcopacy,  in  fact,  became  influential 
and  powerful,  in  most  cases,  long  after  the  colonies  were  founded, 
and  owed  its  pre-eminence  purely  to  the  favor  of  the  State,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  colonies  of  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  etc.  In  all  these,  taxes  for  the  support  of  a  dominant  church, 
representing  in  some  instances  but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  population, 
were  extremely  offensive  to  those  who  were  members  of  other  churches 
or  of  none,  and  proved  hurtful,  hi  the  end,  to  the  Episcopal  Church 
itself.  It  attached  a  stigma  to  it  which  it  took  a  long  time  to  efface ; 
the  more  so  as,  when  the  Revolution  was  drawing  on,  it  began  to  be 
viewed  as  the  Church  favored  of  the  mother-country,  with  which  the 
colonists  were  about  to  enter  mto  a  war  for  what  they  deemed  to  be 
then*  rights.  Thus  the  cause  of  that  Church  became  identified  so  far 
with  that  of  the  "enemies  of  the  country,"  as  they  were  called.  This 
*  Dr.  Hawks's  "  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  64. 


CHAP.  XX.]    CHUECH  AND  STATE  IN  SOUTHERN  AND  MIDDLE  STATES.    197 

twofold  animosity  long  prevailed  in  the  very  States  where  the 
Episcopal  Church  was  once  predominant,  and  no  doubt  contributed 
to  retard  its  progress  in  later  times,  so  that  any  former  favors 
received  from  the  State  may  be  regarded  as  having  been  very  dearly 
purchased.* 

2.  As  respects  Virginia,  at  least,  the  interests  of  true  religion  and 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  were  seriously  injured  by  the  compulsory 
attendance  upon  the  services  of  the  churches,  etc.,  noticed  hi  a  former 
chapter.  In  the  justness  of  the  following  remarks  every  well-informed 
man  must  heartily  concur :  "  To  coerce  men  into  the  outward  exercise 
of  religious  acts  by  penal  laws  is  indeed  possible ;  but  to  make  them 
love  either  the  religion  which  is  thus  enforced,  or  those  who  enforce 
it,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  human  power.  There  is  an  inherent  prin- 
ciple of  resistance  to  oppression  seated  in  the  very  constitution  of 
most  men,  which  disposes  them  to  rebel  against  the  arbitrary  exercise 
of  violence  seeking  to  give  direction  to  opinions ;  and  it  is  not,  there- 
fore to  be  wondered  at,  that  one  sanguinary  law  to  compel  men  to  live 
piously,  should  beget  the  necessity  for  more."f 

3.  Another  evil  resulting  from  the  imion  between  Church  and  State 
in  the  Southern  colonies,  and  particularly  in  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  almost  incessant  disputes  that  long  prevailed  be- 
tween the  colonial  governors  and  the  parish  vestries  respecting  the 
right  of  presentation,  which  was  claimed  by  both  parties.  In  this 
contest,  the  Virginia  vestries  were,  upon  the  whole,  successful ;  still, 
as  the  governor  claimed  the  right  of  inducting,  there  were  often  seri- 
ous collisions.  In  order  to  evade  the  force  of  that  principle  in  English 
law,  which  gives  a  minister,  when  once  installed  as  pastor,  a  sort  of 
freehold  interest  in  the  parish,  and  renders  his  ejectment  almost  im- 
possible, unless  by  deposition  from  the  sacred  office  altogether,  in 
consequence  of  some  flagrant  enormity :  the  vestries,  instead  of  pre- 
senting a  minister,  often  preferred  employing  him  from  year  to  year, 
so  as  to  have  it  in  their  power  to  dismiss  him  when  they  thought  fit ; 
and  this  refusal  to  present  involved,  of  course,  an  inability  on  the  gov- 
ernor's part  to  induct.  In  Maryland,  the  governors  long  insisted  on 
exercising  the  right  of  presentation,  a  right  that  put  it  into  their 
power  to  thrust  very  unworthy  pastors  into  the  Church.  But  the 
case  was  not  much  better  when  left  to  the  vestries,  these  being  often 
composed  of  men  by  no  means  fit  to  decide  upon  the  qualifications 
of  a  pastor.     In  no  case  does  it  appear  that  the  Church  itself,  that 

*  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  Baptists,  whose  admission  into  the  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia did  not  occur  till  so  late,  are  now  the  most  numerous  body  of  Christians  in  that 
State  ;  the  Methodists  are  next,  and  the  Episcopalians  are  not  more  than  the  third. 

f  Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  49. 


198  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

is,  the  body  of  the  communicants,  possessed  the  privilege  of  choosing 
a  pastor  for  themselves. 

4.  A  fourth  evil  resulting  from  the  union  of  Church  and  Stafre  in 
the  colonies  where  the  Episcopal  Church  was  established,  lay  in  this, 
that  the  ministers  required  from  time  to  time  by  the  churches  be- 
hooved to  come  from  England,  or,  if  Americans  by  birth,  to  receive 
ordination  from  some  bishop  in  England,  generally  the  Bishop  of 
London,  to  whose  superintendence  and  government  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  America  seems  to  have  been  intrusted.  As  there  was  no 
bishop  in  America  during  the  whole  colonial  period,  this  disadvantage 
continued  down  to  the  Revolution. 

No  doubt,  many  worthy  men,  endued  with  the  true  spirit  of  their 
calling  and  office,  were  sent  over  by  the  bishops  who  successively  oc- 
cupied the  See  of  London,  some  of  whom  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
Colonial  Church.    Still,  it  is  no  less  true  that  many  of  a  very  different 
character  were  sent  over,  or  came  of  their  own  accord,  and  these, 
after  their  induction  into  a  parish,  it  was  found  almost  impossible  to 
remove.     At  a  distance  from  England,  and  beyond  the  immediate  in- 
spection of  the  only  bishop  that  seemed  to  have  any  authority  over 
them,  they  generally  contrived  to  secure  impunity,  not  only  for  the 
neglect  of  their  duties,  but  even  for  flagrant  crimes.     Some  cases  of 
the  most  shocking  delinquency  and  open  sin  occurred  both  in  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  without  the  possibility,  it  would  seem,  of  their  being 
reached  and   punished.     All  that  could  be  done  by  persons  com- 
missioned by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  act  for  him,  under  the  name 
of  "  commissaries,"  was  done  by  such  men  as  Drs.  Blair  and  Bray, 
and  their  successors,  but  the  evil  was  too  deep  to  be  effectually  ex- 
tirpated by  any  thing  short  of  the  exercise  of  full  Episcopal  authority 
on  the  spot.     Besides  traditional  evidence  of  the  immoralities  of  some 
of  the  established  clergy  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  we  learn  their 
existence  and  nature  from  indubitable  histories  written  by  Episco- 
palians themselves,  and  they  were  such  as  even  to  call  for  the  inter- 
ference of  the  colonial  legislatures.     The  General  Assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  1631,  enacted  that  "Mynisters  shall  not  give  themselves  to 
excess  in  drinkinge  or  riott,  spendinge  theire  tynie  idellye  by  day  or 
night,"  etc.*     The  fact  is,  that  worthless  and  incapable  men  in  every 
profession  were  wont  to  leave  the  mother  country  for  the  colonies, 

*  Herring's  "Laws  of  Virginia,"  7  th  Car.  L  At  a  much  later  period,  Sir  "William 
Berkeley,  governor  of  Virginia,  in  reply  to  this  inquiry  from  the  Lords  of  Plant- 
ations, "What  provision  is  there  made  for  the  paying  of  your  ministers?"  stated, 
i;  We  have  forty-eight  parishes,  and  our  ministers  are  well  paid.  But  as  of  all  other 
commodities,  so  of  this,  the  worst  are  sent  to  us." — See  "  Appendix  to  Eening's  Collec- 
tion" 


CHAP.  XX.]    CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  SOUTHERN  AND  MIDDLE  STATES.    1J>9 

where  they  thought  they  might  succeed  better  than  in  England ;  and 
such  of  them  as  belonged  to  the  clerical  profession  very  naturally  sup- 
posed that  they  might  find  comfortable  "  livings"  in  those  colonies, 
where  their  own  Church  was  established,  and  where  they  heard  that 
there  was  so  great  a  deficiency  of  clergymen.* 

5.  And,  lastly,  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  Establishment  we 
are  speaking  of,  is  to  be  found  in  the  shameful  acts  of  intolerance  and 
oppression  to  which  it  led.  Although  the  Quakers  were  in  no  instance 
put  to  death  in  Virginia,  yet  they  were  subjected  to  much  persecu- 
tion and  annoyance,  and  were  glad  in  many  cases  to  escape  into  North 
Carolina.  The  Puritans,  too,  were  much  disliked,  and  severe  laws 
were  passed  "  to  prevent  the  infection  from  reaching  the  country."! 
Archbishop  Laud's  authority  stood  as  high  in  Virginia  as  in  England. 
An  offender  against  that  authority,  of  the  name  of  Reek,  was,  in  1642, 
pilloried  for  two  hours,  with  a  label  on  his  back  setting  forth  his 
offence,  then  fined  £50,  and  imprisoned  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
governor.^ 

It  would  appear,  however,  either  that  all  this  vigilance  could  not 
keep  out  the  Puritans,  or  else  that  some  of  the  Virginians  themselves 
had  become  so  disgusted  with  their  own  as  to  wish  for  Puritan  preach- 
ers. Be  that  as  it  may,  certain  it  is  that  in  1642  there  was  transmitted 
to  Boston  from  certain  persons  in  Virginia  an  application  for  preach- 
ers, and  that  two  actually  went  from  Massachusetts  and  one  from 
Connecticut,  but  were  dismissed  by  the  governor.  Governor  Win- 
throp,  speaking  of  this  affair  in  his  Journal,  says  that,  though  the 
State  did  silence  the  ministers,  because  they  would  not  conform  to 
the  order  of  England,  yet  the  people  resorted  to  them  in  private 
houses  to  hear  them.§ 

In  fact,  it  was  not  until  the  lapse  of  a  century  after  those  times  that 
toleration  was  established  in  Virginia,  through  the  persevering  efforts 
of  the  Presbyterians  and  other  non-established  denominations,  whose 
friends  and  partisans  had  by  that  time  greatly  increased,  partly  in 
consequence  of  this  very  intolerance  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
but  chiefly  by  immigration,  so  far  as  to  outnumber  the  Episcopalians 
of  the  province  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution  commenced. 

As  for  Maryland,  although  the  Quakers  were  greatly  harassed  in  that 

6  Even  so  late  as  1751,  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  a  letter  to  the  well-known  Dr. 
Doddridge,  says  upon  this  subject,  "  Of  those  that  are  sent  from  hence,  a  great  part 
are  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  who  can  get  no  employment  at  home,  and  enter  into  the 
service  more  out  of  necessity  than  choice.  Some  others  are  willing  to  go  abroad  to 
retrieve  either  lost  fortunes  or  lost  character." — See  Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  Re- 
view for  April,  1840. 

f  Hening's  "Virginia  Statutes,"  223.  %  Ibid.,  552. 

§  Savage's  Winthrop,  p.  92.     Hubbard's  "History  of  New  England,"  p.  141. 


2  00  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

colony  for  some  time,  and  Roman  Catholics  were  treated  with  griev- 
ous injustice,  yet  there  never  was  the  same  intolerance  manifested 
toward  those  who  were  called  Dissenters,  as  had  been  shown  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  established  there  by 
law  in  1692,  but  not  in  fact  until  1702. 

But  in  no  colony  in  which  Episcopacy  became  established  by  law 
was  there  more  intolerance  displayed  than  in  New  York.  That  estab- 
lishment was  effected  in  1693  by  Governor  Fletcher,  who  soundly 
rated  the  Legislature  because  not  disposed  to  comply  with  all  his 
wishes.  But  in  zeal  for  Episcopacy  he  was  outdone  by  one  of  his  suc- 
cessors, Lord  Cornbury,  a  descendant  of  Lord  Clarendon,  who  would 
fain  have  deprived  the  Dutch  of  their  privileges,  and  forced  them  into 
the  Episcopal  Church.  He  had  orders  from  the  government  at  home 
"  to  give  all  countenance  and  encouragement  to  the  exercise  of  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  far  as  con- 
veniently might  be  in  the  province ;  that  no  schoolmaster  be  hence- 
forward permitted  to  come  from  this  kingdom,  and  keep  a  school  in 
that  our  said  province,  without  the  license  of  our  said  Lord  Bishop 
of  London."* 

In  what  has  been  said  of  the  intolerance  manifested  in  several  of 
the  colonies  in  which  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  estab- 
lished, I  would  not  be  understood  as  charging  such  intolerance  upon 
that  Church.  No  doubt  men  of  an  intolerant  spirit  were  to  be  found 
in  it,  for,  alas !  true  religious  liberty,  and  an  enlarged  spirit  of  tolera- 
tion, were  far  from  being  general  in  those  days ;  but  it  had  members 
also  of  a  most  catholic  spirit,  who  neither  did  nor  could  approve  of 
such  acts  as  the  above.  The  intolerance  was  rather  that  of  the  colo- 
nial governments,  and  to  them  properly  belongs  the  credit  or  dis- 
credit attached  to  it. 

In  conclusion,  I  can  not  but  think  that  the  union  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  with  the  State  in  some  colonies,  and  of  the  Congregational 
Church  with  the  civil  power  in  others,  was,  upon  the  whole,  far  more 
mischievous  than  beneficial;  an  opinion  in  which  I  feel  persuaded 
that  the  great  body  alike  of  the  Episcopal  and  Congregational  min- 
isters with  us  concur.  Had  the  founders  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Virginia  and  Maryland,  excellent  men  as  I  believe  they  were,  gone 
to  work  in  reliance  on  the  blessing  of  God  upon  their  efforts,  and  en- 
deavored to  raise  up  a  faithful  native  ministry,  trusting  to  the  will- 
ingness of  the  people  to  provide  for  their  support,  I  doubt  not  that 
they  would  have  succeeded  far  better  in  building  up  the  Episcopal 
Church  than  they  did  with  all  the  advantages  of  the  State  alliance 
which  they  enjoyed.  They  would  doubtless  have  had  to  encounter 
*  "  History  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  New  York." 


CHAP.  XXI.]        STATE   OF   RELIGION   IN"  THE   COLONIAL  EEA.  201 

many  difficulties,  but  they  would  have  laid  a  surer  foundation  also 
for  ultimate  success.  Dr.  Hawks  gives  a  painfully  interesting  narra- 
tive of  the  struggles  which  the  established  clergy  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland  had  to  sustain  with  their  parishioners  about  their  salaries : 
the  one  party  striving  to  obtain  what  the  law  assigned  to  them ;  the 
other,  aided  even  at  times  by  legislative  enactments,  availing  them- 
selves of  every  stratagem  in  order  to  evade  the  legal  claims  of  the 
clergy.  The  time  and  anxiety,  the  wearing  out  of  mind  and  body, 
which  these  disputes  cost  faithful  ministers,  not  to  mention  the  sacri- 
fice of  influence,  would  have  been  laid  out  better  and  more  pleasantly 
in  the  unembarrassed  work  of  their  calling ;  nor  were  they  likely  to 
have  been  worse  off  in  respect  of  this  world's  blessings  than  the  faith- 
ful among  them  really  were. 

Assuredly  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  at  the  pres- 
ent day  furnishes  decisive  proof  that  Episcopacy  can  exist  and  flourish 
without  aid  from  the  civil  government.  Dr.  Hawks  thinks  that  it 
has  even  peculiar  advantages  for  self-sustentation,  proved,  as  he  con- 
ceives, by  the  experience  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland,  and 
that  of  the  Syrian  Churches  in  India,  as  well  as  the  history  of  that 
Church  in  the  United  States.  Without  expressing  an  opinion  on 
that  point,  I  hesitate  not  to  say  that  the  Episcopal  Church,  with  all 
the  advantage  of  having  the  people  enlisted  on  her  side  in  several  of 
the  colonies  at  the  outset,  and  sustained  as  she  was  by  the  prestige 
of  the  National  Church  of  the  mother  country,  would  have  done  far 
better  had  she  relied  on  her  own  resources  under  God,  in  the  faith- 
ful ministration  of  His  Word,  and  of  the  ordinances  of  His  House, 
than  in  trusting  to  the  arm  of  the  State  in  the  colonies  in  which  she 
endeavored  to  plant  herself. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

STATE    OF   RELIGION   DURING  THE   COLONIAL  ERA. 

Before  quitting  the  Colonial  Era  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States,  let  us  take  a  general  view  of  the  state  of  religion  throughout 
all  the  colonies  during  that  period  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
years,  from  1607  to  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
in  1775. 

As  communities,  the  Anglo-American  colonies,  from  their  earliest 
days,  were  pervaded  by  religious  influence,  not  equally  powerful,  yet 
real  and  salutary  in  all.     This  was  especially  true  of  New  England, 


202  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

whose  first  settlers  openly  declared  to  the  world  that  they  left  their 
native  land  not  so  much  to  promote  individual  religion  as  to  form 
Christian  societies.  They  could  have  maintained  silent,  personal,  in- 
dividual communion  with  their  heavenly  Father  in  Lincolnshire  and 
Yorkshire,  or  in  Holland,  as  did  some  recluses  in  the  monastic  insti- 
tutions of  the  earlier  and  middle  ages.  But  they  had  no  such  pur- 
pose. Their  Christianity  was  of  a  diffusive  kind ;  their  hearts  yearned 
for  opportunities  of  extending  it.  Religion  with  them  was  not  only 
a  concern  between  man  and  God,  but  one  in  which  society  at  large 
had  a  deep  interest.  Hence  some  fruits  of  this  high  and  holy  prin- 
ciple might  be  expected  in  the  communities  which  they  founded,  and 
we  not  unreasonably  desire  to  know  how  far  the  result  corresponded 
with  such  excellent  intentions.  It  were  unfair,  however,  to  expect 
much  in  this  way,  considering  the  circumstances  of  the  colonists,  set- 
tling hi  a  remote  wilderness,  amid  fierce  and  cruel  savages,  and  ex- 
posed to  all  the  fatigues  and  sicknesses  incident  to  such  a  settlement, 
and  to  the  anxieties  and  difficulties  attending  the  organization  of 
their  governments,  collisions  with  the  mother-coimtry,  and  participa- 
tion in  all  that  country's  wars. 

The  Colonial  Era  may,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  be  divided  into 
four  periods.  The  first  of  these,  extending  from  the  earliest  settle- 
ment of  Virginia  in  1607  to  1660,  was  one  in  which  religion  greatly 
flourished,  notwithstanding  the  trials  incident  to  settlements  amid 
the  forests,  and  the  troubles  attending  the  establishment  of  the  colo- 
nial governments.  Peace  with  the  Aborigines  suffered  few  interrup- 
tions, the  only  wars  worth  mentioning  being  that  with  the  Pequods 
in  Connecticut,  in  1637  ;  that  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Algonquins, 
in  1643;  and  those  that  broke  out  in  Virginia  in  1622  and  1644, 
which  were  at  once  the  first  and  the  last,  and  by  far  the  most  dis- 
astrous of  that  period.  But  these  wars  were  soon  over,  and  a  few 
years  sufficed  to  repair  whatever  loss  they  occasioned  to  the  colonists. 

This  was  the  period  in  which  those  excellent  men  who  either  came 
over  with  the  first  colonists,  or  soon  afterward  joined  them,  labored 
long,  and  very  successfully,  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  Among  these 
were  Wilson,  and  Cotton,  and  Shepard,  and  Mather  (Richard),  and 
Philips,  and  Higginson,  and  Skelton,  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  ;  Brewster,  in  Plymouth  ;  Hooker,  in  Connecticut ;  Davenport, 
in  New  Haven ;  and  Hunt  and  Whitaker,  in  Virginia.  Several  of  the 
cotemporary  magistrates,  also,  were  distinguished  for  their  piety  and 
zeal ;  such  as  the  governors  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  Bradford  and 
"Winslow  of  Plymouth,  Haynes  of  Connecticut,  and  Eaton  of  New 
Haven.  To  these  we  must  add  Roger  Williams,  who  was  pastor, 
and,  for  a  time,  governor  in  Providence. 


CHAP.  XXI.]      STATE   OF   RELIGION   IN  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  203 

This  was  the  golden  age  of  the  colonial  cycle.  God  poured  out 
His  Spirit  in  many  places.  Precious  seasons  were  enjoyed  by  the 
churches  in  Boston,  in  Salem,  in  Plymouth,  in  Hartford,  and  in  New 
Haven.  Nor  were  the  labors  of  faithful  men  in  Virginia  without  a 
rich  blessing.  Days  of  fasting  and  prayer  were  frequently  and  faith- 
fully observed.  The  Saviour  was  entreated  to  dwell  among  the  peo- 
ple. Religion  was  felt  to  be  the  most  important  of  blessings,  both 
for  the  individual  man  and  for  the  State.  Revivals  were  highly 
prized,  and  earnestly  sought ;  nor  were  they  sought  in  vain.  The 
journals  of  Governor  Winthrop,  and  other  good  men  of  that  day, 
present  most  interesting  details  in  proof  of  this.  America  has  seen 
more  extensive,  but  never  more  unequivocal,  works  of  grace,  or  more 
indubitable  operations  of  the  Spirit. 

Nor  were  the  aboriginal  heathen  around  the  colonies  forgotten  in 
those  days.  Eliot  and  others  labored  with  great  success  among  the 
Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  Several  thousand  souls  were  con- 
verted. The  Bible  was  translated  into  their  tongue.  Nor  was  it  in 
Massachusetts  alone  that  men  cared  for  the  souls  of  the  "  Salvages," 
as  they  were  called.  In  Virginia,  an  Indian  princess,  Pocahontas, 
received  the  Gospel,  was  baptized,  and  became  a  consistent  member 
of  a  Christian  Church.  Another  convert,  Chanco,  was  the  instru- 
ment, under  God,  of  saving  the  colony  from  entire  extirpation. 

The  commencement  of  the  colonization  of  America  was  certainly 
auspicious  for  the  cause  of  true  religion. 

The  second  period  is  one  of  sixty  years,  from  1660  to  to  1720. 

This  might  be  called  the  brazen  age  of  the  colonies.  Almost  all 
of  them  experienced  times  of  trouble.  Massachusetts  suffered  in  1675 
from  a  most  disastrous  war  with  "  King  Philip,"  the  chief  of  the 
Pokanokets,  and  with  other  tribes  which  afterward  joined  in  a  gene- 
ral endeavor  to  expel  or  exterminate  the  colonists.  Violent  disputes 
arose  with  the  government  of  England  respecting  the  rights  of  the 
colony,  and  to  these  were  added  internal  dissensions  about  witch- 
craft, and  other  exciting  subjects,  chiefly  of  a  local  nature.  In 
Virginia,  in  1675-76,  there  were  a  serious  Indian  war  and  a 
"  Grand  Rebellion,"  which  threatened  ruin  to  the  colony.  And  in 
the  Carolinas  a  desolating  war  with  the  Tuscaroras  broke  out 
in  1711-12. 

Besides  these  greater  causes  of  trouble  and  excitement,  there  were 
others  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  indicate.  The  influence  of  grow- 
ing prosperity  may,  however,  be  mentioned.  The  colonies  had  now 
taken  permanent  root.  They  might  be  shaken,  but  could  not  be 
eradicated  or  overthrown  by  the  rude  blasts  of  misfortune.  Their 
wealth  was  increasing ;  their  commerce  was  already  considerable,  and 


204  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  [BOOK  H. 

attracted  many  youth  to  the  seas.     Every  war  which  England  had 
with  France  or  Spain  agitated  her  colonies  also. 

These  causes  concurring  with  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  already  described,  led  to  a  great  decline 
of  vital  Christianity,  and  although  partial  revivals  took  place,  the  all- 
pervading  piety  that  characterized  the  first  generation  suffered  a 
great  diminution.  The  light  of  holiness  grew  faint  and  dim,  and 
morality,  in  general,  degenerated  in  a  like  degree.  The  Fathers  had 
gone  to  the  tomb,  and  were  succeeded,  upon  the  whole,  by  inferior 
men.  The  second  Governor  Winthrop,  it  is  true,  showed  himself,  in 
the  administration  of  the  united  colonies  of  Connecticut,  to  be  a 
great  and  good  man,  and  a  father  alike  to  the  Church  and  the  State. 
Among  the  ministers,  too,  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  dis- 
tinguished men  ;  but  their  labors  were  not  equally  blessed  with  those 
of  the  fathers.  Among  the  best  known  were  the  Mathers,  Increase 
and  Cotton,  father  and  son,  the  latter  more  distinguished  for  the  ex- 
tent and  variety  of  his  acquirements  than  for  soimdness  of  judgment  ;* 
Norton  and  others,  in  Massachusetts ;  Pierpont,  in  Connecticut ;  Dr. 
Blair,  who  for  a  long  time  was  the  Bishop  of  London's  commissary,  in 
Virginia ;  Dr.  Bray,  who  held  the  same  office,  in  Maryland ;  two  per- 
sons to  whom  the  Episcopal  Church  in  those  colonies  was  much  in- 
debted for  its  prosperity. 

The  faithful  pastors  in  New  England  received  an  accession  to  their 
number,  in  the  early  part  of  this  period,  by  the  arrival  from  England 
of  some  of  the  two  thousand  ministers  who  were  ejected  there  for 
non-conformity,  soon  after  the  accession  of  Charles  II. 

The  third  period,  comprehending  the  thirty  years  from  1720  to 
1750,  was  distinguished  by  extensive  revivals  of  religion,  and  this, 
notwithstanding  the  agitation  produced  in  the  colonies,  by  the  share 
they  had  in  the  war  between  France  and  England  toward  the  close 
of  that  period,  and  other  unfavorable  circumstances  besides.  The 
Great  Awakening,  f  as  it  has  been  called,  infused  a  new  life  into  the 

*  Cotton  Mather's  acquirements  were  really  prodigious,  considering  the  age  and 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  lived.  His  publications  amounted  to  no  fewer  than 
three  hundred  and  eighty-two,  several  of  which,  such  as  his  "Magnalia,  or  the  Eccle- 
siastical History  of  New  England,"  were  large  works.  He  displayed,  however,  such 
a  mixture  of  credulity,  pedantry,  and  bad  taste,  that  he  was  not  appreciated  as  he 
deserved.  The  part  which  he  took  in  the  affair  of  the  witches,  though  greatly  mis- 
represented by  some  writers,  did  him  vast  injury.  He  was  singularly  given  to  believe 
all  sorts  of  marvelous  stories. 

f  For  a  full  and  able  account  of  this  great  work  of  grace,  as  well  as  of  other  re- 
vivals of  religion,  of  unusual  power  and  extent  in  America,  see  a  work  published  at 
Boston  in  1842,  entitled  the  "Great  Awakening,"  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Tracy.  It  is 
by  far  the  fullest  account  of  the  early  revivals  in  America  that  has  yet  appeared,  and 
being  derived  from  authentic  sources,  is  worthy  of  entire  credence. 


CHAP.  XXI.]       STATE   OF   RELIGION  IN  THE   COLONIAL   ERA.  205 

churches,  more  especially  in  New  England,  in  certain  parts  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  some  other  colonies,  and  its 
effects  were  visible  long  afterward  in  many  places.  It  is  true  that 
fanatical  teachers  did  much  mischief  hi  several  quarters  by  associating 
themselves  with  the  work  of  God,  and  introducing  their  own  unwar- 
rantable measures,  so  as  to  rob  it,  in  the  end,  of  much  of  the  glorious 
character  that  distinguished,  it  at  first.  Yet  it  can  not  be  denied  that 
it  was  a  great  blessing  to  the  churches.  Some  important,  though 
painful  lessons,  were  learned,  in  regard  to  the  economy  of  the  Spirit, 
which  have  not  been  wholly  forgotten  to  this  day. 

This  was  the  period  in  which  Edwards  and  Prince,  Frelinghuysen, 
Dickinson,  Finley,  and  the  Tennents,  labored  in  the  Northern  and 
the  Middle  States  ;  Davies,  and  others  of  kindred  spirit,  in  Virginia ; 
the  Wesleys  for  a  while  in  Georgia ;  while  Whitfield,  like  the  angel 
symbolized  in  the  Apocalypse  as  flying  through  the  heavens,  having 
the  everlasting  Gospel  to  preach  to  the  nations,  traversed  colony 
after  colony  in  his  repeated  visits  to  the  New  World,  and  was  made 
an  instrument  of  blessing  to  multitudes. 

The  fourth  and  concluding  period  of  the  Colonial  Era  comprehends 
the  twenty-five  years  from  1750  to  1775,  and  was  one  of  great  public 
agitation.  In  the  early  part  of  it,  the  colonies  aided  England  with  all 
their  might  hi  another  war  with  France,  ending  hi  the  conquest  of 
the  Canadas,  which  were  secured  to  the  conquerors  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris  in  1763.  In  the  latter  part  of  it,  men's  minds  became  univers- 
ally engrossed  with  the  disputes  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother  country,  and  when  all  prospect  of  having  these  brought  to  an 
amicable  settlement  seemed  desperate,  preparation  began  to  be  made 
for  that  dreadful  alternative — war.  Such  a  state  of  things  could  not 
fail  to  have  an  untoward  influence  on  religion.  Yet  most  of  those 
distinguished  men  whom  I  have  spoken  of  as  laboring  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  immediately  preceding  period,  were  spared  to  continue 
their  work  in  the  beginning  of  this.  Whitfield  renewed  from  time 
to  time  his  visits,  and  the  Spirit  was  not  grieved  quite  away  from 
the  churches  by  the  commotions  of  the  people.  Still,  no  such  glorious 
scenes  were  beheld  during  this  period  as  had  been  witnessed  in  the 
last ;  on  the  contrary,  that  declension  in  spiritual  life,  and  spiritual 
effort,  which  war  ever  occasions,  was  now  everywhere  visible,  even 
before  hostilities  had  actually  commenced. 

Such  is  the  very  cursory  and  imperfect  review  which  the  limits  of 
this  work  permit  us  to  take  of  the  religious  vicissitudes  of  the  United 
States  during  their  colonial  days.  That  period  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  years  was,  comparatively  speaking,  one  of  decline,  and 
even  deadness,  in  the  greater  part  of  Protestant  Europe;  indeed,  the 


206  THE   COLONIAL  ERA.  [BOOK  II. 

latter  part  may  be  regarded  as  having  been  so  universally.  Yet, 
during  the  same  period,  I  feel  very  certain  that  a  minute  examination 
of  the  history  of  the  American  Protestant  churches  would  show,  that 
in  no  other  part  of  Christendom,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  was 
there  a  greater  amount  of  true  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and  of 
practical  godliness,  among  both  ministers  and  their  flocks.  No  doubt 
there  were  long  intervals  of  coldness,  or,  rather,  of  deadness,  as 
to  spiritual  things,  during  which  both  pastors  and  people  became 
too  much  engrossed  with  the  "  cares  of  life."  But,  blessed  be  God, 
He  did  not  abandon  us  forever.  Though  He  visited  our  transgres- 
sions with  a  rod,  and  chastised  us  for  our  sins,  yet  He  remembered 
the  covenant  which  He  made  with  our  fathers,  and  the  Word  of  His 
promise  wherein  He  had  caused  them  to  trust.  And  though  our  un- 
worthiness  and  our  unprofitableness  had  been  great,  He  did  not  cast 
us  away  from  His  sight,  but  deigned  to  hear  us  when  we  called  upon 
Him  in  the  dark  and  gloomy  hour,  and  saved  us  with  a  great  salva- 
tion.    And  this  He  did  because  "  His  mercy  endureth  forever." 


BOOK   III, 

THE    NATIONAL    ERA 


CHAPTER  I. 


EFFECTS    OF   THE   REVOLUTION"    UPON    RELIGION. CHANGES   TO   WHICH 

IT  NECESSARILY   GAVE   RISE. 

From  the  Colonial  we  now  proceed  to  the  National  period  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  twenty-five  years  of  the  national  existence  of  the  States 
were  fraught  with  evil  to  the  cause  of  religion.  First  came  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  which  literally  engrossed  all  men's  minds.  The 
population  of  the  country  at  its  commencement  scarcely,  if  at  all,  ex- 
ceeded three  millions ;  and  for  a  people  so  few  and  so  scattered,  di- 
vided into  thirteen  colonies,  quite  independent,  at  the  outset,  of  each 
other,  having  no  national  treasury,  no  central  government  or  power, 
nothing,  in  short,  to  unite  them  but  one  common  feeling  of  patriotism, 
it  was  a  gigantic  undertaking.  The  war  was  followed  by  a  long  period 
of  prostration.  Connection  with  England  having  been  dissolved,  the 
Colonies  had  to  assume  the  form  of  States,  their  governments  had  to 
be  re-organized,  and  a  general,  or  federal  government,  instituted.  The 
infant  nation,  now  severed  from  the  mother  country,  had  to  begin  an 
existence  of  its  own,  at  the  cost  of  years  of  anxiety  and  agitation. 
Dangers  threatened  it  on  every  side,  and  scarcely  had  the  General 
Government  been  organized,  and  the  States  learned  to  know  their 
places  a  little  in  the  federal  economy,  when  the  French  Revolution 
burst  forth  like  a  volcano,  and  threatened  to  sweep  the  United  States 
into  its  fiery  stream.  In  the  end  it  led  them  to  declare  war  against 
France  for  their  national  honor,  or,  rather,  for  their  national  exist- 
ence. That  war  was  happily  brought  to  an  end  by  Napoleon,  on  his 
becoming  First  Consul,  and  thus  was  the  infant  country  allowed  to 
enjoy  a  little  longer  repose,  as  far  as  depended  on  foreign  nations. 

Unfavorable  to  the  promotion  of  religion  as  were  the  whole  twenty- 


208  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

five  years  from  1775  to  1800,  the  first  eight  spent  in  hostilities  with 
England  were  pre-eminently  so.  The  effects  of  war  on  the  churches 
of  all  communions  were  extensively  and  variously  disastrous.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  distraction  of  the  mind  from  the  subject  of  salva- 
tion, its  more  palpable  influences  were  seen  and  felt  everywhere. 
Young  men  were  called  away  from  the  seclusion  and  protection  of 
the  parental  roof,  and  from  the  vicinity  of  the  oracle  of  God,  to  the 
demoralizing  atmosphere  of  a  camp ;  congregations  were  sometimes 
entirely  broken  up ;  churches  were  burned,  or  converted  into  bar- 
racks or  hospitals,  by  one  or  other  of  the  belligerent  armies,  often  by 
both  successively ;  in  more  than  one  instance  pastors  were  murdered ; 
the  usual  ministerial  intercourse  was  interrupted ;  efforts  for  the  dis- 
semination of  the  Gospel  were,  in  a  great  measure,  suspended ;  col- 
leges and  other  seminaries  of  learning  were  closed  for  want  of 
students  and  professors ;  and  the  public  morals  in  various  respects, 
and  in  almost  all  possible  ways,  deteriorated.  Christianity  is  a  religion 
of  peace,  and  the  tempest  of  war  never  fails  to  blast  and  scatter  the 
leaves  of  the  Tree  which  was  planted  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 

A  single  passage  from  a  letter,  written  by  a  distinguished  and  most 
excellent  German  clergyman,*  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the 
state  of  things  during  that  war.  It  was  written  not  long  after  its 
commencement.  The  perusal  of  it  can  not  fail  to  impress  the  mind 
of  every  Christian  with  the  duty  of  praying  that  the  peace  which 
now  so  happily  exists  between  the  United  States  and  other  nations 
may  evermore  continue : 

"Throughout  the  whole  country  great  preparations  are  making 
for  the  war,  and  almost  every  person  is  under  arms.  The  ardor  man- 
ifested in  these  melancholy  circumstances  is  indescribable.  If  a 
hundred  men  are  required,  many  more  immediately  offer,  and  are 
dissatisfied  when  they  are  not  accepted.  I  know  of  no  similar  case 
in  history.  Neighborhoods,  concerning  which  it  would  have  been 
expected  that  years  would  be  requisite  to  induce  them  voluntarily  to 
take  up  arms,  became  strongly  inclined  for  war  as  soon  as  the  battle 
of  Lexington  was  known.  Quakers  and  Mennonists  take  part  in  the 
military  exercises,  and  in  great  numbers  renounce  their  former  relig- 
ious principles.  The  hoarse  din  of  war  is  hourly  heard  in  our 
streets.  The  present  disturbances  inflict  no  small  injury  on  religion. 
Every  body  is  constantly  on  the  alert,  anxious,  like  the  ancient  Athe- 
nians, to  hear  the  news,  and,  amid  the  mass  of  news,  the  hearts  of 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Helmuth,  formerly  pastor  in  Philadelphia.  The  letter  from  which 
the  extract  given  in  the  text  is  taken,  is  found  in  the  "Hallische  Nachrichten,"  p. 
1367-68,  and  quoted  by  Professor  Schmucker  in  his  u  Retrospect  of  Lutheranism  in 
the  United  States." 


CHAP.  I.]         EFFECTS    OF   THE   REVOLUTION   UPON   RELIGION.  209 

men  are,  alas !  closed  against  the  good  Word  of  God.  The  Lord  is 
chastising  the  people,  but  they  do  not  feel  it.  Those  who  appear  to 
be  distant  from  danger  are  unconcerned ;  and  those  whom  calamity 
has  overtaken  are  enraged,  and  meditating  vengeance.  In  the  Amer- 
ican army  there  are  many  clergymen,  who  serve  both  as  chaplains 
and  as  officers.  I  myself  know  two,  one  of  whom  is  a  colonel,  and 
the  other  a  captain.  The  whole  country  is  in  perfect  enthusiasm  for 
liberty.  The  whole  population,  from  New  England  to  Georgia,  is  of 
one  mind,  and  determined  to  risk  life  and  all  things  in  defence  of 
liberty.  The  few  who  think  differently  are  not  permitted  to  utter 
their  sentiments.  In  Philadelphia  the  English  and  German  students 
are  formed  into  military  companies,  wear  uniforms,  and  are  exercised 
like  regular  troops.  Would  to  God  that  men  would  become  as  zeal- 
ous and  unanimous  in  asserting  their  spiritual  liberty,  as  they  are  in 
vindicating  their  political  freedom."    \^ 

It  required  some  time  for  the  churches  to  recover  from  the  demor- 
alizing effects  of  a  war  which  had  drawn  the  whole  nation  into  its  cir- 
cle, and  lasted  eight  long  years.  But  the  times  immediately  following 
the  Revolution  were,  as  I  have  remarked,  far  from  being  favorable  to 
the  resuscitation  of  true  religion,  and  to  the  restoration  of  the  churches, 
even  to  the  condition,  unsatisfactory  as  it  was,  in  which  they  had  stood 
previously  to  the  contest.  Through  God's  blessing,  however,  they  not 
only  shared  in  the  returning  tranquillity  of  the  country,  but  from 
that  time  to  this,  with  some  short  periods  of  interruption,  they  have 
steadily  grown  with  its  growth  and  strengthened  with  its  strength. 

It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  what  was  the  exact  number  of  ministers 
and  churches  in  the  United  States  when  these  became  severed  from 
England,  but  the  following  estimate  can  not  be  very  wide  of  the 
truth.  The  Episcopal  clergymen  may  be  reckoned  at  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  at  most ;  the  churches  at  about  three  hundred.*  In 
1788,  the  Presbyterians  had  exactly  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
ministers,  and  four  hundred  and  seventeen  congregations. f  As  the 
Lutherans  had  eleven  ministers  in  1748,  and  forty  churches  three 
years  after,  the  former  could  hardly  have  exceeded  twenty-five,  and 
the  latter  sixty,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution — -judging  by 
the  statistics  of  the  directory  for  worship  (Kirchenagende),  published 
in  1786. J  The  German  Reformed  churches  were  not  more  numerous. 
The  Reformed  Dutch  churches  had  thirty  ministers  and  eighty-two 

*  The  number  of  the  clergy  and  churches  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  given  in  the 
text,  has  been  estimated  from  various  historical  sketches  and  documents. 

f  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,"  by  Dr.  Hodge,  part 
ii.,  p.  504. 

\  Dr.  Schmucker's  "  Retrospect  of  Lutheranism  in  the  United  States." 

14 


210 


THE  NATIONAL   ERA. 


[BOOK  III. 


congregations  in  1784.*  In  1776,  the  Associate  Church  had  thirteen 
ministers,  and  perhaps  twenty  churches.  The  Moravians  had  proba- 
bly twelve  ministers  and  six  or  eight  churches.  The  New  England 
Congregationalists  could  not,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, have  had  above  seven  hundred  churches  and  five  hundred  and 
seventy-five  pastors.  The  Baptists,  in  1784,  had  four  hundred  and 
twenty-four  ministers,  and  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  churches 
or  congregations. f  The  Methodists,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
did  not  exist  as  a  body  distinct  from  the  Established  Episcopal 
Church,  and  had  no  ordained  ministers.  As  for  the  Roman  Catholics, 
according  to  Bishop  England's  estimate,  their  priests  did  not  exceed 
twenty-six  in  number  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution  commenced, 
but  their  congregations  were  at  least  twice  as  numerous.J 

These  statements,  though  far  from  precise,  are  from  the  best 
sources,  and  suffice  to  give  a  tolerably  correct  view  of  the  numbers 
of  the  clergy  and  churches  at  the  commencement  of  the  national 
existence  of  the  country,  and  for  the  first  ten  years  after  the  breaking 
out  of  hostilities  with  England. 

From  the  best  estimate  I  can  make,  it  seems  very  certain  that  in 
1775  the  total  number  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  United  States 
did  not  exceed  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  nor  the  congregations 
nineteen  hundred  and  forty.  Indeed,  I  am  convinced  that  this  is 
rather  too  large  an  estimate.§     The  population  of  the  thirteen  col- 

*  See  the  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  another  part  of  this 
work. 

f  View  of  the  Baptist  churches  in  America,  given  in  the  "American  Quarterly 
Register,"  vols.  xiii.  and  xiv. 

\  Letter  from  Bishop  England,  of  Charleston,  to  the  Central  Council  of  the  Society 

for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  at  Lyons,  published  in  the  " '•Annates  de  la  Pronator 

tion  de  la  Foi"  for  the  month  of  May,  1838,  vol.  x. 

§  The  most  exact  approximation  which  I  make  is  as  follows : 

Ministers.        Churches. 
Episcopalians . 

Baptists  . 

Congregationalists* 

Presbyterians 

Lutherans 

German  Reformed 

Reformed  Dutch 

Associate 

Moravians 

•  Roman  Catholics 

Total 

*  The  number  of  Congregational  ministers  in  New  England  (and  there  were  few  or  none  in  other 
parts  of  the  country)  was  estimated  by  Dr.  Stiles  to  be,  in  1760,  five  hundred  and  thirty ;  in  the 
fifteen  years  which  followed  they  probably  increased  to  five  hundred  and  seventy-five,  as  given  in 
the  text. 


250 

300 

350 

380 

575 

TOO 

140 

300 

25 

60 

25 

60 

25 

60 

13 

20 

12 

8 

26 

52 

1.441 


1,940 


CHAP.  II.]  CHURCH   AND   STATE,    WHEN   DISSOLVED.  211 

onies  at  that  epoch  did  not  exceed  three  millions,  of  whom  about 
five  hundred  thousand  were  slaves. 

If  we  assume  the  number  of  ministers  to  have  been  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  forty-one,  and  the  population  three  millions,  in  1775,  then 
we  have  one  minister  of  the  Gospel,  on  an  average,  for  nearly  two 
thousand  and  eighty-two  souls,  which,  I  apprehend,  is  not  far  from 
the  exact  truth. 

At  that  epoch  there  was  no  bishop  in  either  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal or  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  There  were  nine  colleges  and 
two  medical  schools,  but  no  schools  of  law  or  theology. 

The  changes  that  took  place  in  the  general  and  local  government 
of  the  thirteen  original  colonies,  on  their  achieving  their  independ- 
ence, have  been  already  noticed.  Religion,  as  well  as  every  other 
interest,  shared  in  the  change  of  relations  that  ensued.  Henceforth 
it  was  with  Congress  and  the  State  Legislatures,  or,  rather,  with  the 
National  and  State  Governments,  that  the  churches  had  to  do,  so  far 
as  they  had  any  political  relations  to  sustain  at  all. 

It  will  be  my  object  in  this  book  to  point  out  the  changes  that 
took  place  in  the  relations  of  the  churches  to  the  civil  power,  and  to 
show  their  actual  position  with  regard  to  it  at  the  present  moment. 
This  I  will  try  to  do  with  all  the  brevity  consistent  with  a  lucid  treat- 
ment of  the  subject.  We  have  now  to  see  by  what  means  that  union 
of  Church  and  State,  which  connected  the  Congregational  churches 
in  the  North  and  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Middle  and  South, 
with  the  civil  government,  was  dissolved ;  what  were  the  results  of 
that  dissolution ;  and  what  the  position  in  which  the  churches  now 
stand  to  the  civil  power,  whether  as  represented  by  the  General 
Government  or  by  the  individual  States. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHUECH  AND  STATE  NOT  EFFECTED 
BT  THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT,  NOR  DID  IT  TAKE  PLACE  IMME- 
DIATELY. 

More  than  one  erroneous  idea  prevails,  I  apprehend,  in  Europe, 
with  respect  to  the  dissolution  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in 
the  United  States.  First,  many  seem  to  think  that  it  was  a  natural 
and  inevitable  result  of  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother 
country,  and  of  the  independent  position  which  they  had  assumed. 
But  that  union  connected  the  established  churches  of  America,  not 


212  THE   NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

with  the  mother  country,  but  with  the  colonial  governments ;  so  that, 
when  the  colonies  became  States,  the  alliance  that  had  subsisted  be- 
tween them  and  certain  churches  was  not  necessarily  affected.  These 
churches,  in  fact,  remained,  as  before,  part  and  parcel  of  the  States, 
and  upon  these  they  continued  to  be  as  dependent  as  ever.  They 
never  had  any  ties  with  England,  beyond  falling  incidentally,  as  did 
the  colonies  themselves,  under  the  operation  of  English  laws. 

Again,  many  imagine  that  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  Amer- 
ic  awas  dissolved  by  an  act  of  Congress ;  that  is,  by  an  act  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government.  But  this  was  not  the  case.  An  article  of  the 
Constitution,  it  is  true,  restrains  Congress  from  establishing  any  par- 
ticular religion :  but  this  restriction  is  not  in  the  original  draught  of 
the  Constitution ;  it  forms  one  of  certain  amendments  adopted  soon 
after,  and  runs  as  follows  :  "  Congress  shall  make  no  laws  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 
That  is  to  say,  the  General  Government  shall  not  make  any  law  for 
the  support  of  any  particular  church,  or  of  all  the  churches.  But 
neither  this,  nor  any  other  article  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  prohibits  individual  States  from  making  such  laws.  The  Con- 
stitution simply  declares  what  shall  be  the  powers  of  the  General 
Government,  leaving  to  the  State  governments  such  powers  as  it 
does  not  give  to  the  General  Government.  This,  in  reference  to  the 
subject  in  hand,  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that  "the  establishment  of 
religion,"  as  we  shall  presently  see,  survived  for  many  years,  in  some 
States,  their  acceptance  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Lastly,  many  persons  in  Europe  seem  to  be  under  the  impression 
that  the  union  of  Church  and  State  was  annihilated  at  the  Revolu- 
tion, or,  at  all  events,  ceased  upon  the  organization  of  the  State  gov- 
ernments being  completed.  This,  however,  was  not  so  in  all  cases. 
The  connection  between  the  civil  power  in  all  the  States  in  which 
Episcopacy  had  been  established  in  the  colonial  period  was  dissolved, 
very  soon  after  the  Revolution,  by  acts  of  their  respective  Legis- 
latures. But  the  Congregational  Church  in  New  England  continued 
to  be  united  with  the  State,  and  to  be  supported  by  it,  long  after  the 
Revolution.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  1833  that  the  last  tie  that  bound 
the  Church  to  the  State  in  Massachusetts  was  severed. 


CHAP,  in.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.        213 

CHAPTER  III. 

DISSOLUTION    OF  THE   UNION    OF    CHURCH    AND    STATE   IN    AMERICA. 

WHEN   AND    HOW   EFFECTED. 

The  first  State  that  dissolved  its  connection  with  the  Church  was 
Virginia,  a  circumstance  that  seems  surprising  at  first  sight,  inasmuch 
as  its  early  colonists  were  all  sincere  friends  of  its  Established  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  for  a  long  period  were  joined  by  few  persons  of 
different  sentiments.  Indeed,  for  more  than  a  century,  dissent  was 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  allowed  to  exist  within  the  commonwealth,  even  in 
the  most  secret  manner. 

Two  causes,  however,  concurred  in  producing  an  alteration  of  these 
feelings  toward  the  Established  Church.  First,  many  whose  attach- 
ment to  it  had  been  owing  to  their  birth,  education,  and  early  pre- 
possessions, became  disgusted  with  the  irreligious  lives  of  many  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  greediness  with  which,  notwithstanding  that  most  of 
their  time  was  spent  in  fox-hunting  and  other  sports,  in  company 
with  the  most  dissolute  of  their  parishioners,  they  were  ready  to  con- 
tend for  the  last  pound  of  tobacco  allowed  them  as  their  legal  salary. 
Such,  indeed,  was  the  character  of  those  clergymen,  that  any  one  who 
makes  himself  minutely  acquainted  with  their  doings,  must  feel 
amazed  that  the  Church  which  they  dishonored  should  have  retained 
its  hold  upon  the  respect  of  the  Virginian  colonists  as  long  as  it  did. 
What  attachment  to  it  remained,  must  be  ascribed  to  its  having  at  all 
times  had  some  faithful  and  excellent  ministers  who  mourned  over 
these  scandals,  and  by  their  personal  worth  redeemed  in  some  meas- 
ure the  body  to  which  they  belonged  from  the  infamy  brought  upon 
it  by  their  reprobate  fellow-clergymen,  or  "  parsons,"  as  they  were 
oftener  called.  These  exceptions,  however,  did  not  prevent  multi- 
tudes from  abandoning  the  Church  of  their  fathers,  around  which 
their  earliest  and  tenderest  associations  still  clustered.  "  Had  the 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel,"  says  one  who  became  an  honored  instrument 
of  much  good  in  Virginia,  and  who  was  probably  the  most  eloquent 
preacher  of  his  day  in  America,  "  been  solemnly  and  faithfully 
preached  of  the  Established  Church,  I  am  persuaded  there  would 
have  been  but  few  Dissenters  in  these  parts  of  Virginia ;  for  their 
first  objections  were  not  against  the  peculiar  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
that  Church,  much  less  against  her  excellent  articles,  but  against  the 
general  strain  of  the  doctrines  delivered  from  the  pulpit,  in  which 
those  articles  were  opposed,  or  (which  was  more  common)  not  men- 
tioned at  all;  so  that,  at  first,  they  were  not  properly  dissenters 


214  THE '  NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

from  the  original  constitution  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  the 
most  strict  adherents  of  it,  and  only  dissented  from  those  who  had 
forsaken  it."* 

Prior  to  1740,  there  was  only  one  Presbyterian  congregation,  it  is 
believed,  in  eastern  Virginia,  though  the  Scotch  and  Irish  emigrants 
from  Pennsylvania  must  have  introduced  several  into  the  Valley.f 
There  were  also  a  few  Quaker  societies,  some  small  German  congre- 
gations, and  a  considerable  number  of  Baptist  churches,  which, 
though  small  and  scattered,  embraced,  perhaps,  a  larger  number  of 
persons  upon  the  whole,  than  all  the  other  dissenting  bodies  put  to- 
gether. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  Mr.  Samuel  Morris,  a  layman,  who 
had  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  salvation  by  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  by  the  perusal  of  Flavel's  works,  and  Luther  on  the 
Galatians,  began  to  invite  his  neighbors,  who,  like  himself,  had  been 
living  in  great  ignorance  of  the  Gospel,  to  come  to  his  house  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  hear  him  read  his  favorite  authors.  Such  were  the 
crowds  that  attended,  that  a  house  had  soon  to  be  built  of  size  suf- 
ficient to  contain  them.  To  Flavel  and  Luther  there  was  added  a 
volume  of  Whitfield's  sermons,  as  furnishing  spiritual  food  for  these 
hungry  souls.  They  were  visited  in  1743  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rob- 
inson, a  Presbyterian  sent  from  New  Jersey  on  a  missionary  tour  to 
the  South.  His  preaching  was  greatly  blessed  to  "  the  Readers."! 
He  taught  them  to  conduct  their  worship  in  the  Presbyterian  way, 
and  was  followed  by  other  ministers  of  the  same  denomination. 
Though  they  were  often  fined  for  not  attending  the  services  of  the 
Established  Church,  these  simple-hearted  and  excellent  people  con- 
tinued their  meetings.  In  1747,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davies,  mentioned 
above,  was  sent  to  them  by  the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  in  Dela- 
ware ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  some  months  spent  on  a  visit  to 
England,  he  labored  among  them  until  1759,  when  he  was  chosen 
President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.     He  succeeded  in  building 

*  The  Key.  Samuel  Davies,  in  his  "  Narrative  on  the  State  of  Religion  among  Dis- 
senters in  Virginia." 

f  The  "Valley  of  Virginia"  is  a  fine  district  of  country  which  lies  west  of  the  first 
ridge  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  and  between  that  ridge  and  others  which  lie  still 
further  to  the  west.  It  reaches  quite  across  the  State,  from  north-east  to  south-west, 
and  is  considered  the  best  part  of  it  for  fertility  of  soil.  It  is  a  part  of  the  same  val- 
ley which  extends  across  Maryland  into  Pennsylvania.  In  the  latter  State  it  is  called 
Cumberland  Valley. 

X  A  counterpart  to  these  worthy  inquirers  after  Divine  knowledge  is  found  at  the 
present  day  in  the  northern  parts  of  Sweden  and  in  Norway,  where  groups  of  persons 
meet  on  the  Sabbath  after  church  service,  which  in  too  many  cases  furnishes  but 
poor  spiritual  nourishment,  to  read  the  Bible  and  other  good  books. 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.        215 

up  seven  churches,  and  from  that  time  Presbyterianism  made  very 
considerable  progress  in  eastern  Virginia ;  so  that  when  the  war  of 
the  Revolution  began,  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  in  that  colony  was 
a  numerous  body,  and  comprehended  some  very  able  and  eloquent 
ministers.  The  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterians  were  at  the  same  time 
increasing  in  the  western  part  of  the  province.  The  Baptist  congre- 
gations increased  even  more  rapidly.  Still,  it  was  not  always  easy  to 
avoid  suffering  from  the  interference  of  the  civil  authorities.  The 
Act  of  Toleration,  passed  in  England  on  the  28th  of  June,  1687,  ex- 
tended unquestionably  to  the  colonies,  yet  not  a  few  obstacles  con- 
tinued to  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  "  dissenters,"  almost  down  to  the 
opening  scene  of  the  Revolutionary  drama. 

When  the  Revolution  came  at  last,  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians 
were,  almost  to  a  man,  in  its  favor ;  and  many  of  these,  but  es- 
pecially of  the  former,  whose  preachers  had  suffered  by  far  the  most 
from  the  civil  authorities  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  century,  at  the 
instigation,  as  they  believed,  whether  justly  or  unjustly,  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Established  Church,  were  not  a  little  influenced  in  the  course 
they  then  adopted  by  the  hope  of  seeing  the  success  of  the  Revolu- 
tion lead  to  the  overthrow  of  an  establishment  which  they  regarded 
with  feelings  of  repugnance,  and  even  of  hostility.  In  these  circum- 
stances, it  was  to  be  expected  that  before  the  Revolution  had  made 
much  progress,  an  assault  would  be  made  on  the  Established  Church ; 
such  an  assault  was  made,  and  not  without  success. 

As  the  history  of  this  matter  is  not  a  little  interesting,  and  almost 
quite  unknown  in  Europe,  I  may  enter  upon  it  at  some  length. 

A  very  general  impression  prevails  in  England,  and  perhaps  else- 
where, that  the  entire  separation  of  .Church  and  State  in  America 
was  the  work  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  third  President  of  the  United 
States,  who  took  a  distinguished  part  in  the  struggle,  and  who,  upon 
being  charged  with  drawing  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
executed  the  task  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
Now  none  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  admirers  will  consider  it  slanderous  to 
assert  that  he  was  a  very  bitter  enemy  to  Christianity,  and  we  may 
even  assume  that  he  wished  to  see  not  only  the  Episcopal  Church 
separated  from  the  State  in  Virginia,  but  the  utter  overthrow  of 
every  thing  in  the  shape  of  a  church  throughout  the  country.  Still, 
it  was  not  Jefferson  that  induced  the  State  of  Virginia  to  pass  the 
Act  of  Separation.  That  must  be  ascribed  to  the  petitions  and  other 
efforts  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Baptists. 

No  sooner  was  war  declared,  than  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  the  highest  ecclesiastical  body  among  the  Presbyterians 
of  America  at  that  time,  addressed  to  their  churches  a  very  judicious 


216  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

and  patriotic  letter,  which,  while  it  displayed  a  firm  spirit  of  loyalty 
toward  the  government  of  England,  evidently  and  naturally  sympa- 
thized with  the  contest  then  begun — a  contest  which  it  was  thought 
could  not  be  abandoned  without  the  sacrifice  of  their  dearest  rights. 
Few  persons  sivpposed  at  that  time  that  the  struggle  was  to  end  in  a 
separation  from  the  mother  country.  But  when,  in  the  following 
year,  the  Congress  issued  its  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  whole 
face  of  matters  was  changed,  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  had  to 
make  their  election — whether  they  would  recognize  and  obey  the  act 
of  the  Congress,  or  still  adhere  to  the  sovereignty  of  England.  Then 
it  was  that  the  first  body  of  clergy  of  any  denomination  in  America 
that  openly  recognized  that  act,  and  thereby  identified  themselves 
with  the  cause  of  freedom  and  independence,  was  the  comparatively 
numerous  and  very  influential  Presbytery  of  Hanover  in  Virginia. 
At  its  first  meeting  after  the  appearance  of  the  Declaration,  that 
body  addressed  the  Virginia  House  of  Assembly  in  a  memorial,  re- 
commending the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  and  the  leaving  of 
the  support  of  the  Gospel  to  the  voluntary  efforts  of  its  friends.  The 
memorial  runs  as  follows  : 

"To  the  Honorable  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia.  The 
memorial  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  humbly  represents :  That 
your  memorialists  are  governed  by  the  same  sentiments  which  have 
inspired  the  United  States  of  America,  and  are  determined  that  noth- 
ing in  our  power  and  influence  shall  be  wanting  to  give  success  to 
their  common  cause.  We  would  also  represent  that  dissenters  from 
the  Church  of  England  in  this  country  have  ever  been  desirous  to 
conduct  themselves  as  peaceable  members  of  the  civil  government, 
for  which  reason  they  have  hitherto  submitted  to  various  ecclesiasti- 
cal burdens  and  restrictions  that  are  inconsistent  with  equal  liberty. 
But  now,  when  the  many  and  grievous  oppressions  of  our  mother 
country  have  laid  this  Continent  under  the  necessity  of  casting  off 
the  yoke  of  tyranny,  and  of  forming  independent  governments  upon 
equitable  and  liberal  foundations,  we  flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall 
be  freed  from  all  the  incumbrances  which  a  spirit  of  domination, 
prejudice,  or  bigotry  has  interwoven  with  most  other  political  sys- 
tems. This  we  are  the  more  strongly  encouraged  to  expect  by  the 
Declaration  of  Rights,  so  universally  applauded  for  that  dignity, 
firmness,  and  precision  with  which  it  delineates  and  asserts  the  priv- 
ileges of  society,  and  the  prerogatives  of  human  nature  ;  and  which 
we  embrace  as  the  Magna  Charta  of  our  commonwealth,  that  can 
never  be  violated  without  endangering  the  grand  superstructure  it 
was  designed  to  sustain.  Therefore,  we  rely  upon  this  Declaration, 
as  well  as  the  justice  of  our  honorable  Legislature,  to  secure  us  the 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHUECH  AND  STATE.        217 

free  exercise  of  religion  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  consciences; 
and  we  should  fall  short  in  our  duty  to  ourselves,  and  the  many  and 
numerous  congregations  under  our  care,  were  we,  upon  this  occasion, 
to  neglect  laying  before  you  a  statement  of  the  religious  grievances 
under  which  we  have  hitherto  labored,  that  they  may  no  longer  be 
continued  in  our  present  form  of  government. 

"It  is  well  known  that  in  the  frontier  counties,  which  are  justly 
supposed  to  contain  a  fifth  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Virginia,  the 
Dissenters  have  borne  the  heavy  burdens  of  purchasing  glebes,  build- 
ing churches,  and  supporting  the  established  clergy,  where  there  are 
very  few  Episcopalians,  either  to  assist  in  bearing  the  expense,  or  to 
reap  the  advantage ;  and  that  throughout  the  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try there  are  also  many  thousands  of  zealous  friends  and  defenders  of 
our  State,  who,  besides  the  invidious  and  disadvantageous  restrictions 
to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  annually  pay  large  taxes  to  sup- 
port an  Establishment  from  which  their  consciences  and  principles 
oblige  them  to  dissent ;  all  which  are  confessedly  so  many  violations 
of  their  natural  rights,  and,  in  their  consequences,  a  restraint  upon 
freedom  of  inquiry  and  private  judgment. 

"  In  this  enlightened  age,  and  in  a  land  where  all  of  every  denom- 
ination are  united  in  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  be  free,  we  hope 
and  expect  that  our  representatives  will  cheerfully  concur  in  removing 
every  species  of  religious  as  well  as  civil  bondage.  Certain  it  is,  that 
every  argument  for  civil  liberty  gains  additional  strength  when  applied 
to  liberty  in  the  concerns  of  religion ;  and  there  is  no  argument  in 
favor  of  establishing  the  Christian  religion  but  may  be  pleaded,  with 
equal  propriety,  for  establishing  the  tenets  of  Mohammed  by  those 
who  believe  the  Koran ;  or,  if  this  be  not  true,  it  is  at  least  impossible 
for  the  magistrate  to  adjudge  the  right  of  preference  among  the  vari- 
ous sects  that  profess  the  Christian  faith,  without  erecting  a  claim  to 
infallibility,  which  would  lead  us  back  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

"  We  beg  leave  further  to  represent,  that  religious  establishments 
are  highly  injurious  to  the  temporal  interests  of  any  community. 
Without  insisting  upon  the  ambition  and  the  arbitrary  practices  of  those 
who  are  favored  by  government,  or  the  intriguing,  seditious  spirit 
which  is  commonly  excited  by  this,  as  well  as  by  every  other  kind  of 
oppression,  such  establishments  greatly  retard  population,  and,  con- 
sequently, the  progress  of  arts,  sciences,  and  manufactures.  Witness 
the  rapid  growth  and  improvement  of  the  Northern  provinces  com- 
pared with  this.  No  one  can  deny  that  the  more  early  settlement, 
and  the  many  superior  advantages  of  our  country,  would  have  invited 
multitudes  of  artificers,  mechanics,  and  other  useful  members  of 
society,  to  fix  their  habitation  among  us,  who  have  either  remained 


218  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

in  their  place  of  nativity,  or  preferred  worse  civil  governments,  and  a 
more  barren  soil,  where  they  might  enjoy  the  rights  of  conscience 
more  fully  than  they  had  a  prospect  of  doing  in  this.  From  which 
we  infer  that  Virginia  might  have  now  been  the  capital  of  America, 
and  a  match  for  the  British  arms,  without  depending  on  others  for  the 
necessaries  of  war,  had  it  not  been  prevented  by  her  religious  estab- 
lishments. 

"  Neither  can  it  be  made  to  appear  that  the  Gospel  needs  any  such 
civil  aid.  "We  rather  conceive  that,  when  our  blessed  Saviour  de- 
clares His  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  He  renounces  all  dependence 
upon  State  power,  and  as  His  weapons  are  spiritual,  and  were  only 
designed  to  have  influence  on  the  judgment  and  heart  of  man,  we  are 
persuaded  that  if  mankind  were  left  in  the  quiet  possession  of  their 
inalienable  religious  privileges,  Christianity,  as  in  .the  days  of  the 
Apostles,  would  continue  to  prevail  and  flourish  in  the  greatest  purity 
by  its  own  native  excellence,  and  under  the  all-disposing  Providence 
of  God. 

"  We  would  also  humbly  represent,  that  the  only  proper  objects 
of  civil  government  are  the  happiness  and  protection  of  men  in  the 
present  state  of  existence ;  the  security  of  the  life,  liberty,  and  prop- 
erty of  the  citizen,  and  to  restrain  the  vicious  and  encourage  the 
virtuous  by  wholesome  laws,  equally  extending  to  every  individual ; 
but  that  the  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  Creator,  and  the  manner  of 
discharging  it,  can  only  be  directed  by  reason  and  conviction,  and  is 
nowhere  cognizable  but  at  the  tribunal  of  the  universal  Judge. 

"  Therefore,  we  ask  no  ecclesiastical  establishments  for  ourselves ; 
neither  can  we  approve  of  them  when  granted  to  others.  This,  in- 
deed, would  be  giving  exclusive  or  separate  emoluments  or  privileges 
to  one  set  of  men,  without  any  special  public  services,  to  the  common 
reproach  and  injury  of  every  other  denomination.  And,  for  the  reasons 
recited,  we  are  induced  earnestly  to  entreat  that  all  laws  now  in  force 
in  this  commonwealth,  which  countenance  religious  domination,  may 
be  speedily  repealed ;  that  all,  of  every  religious  sect,  may  be  pro- 
tected in  the  full  exercise  of  their  several  modes  of  worship ;  exempted 
from  all  taxes  for  the  support  of  any  Church  whatsoever,  further  than 
what  may  be  agreeable  to  their  own  private  choice  or  voluntary  ob- 
ligation. This  being  done,  all  partial  and  invidious  distinctions  will 
be  abolished,  to  the  great  honor  and  interest  of  the  State,  and  every 
one  be  left  to  stand  or  fall  according  to  his  merit,  which  can  never  be 
the  case  so  long  as  any  one  denomination  is  established  in  preference 
to  others. 

"  That  the  great  Sovereign  of  the  universe  may  inspire  you  with 
unanimity,  wisdom,  and  resolution,  and  bring  you  to  a  just  determina- 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.        219 

tion  on  all  the  important  concerns  before  yon,  is  the  fervent  prayer 
of  your  memorialists." 

Besides  this  petition  from  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  there  were 
others  from  the  Baptists  and  Quakers.  The  Baptists  had  suffered 
more  than  any  other  class  of  dissenters,  and  the  remembrance  of  their 
wrongs,  now  that  their  day  of  power  had  come,  stimulated  them  to 
an  uninterrupted  opposition  of  seven-and-twenty  years  to  the  Estab- 
lished Church.  Indeed,  they  now  took  the  lead  in  opposing  its  claims. 
In  1775  they  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  an  address,  composed 
by  members  who  had  spontaneously  convened,  in  which  they  peti- 
tioned, "  that  they  might  be  allowed  to  worship  God  in  their  own 
way,  without  interruption ;  to  maintain  their  own  ministers,  separate 
from  others ;  and  to  be  married,  buried,  etc.,  without  paying  the 
clergy  of  other  denominations."*  To  this  the  Assembly  returned  a 
complimentary  answer,  and  an  order  was  made  that  the  sectarian 
clergy  should  have  the  privilege  of  performing  Divine  service  to  their 
respective  adherents  in  the  army,  equally  with  the  regular  chaplains 
of  the  Established  Church.f 

The  above  memorial  from  the  Presbyterians,  and  petitions  from  the 
Baptists,  Quakers,  and  others  opposed  to  the  Established  Church,  were 
met  by  counter-memorials  from  the  Episcopalians  and  Methodists,  ap- 
pealing on  behalf  of  the  Establishment  to  the  principles  of  justice, 
wisdom,  and  policy.  Public  faith,  it  was  said,  required  that  the  State 
should  abide  by  its  engagements ;  and  that  a  system  of  such  old  stand- 
ing, and  which  involved  so  many  interests  on  the  part  of  persons  who 
had  staked  their  all  upon  its  continued  existence,  possessed  the  nature 
of  a  vested  right,  and  ought  to  be  maintained  inviolate.  The  wisdom 
of  this  course  was  argued  from  the  past  experience  of  all  Christian 
lands,!  and  from  the  influence  of  religious  establishments  in  giving 
stability  to  virtue  and  the  public  happiness.  Policy  required  it,  for  it 
was  insisted  that,  were  there  to  be  no  establishment,  the  peace  of  the 
community  would  be  destroyed  by  the  jealousies  and  contentions  of 
rival  sects.  And,  finally,  the  memorials  prayed  that  the  matter  might 
be  referred,  in  the  last  resort,  to  the  people  at  large,  as  they  had  the 
best  of  reasons  for  believing  that  a  majority  of  the  citizens  would  be 
in  favor  of  continuing  the  Establishment. 

From  this  it  would  seem  that,  in  the  conviction  of  these  memorial- 
ists, a  majority  of  the  population  of  Virginia  were  Episcopalians;  yet 
it  was  confidently  maintained  in  other  quarters  that  two  thirds  of  the 

*  Semple's  ''History  of  the  Baptists  in  Virginia,"  pp.  25-2*7,  62. 
f  Burke's  "History  of  Virginia, "p.  59. 

\  This  was  not  difficult,  for  Church  establishments  had  existed  throughout  Christen- 
dom since  the  days  of  Constantine. 


220  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

people  were  at  that  time  Dissenters.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the 
greater  part  professed,  or  favored  Episcopacy,  but  that  a  decided  major- 
ity were  opposed  to  its  civil  establishment.  The  memorials  led  to  a  long 
and  earnest  discussion.  The  Episcopal  Church  had  for  her  champions 
Messrs.  Pendleton  and  R.  C.  Nicolas,  and  for  her  great  opponent  Mr. 
Jefferson,  who  speaks  of  the  contest  as  the  severest  in  which  he  was 
ever  engaged.*  After  discussing  the  subject  for  nearly  two  months, 
the  Assembly  repealed  all  the  colonial  laws  attaching  criminality  to 
the  profession  of  any  particular  religious  opinions,  requiring  attend- 
ance at  the  parish  churches,  and  forbidding  attendance  elsewhere, 
with  the  penalties  attached  thereto.  Dissenters  were  to  be  exempted 
in  future  from  compulsory  contributions  in  support  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  The  clergy,  however,  were  to  have  their  stipends  continued 
until  the  first  day  in  the  ensuing  year,  and  had  all  arrears  secured  to 
them.  The  churches,  chapels,  glebes,  books,  plate,  etc.,  belonging  to 
the  Episcopal  Church,  were  to  remain  in  her  possession.!  This  law 
was  passed  on  the  5th  of  December,  1776.  The  question  of  having  a 
general  assessment  for  the  support  of  religion  was  at  the  same  time 
discussed,  but  the  determination  of  it  was  put  off  to  a  future  day. 

In  the  course  of  1777  and  1778,  petitions  and  counter-petitions  con- 
tinued to  be  addressed  to  the  Legislature  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
Some  of  the  petitions  prayed  for  the  preservation  of  all  that  remained 
of  the  Establishment ;  others  advocated  a  general  assessment  for  the 
support  of  all  denominations ;  others  opposed  that  suggestion.  Some, 
again,  called  for  the  suppression  by  law  of  the  irregularities  of  the 
"  sectaries,"  such  as  their  holding  meetings  by  night,  and  craved  that 
none  but  "  licensed  preachers"  should  be  allowed  to  conduct  the  public 
worship  of  God.  Among  the  memorials  was  one  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover,  opposing  the  plan  of  a  general  assessment.  After  reverting 
to  the  principles  laid  down  in  their  first  petition,  and  insisting  that 
the  only  proper  objects  of  civil  governments  are  the  happiness  and 
protection  of  men  in  their  present  state  of  existence ;  the  security  of 
the  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  the  citizens ;  the  restraint  of  the 
vicious,  and  the  encouragement  of  the  virtuous,  by  wholesome  laws, 
equally  extending  to  every  individual ;  and  that  the  duty  which  men 
owe  to  their  Creator,  and  the  manner  of  discharging  it,  can  only  be 
directed  by  reason  and  conviction,  and  is  nowhere  cognizable  but  at 
the  tribunal  of  the  universal  Judge,  the  Presbytery  express  themselves 

as  follows : 

"  To  illustrate  and  confirm  these  assertions,  we  beg  leave  to  observe, 
that  to  judge  for  ourselves,  and  to  engage  in  the  exercise  of  religion 

*  Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  32. 

f  Herring's  "  Statutes  of  Virginia,"  p.  34. 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHUECH  AND  STATE.        221 

agreeably  to  the  dictates  of  our  own  consciences,  is  an  inalienable 
right,  which,  upon  the  principles  on  which  the  Gospel  was  first  propa- 
gated, and  the  Reformation  from  Popery  carried  on,  can  never  be 
transferred  to  another.  Neither  does  the  Church  of  Christ  stand  in 
need  of  a  general  assessment  for  its  support ;  and  most  certain  we  are 
that  it  would  be  of  no  advantage,  but  an  injury  to  the  Society  to 
which  we  belong ;  and  as  every  good  Christian  believes  that  Christ 
has  ordained  a  complete  system  of  laws  for  the  government  of  His 
kingdom,  so  we  are  persuaded  that  by  His  providence  He  will  sup- 
port it  to  its  final  consummation.  In  the  fixed  belief  of  this  principle, 
that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  concerns  of  religion  are  beyond 
the  limits  of  civil  control,  we  should  act  a  dishonest,  inconsistent  part, 
were  we  to  receive  any  emoluments  from  human  establishments  for 
the  support  of  the  Gospel. 

"  These  things  being  considered,  we  hope  we  shall  be  excused  for 
remonstrating  against  a  general  assessment  for  any  religious  purpose. 
As  the  maxims  have  long  been  approved,  that  every  servant  is  to  obey 
his  master,  and  that  the  hireling  is  accountable  for  his  conduct  to  him 
from  whom  he  receives  his  wages ;  in  like  manner,  if  the  Legislature 
has  any  rightful  authority  over  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  sacred  office,  and  if  it  is  their  duty  to  levy  a  main- 
tenance for  them  as  such,  then  it  will  follow  that  they  may  revive  the 
old  Establishment  in  its  former  extent,  or  ordain  a  new  one  for  any 
sect  that  they  may  think-  proper  ;  they  are  invested  with  a  power  not 
only  to  determine,  but  it  is  incumbent  on  them  to  declare,  who  shall 
preach,  what  they  shall  preach,  to  whom,  when,  and  in  what  places 
they  shall  preach ;  or  to  impose  any  regulations  and  restrictions  upon 
religious  societies  that  they  may  judge  expedient.  These  conse- 
quences are  so  plain  as  not  to  be  denied,  and  they  are  so  entirely  sub- 
versive of  religious  liberty,  that  if  they  should  take  place  in  Virginia, 
we  should  be  reduced  to  the  melancholy  necessity  of  saying  with  the 
Apostles,  in  like  cases,  '  Judge  ye  whether  it  is  best  to  obey  God  or 
men,'  and  also  of  acting  as  they  acted. 

"  Therefore,  as  it  is  contrary  to  our  principles  and  interest,  and,  as 
we  think,  subversive  of  religious  liberty,  we  do  again  most  earnestly 
entreat  that  our  Legislature  would  never  extend  any  assessment  for 
religious  purposes  to  us,  or  to  the  congregations  under  our  care." 

This  memorial,  and  probably  still  more,  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the 
Baptists,  led,  in  1779,  to  the  abandonment  of  the  proposed  "general 
assessment,"  after  a  bill  to  that  effect  had  been  ordered  to  a  third 

reading. 

With  the  return  of  peace,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  resumed  the 
subject  of  legislating  in  behalf  of  religion ;  and  in  the  sessions  of 


222  THE  RATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

1784  two  important  matters  were  much  debated.  One  was  to  provide 
by  law  for  the  incorporation  of  "  all  societies  of  the  Christian  religion 
which  may  apply  for  the  same;"  the  other  was  the  old  project  of  a 
general  assessment  for  the  support  of  religion.  The  celebrated  Patrick 
Henry*  was  the  great  advocate  of  both  measures.  The  Hanover 
Presbytery  soon  reappeared  upon  the  field,  and  opposed  the  latter  of 
these  proposals,  although  it  would  have  proved  as  favorable  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  as  any  other.  But  on  this  occasion  there  was 
an  evident  wavering  on  the  part  of  the  Presbytery,  probably  owing 
to  an  expectation  that  the  measure  would  be  sure  to  be  adopted,  and 
from  their  desire  to  secure  the  least  injurious  plan  of  giving  it  effect. 
It  has  also  been  alleged  as  one  cause  of  the  temporary  abatement  of 
their  zeal,  that  Mr.  Henry  had  won  over  to  his  opinions  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  B.  Smith,  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  Presbytery.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  that  an  act  to  incorporate  the  churches  passed  by  a  large  vote, 
and  a  bill  in  favor  of  a  general  assessment  passed  two  readings,  was 
ordered  to  be  read  a  third  time,  and  was  then  sent  forth  to  be  sub- 

*  This  gentlemen,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  that  America  has  ever  produced, 
was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  and  Governor,  also,  for 
several  terms.  He  distinguished  himself  in  opposing  the  taxation  of  the  colonies  by 
England  without  their  consent,  and  in  the  course  of  a  very  animated  speech  on  that 
subject  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  said,  in  his  emphatic  manner,  "  Caesar  had  a 
Brutus,  Charles  I.  had  a  Cromwell,  and  George  III." — here  he  was  interrupted  by 
cries  of  "  Treason  1  treason !" — "  and  George  III.,"  he  repeated,  "should  profit  by  their 
example ;  if  this  be  treason,  gentlemen,  you  may  make  the  most  of  it." 

It  has  been  said  that  in  his  younger  days  Mr.  Henry  was  inclined  to  infidelity.  But 
this  is  not  true;  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  Christianity,  and  for  many  years  before  his 
death  a  devout  Christian.  "  He  ever  had  a  great  abhorrence  of  infidelity,"  says  a 
private  letter  from  a  member  of  Mr.  Henry's  family,  given  in  Dr.  Hawks's  "  Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  pp.  160,  161,  "  and  actually  wrote 
an  answer  to  Paine's  'Age  of  Eeason,'  but  destroyed  it  before  his  death.  He  received 
the  communion  as  often  as  an  opportunity  offered ;  and  on  such  occasions  always 
fasted  until  after  he  had  received  the  sacrament,  and  spent  the  day  in  the  greatest 
retirement.     This  he  did  both  while  he  was  Governor  and  afterward." 

The  following  touching  anecdote  is  related  of  him.  "When  very  old,  he  was  induced 
to  be  a  candidate  for  the  House  of  Delegates,  in  a  time  of  great  political  excite- 
ment. "On  the  day  of  the  election,"  says  Mr.  "Wirt,  in  his  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,  p. 
408,  "as  soon  as  he  appeared  on  the  ground,  he  was  surrounded  by  the  admiring  and 
adoring  crowd,  and  whithersoever  he  moved  the  concourse  followed  him.  A  preacher 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  whose  piety  was  wounded  by  this  homage  paid  to  a  mortal, 
asked  the  people  aloud,  why  they  thus  followed  Mr.  Henry.  'Mr.  Henry,'  said  he, 
'is  not  a  god.'  'No,'  said  Mr.  Henry,  deeply  affected,  both  by  the  scene  and  the  re- 
mark :  '  no,  indeed,  my  friend ;  I  am  a  poor  worm  of  the  dust,  as  fleeting  and  as  unsub- 
stantial as  the  shadow  of  the  cloud  that  flies  over  your  fields,  and  is  remembered  no 
more.'  The  tone  with  which  this  was  uttered,  and  the  look  which  accompanied, 
affected  every  heart  and  silenced  every  voice." 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.        223 

mittecl  to  the  people  for  their  opinion  before  being  passed  into  a  law. 
On  the  same  day,  likewise,  on  which  an  act  was  passed  for  the  incor- 
poration of  such  churches  as  might  apply  for  the  same,  leave  was 
granted  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.     Mr.  Henry  introduced  the  bill.     It  had  for  its 
object  the  securing  to  that  Church  all  the  property  that  it  ever  had, 
both  in  those  parishes  which  had  churches  in  use,  and  in  the  still 
greater  number  which  had  no  ministers,  and  not  even  vestries,  and 
where  the  church  edifices  had  become  dilapidated  during  the  war  of 
the  Revolution.   This  bill  was  approved  by  the  Legislature,  and  prom- 
ised permanent  peace  and  protection  to  the  Episcopal  Church.     But 
the  prospect  was  not  of  long  continuance.     The  incorporation  of  the 
Episcopal  clergy  was  strongly  opposed  in  a  memorial  from  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Hanover,  under  the  influence  of  which  the  Legislature  de- 
layed further  proceedings,  in  order  that  public  opinion  might  have 
time  to  express  itself.   Meanwhile,  petitions  against  the  measure  were 
sent  in  from  all  parts  of  Virginia,  signed  by  no  fewer  than  ten  thousand 
persons.     Still,  as  the  Legislature  seemed  disposed  to  pass  the  bill  in 
question,  the  Presbyterian  churches  held  a  convention,  at  which  an- 
other memorial  was  drawn  up,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  Smith,  who 
had  now  become  more  confirmed  in  his  opposition  to  the  contemplated 
measure,  was  appointed  to  accompany  the  presentation  of  the  memo- 
rial with  his  personal  advocacy  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly,  and  was 
heard  there  for  three  successive  days.     This  decided  the  matter :  the 
whole  scheme  was  abandoned. 

Thus,  it  was  mainly  owing  to  the  exertions  of  the  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  and  Quakers,  that  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  Vir- 
ginia was  dissolved,  and  the  scheme  of  a  general  assessment  for  the 
support  of  all  Protestant  denominations  defeated.*  Mr.  Jefferson,  it 
is  true,  when  a  member  of  the  Assembly  hi  1776,  rendered  all  the  aid 
in  his  power,  and  would  have  been  very  well  pleased  to  have  had  such 
parties  to  co-operate  with  him  in  some  other  schemes,  if  he  could. 
But  they,  not  he,  began  the  movement  in  this  case,  and  they  perse- 
vered in  their  endeavors  to  render  the  churches  altogether  independ- 
ent of  the  civil  power,  and  to  have  all  placed  precisely  on  the  same 
footing,  as  respected  the  civil  government. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  grand  achievement,  in  the  line  of  legislating  on  the 
subject  of  religious  rights,  was  the  famous  act  "for  establishing  re- 
ligious freedom,"  drawn  up  by  him,  and  adopted  by  the  Legislature 

*  A  general  assessment  bill  would  have  done  infinite  mischief.  It  never  could  havo 
been  confined  to  the  Evangelical  Churches,  and  would  have  ended  in  building  up 
TJnitarianism,  Universalism,  etc.,  in  Virginia,  just  as  a  similar  measure  did  in  New 
England. 


/ 


224  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

of  Yirginia  in  1785.*  That  act  in  itself,  however,  contains  nothing  to 
which  a  friend  of  full  and  equal  liberty  of  conscience  would  perhaps 
object;  but  it  gave  its  author  great  satisfaction,  not  because  it  em- 
bodied the  principles  of  eternal  justice,  but  because,  by  putting  all 

*  As  the  reader  may  wish  to  see  the  famous  ordinance,  for  having  written  and  ad- 
vocated which  Mr.  Jefferson  challenged  so  much  credit  to  himself,  we  give  it  in  this 
note :  "  "Whereas,  Almighty  God  hath  created  the  mind  free ;  that  all  attempts  to  in- 
fluence it  by  temporal  punishments,  or  burdens,  or  by  civil  incapacitations,  tend  only 
to  beget  habits  of  hypocrisy  and  meanness,  and  are  a  departure  from  the  plan  of 
the  holy  Author  of  our  religion,  who,  being  Lord  both  of  body  and  mind,  yet  chose 
not  to  propagate  it  by  coercions  on  either,  as  was  His  almighty  power  to  do ;  that  the 
impious  presumption  of  legislators  and  rulers,  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical,  who,  being 
themselves  but  fallible  and  uninspired  men,  have  assumed  dominion  over  the  faith  of 
others,  setting  up  their  own  opinions  and  modes  of  thinking  as  the  only  true  and  in- 
fallible, and  as  such,  endeavoring  to  impose  them  on  others,  hath  established  or  main- 
tained false  religions  over  the  greatest  part  of  the  world,  and  through  all  time;  that 
to  compel  a  man  to  furnish  contributions  of  money  for  the  propagation  of  opinions 
which  he  disbelieves,  is  sinful  and  tyrannical ;  that  even  the  forcing  him  to  support 
this  or  that  preacher  of  his  own  religious  persuasion,  is  depriving  him  of  the  comfort- 
able liberty  of  giving  Ins  contributions  to  the  particular  pastor  whose  morals  he  would 
make  his  pattern,  and  whose  powers  he  feels  most  persuasive  to  righteousness,  and 
is  withdrawing  from  the  ministry  those  temporal  rewards,  which,  proceeding  from  an 
approbation  of  their  personal  conduct,  are  an  additional  incitement  to  earnest  and 
unremitting  labors  for  the  instruction  of  mankind ;  that  our  civil  rights  have  no  de- 
pendence on  our  religious  opinions,  any  more  than  on  our  opinions  in  physic  and 
geometry ;  that  therefore  the  proscribing  any  citizen  as  unworthy  of  the  public  con- 
fidence, by  laying  upon  him  an  incapacity  of  being  called  to  offices  of  trust  and 
emolument,  unless  he  profess  or  renounce  this  or  that  religious  opinion,  is  depriving 
him  injuriously  of  those  privileges  and  advantages  to  which,  in  common  with  his 
fellow-citizens,  he  has  a  natural  right ;  that  it  tends  only  to  corrupt  the  principles  of 
that  religion  it  is  meant  to  encourage,  by  bribing  with  a  monopoly  of  worldly  honors 
and  emoluments  those  who  will  externally  profess  or  conform  to  it ;  that  though,  in- 
deed, they  are  criminal  who  do  not  withstand  such  temptation,  yet  neither  are  those 
innocent  who  lay  the  bait  in  their  way ;  that  to  suffer  the  civil  magistrate  to  intrude 
his  powers  into  the  field  of  opinion,  and  to  restrain  the  profession  or  propagation  of 
principles  on  suspicion  of  their  ill-tendency,  is  a  dangerous  fallacy,  which  at  once  de- 
stroys all  religious  liberty ;  because,  he  being,  of  course,  judge  of  that  tendency,  will 
make  his  opinions  the  rule  of  judgment,  and  approve  or  condemn  the  sentiments  of 
others  only  as  they  shall  square  with  or  differ  from  his  own ;  that  it  is  time  enough, 
for  the  rightful  purposes  of  civil  government,  for  its  officers  to  interfere  when  princi- 
ples break  out  into  overt  acts  against  peace  and  good  order ;  and,  finally,  that  Truth 
is  great,  and  will  prevail  if  left  to  herself;  that  she  is  the  proper  and  sufficient  an- 
tagonist to  error,  and  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  conflict,  unless  by  human  inter- 
position disarmed  of  her  natural  weapons — free  argument  and  debate — errors  ceasing 
to  be  dangerous  when  it  is  permitted  freely  to  contradict  them : — 

"  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  that  no  man  shall  be  compelled 
to  frequent  or  support  any  religious  worship,  place,  or  ministry  whatsoever ;  nor 
shall  be  enforced,  restrained,  molested,  or  burdened  in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  shall 
otherwise  suffer  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions  or  belief;  but  that  all  men  shall 


CHAP.  III.]       DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHUKCII  AND  STATE.         225 

religious  sects  on  an  equality,  it  seemed  to  degrade  Christianity,  and 
"  to  comprehend,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "  within  the  mantle  of  pro- 
tection the  Jew  and  the  Gentile,  the  Christian  and  the  Mohammedan, 
the  Hindoo  and  infidel  of  every  denomination."  It  was  this  that 
made  the  arch-infidel  chuckle  with  satisfaction — not,  we  repeat,  that 
the  great  principles  embodied  in  the  measure  were  right. 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  history  of  the  dissolution  of  the  union 
of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia* — a  dissolution  effected,  in  reality, 
by  the  act  of  the  6th  of  December,  1776,  which  repealed  all  former 
acts  relating  to  that  union.  What  followed  had  no  necessary  con- 
nection with  that  act,  but  bore  only  upon  certain  measures,  designed 
to  guard  against  what  was  deemed  by  the  majority  an  injurious  legis- 
lation professedly  for  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  religion. 

This  early  discussion  of  the  propriety  of  dissolving  the  union  of 
Church  and  State  in  Virginia,  after  the  war  of  the  Revolution  had 
broken  out,  had  some  effect,  probably,  on  other  States  placed  in  sim- 
ilar circumstances.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  prevailing  impression  in  the 
absence  of  authentic  documentary  proof  After  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  measures  to  the  same  effect  were  very  promptly  taken 
in  Maryland.  On  the  3d  of  November,  1776,  the  Legislature  of  that 
State  put  forth  a  Declaration  of  Rights  similar  to  that  made  by  Vir- 
ginia in  the  early  part  of  the  same  year,  and  embodying  principles 
directly  subversive  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The  Episco- 
pal Church,  nevertheless,  was  secured  in  the  possession  of  the  glebes 
and  all  other  church  property,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  stipends 
of  all  the  incumbents  who  should  remain  at  their  posts  should  be  paid 
up  to  the  first  day  of  the  month  in  which  said  Declaration  was  made. 
This  righteous  decision  was  not  departed  from,  and  Maryland,  ac- 

be  free  to  profess,  and  by  argument  to  maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  that  the  same  shall  in  nowise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their  civil  capacities. 

"  And  though  we  well  know  that  this  Assembly,  elected  by  the  people  for  the  or- 
dinary purposes  of  legislation  only,  have  no  power  to  restrain  the  acts  of  succeeding 
Assemblies,  constituted  with  powers  equal  to  our  own,  and  that,  therefore,  to  declare 
this  act  irrevocable  would  be  of  no  effect  in  law :  yet  we  are  free  to  declare,  and  do 
declare,  that  the  rights  hereby  asserted  are  of  the  natural  right  of  mankind,  and  that 
if  any  act  shall  be  hereafter  passed  to  repeal  the  present,  or  narrow  its  operation, 
such  act  will  be  an  infringement  of  natural  right." 

*  I  might  have  gone  into  an  ampler  detail  of  the  measures  pursued  by  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia  to  annul  the  law  incorporating  the  clergy 
of  that  Church,  and  of  those,  also,  which  were  followed  up,  in  1802,  by  the  sale  of 
the  glebes ;  but  such  details  have  no  proper  connection  with  the  subject  in  hand. 
The  law  ordaining  the  sale  of  the  glebes  was,  I  think,  unconstitutional,  and  would 
have  been  pronounced  to  be  so  had  it  been  brought  to  a  fair  and  full  decision  before 
the  proper  tribunal.  The  opposition  to  the  Episcopal  Church  toward  the  end  was 
marked  by  a  cruelty  which  admits  of  no  apology. 

15 


226  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

cordingly,  was  spared  those  tedious  and  wretched  disputes  about  the 
property  of  the  Church  that  had  once  been  established — disputes 
that  did  much  harm  to  religion  in  Virginia,  and  were  little  reputable 
to  the  authors  of  them. 

In  the  Maryland  "  Declaration  of  Rights,"  it  was  set  forth  "  that 
as  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  worship  God  in  such  a  manner  as 
he  thinks  most  acceptable  to  Him,  all  persons  professing  the  Christian 
religion  are  equally  entitled  to  protection  in  their  religious  liberty ; 
wherefore  no  person  ought  by  any  law  to  be  molested  in  his  person 
or  estate  on  account  of  his  religious  persuasion  or  profession,  or  for 
his  religious  practice,  unless,  under  color  of  religion,  any  man  shall 
disturb  the  good  order,  peace,  or  safety  of  the  State,  or  shall  infringe 
the  laws  of  morality,  or  injure  others  in  their  natural,  civil,  or  relig- 
ious rights."  It  was  further  declared  that  no  one  ought  to  be  com- 
pelled to  frequent  or  maintain  the  religious  worship  of  any  denomi- 
nation ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  affirmed  that  the  Legislature 
might,  in  its  discretion,  impose  a  common  and  equal  tax  for  the 
support  of  the  Christian  religion  in  general ;  in  such  case,  however, 
every  individual  paying  the  tax  was  held  to  possess  the  right  of  des- 
ignating the  religious  denomination  to  the  support  of  which  it  was  to 
be  applied;  or  he  might  resolve  this  legislative  support  of  Christianity 
in  general  into  mere  almsgiving,  and  direct  his  tax  to  be  applied  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  poor.* 

The  union  of  Church  and  State  was  dissolved  in  like  manner,  by 
acts  of  their  respective  Legislatures,  in  New  York,  South  Carolina, 
and  all  the  other  colonies  in  which  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
was  predominant.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  trace  the  steps  by  which 
this  dissolution  was  accomplished  in  all  cases.  There  was  nothing 
particularly  important,  in  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  in  these  details. 
Enough  to  know  that  the  dissolution  did  take  place  at  no  distant 
period  after  the  Revolution. 

Let  us  now  return  to  New  England,  where  the  principle  of  relig- 
ious establishments  was  most  firmly  rooted,  and  most  difficult  to  be 
eradicated. 

It  was  not  until  about  forty  years  subsequent  to  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  in  Virginia  that  the  example  was  followed  by  Con- 
necticut. It  will  be  recollected  that  in  the  latter  State  the  Established 
Church  was  the  Congregational.  In  1816,  shortly  after  the  close  of 
the  last  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  all  parties 
that  differed  from  it — Episcopalians,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Universal- 
ists,  etc. — combined  to  effect  its  overthrow.  These  various  parties 
having  succeeded  in  gaining  a  majority  in  the  Legislature,  proceeded 

*  See  Dr.  Hawks's  "  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Maryland,"  p.  288. 


CHAP.  III.]      DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  CHUECH  AND  STATE.        227 

to  abolish  the  legal  assessment  for  the  parish  churches,  and  by  a  new 
law  left  it  optional  to  the  rate-payers  to  support  either  the  parish 
church,  or  any  other,  as  each  thought  fit.  The  same  system  was 
adopted  by  New  Hampshire  and  Maine.  Vermont,  I  believe,  has 
at  all  times  had  essentially  the  voluntary  scheme;  that  is,  the 
people  of  each  township  have  supported  such  churches  within  their 
respective  boundaries,  and  in  such  a  measure,  as  they  have  thought 
proper. 

Of  all  the  States  in  which  there  had  ever  been  any  connection  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  civil  power,  Massachusetts  was  the  last  to 
come  under  the  operation  of  the  voluntary  principle.  The  fathers  of 
that  colony,  in  the  indulgence  of  their  theocratic  principles  and  ideas, 
had  ever  prided  themselves  on  the  union  made  by  the  vine  of  the 
Lord's  planting  and  the  State.  They  had  with  great  satisfaction  re- 
posed under  the  shadow  of  both,  and  discoursed  of  the  happy  fruits 
of  such  a  union.  Cotton  Mather,  for  example,  in  a  style  peculiarly 
his  own,  talks  not  only  of  the  advantage,  but  of  the  honor,  likewise, 
of  a  religious  establishment.  "  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,"  says  he, 
"would  have  a  poor  time  of  it,  if  they  must  rely  on  a  free  contribu- 
tion of 'the people  for  then  maintenance."  And  again:  "The  laws 
of  the  province  (of  Massachusetts)  having  had  the  royal  approbation 
to  ratify  them,  they  are  the  king's  laws.  By  these  laws  it  is  enacted 
that  there  shall  be  a  public  worship  of  God  in  every  plantation  ;  that 
the  person  elected  by  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  to  be  so,  shall 
be  looked  upon  as  the  minister  of  the  place  ;  and  that  the  salary  for 
him,  which  they  shall  agree  upon,  shall  be  levied  by  a  rate  upon  all 
the  inhabitants.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  minister  thus  chosen  by 
the  people  is  (not  only  Christ's,  but  also),  in  reality,  the  hinges  minis- 
ter; and  the  salary  raised  for  him  is  raised  in  the  Icing's  name,  and 
is  the  king's  allowance  unto  him."* 

Before  the  Revolution  took  place,  the  Episcopalians  had  been  re- 
lieved by  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature,  from  contributing  to  the 
support  of  the  parish  churches,  and  their  congregations  had  been 
erected  into  incorporated  societies,  or  poll-parishes  ;  that  is,  parishes 
comprising  only  individuals,  and  not  marked  by  geographical  limits. 
But  though  the  Constitution  of  1780,  which  maintained  the  old 
assessment  for  religious  worship,  allowed  every  person  to  appropriate 
his  taxes  to  whatever  society  he  pleased,  it  was  still  held  by  the 
courts  of  that  State,  until  the  year  1811,  that  a  member  of  a  terri- 
torial parish  (which  is  a  corporation)  could  not  divert  the  taxes  im- 
posed on  him  for  the  support  of  religious  worship  to  the  maintenance 

*  "  Ratio  Discipline ;  or,  Faithful  Account  of  the  Discipline  professed  and  prac- 
tised in  the  Churches  of  New  England,"  p.  20. 


228  THE  NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

of  a  teacher  of  an  unincorporated  society.*  By  the  statute  of  1811, 
amended  in  1823,  a  duly-attested  certificate  of  membership  in  any 
other  religious  society,  whether  incorporated  or  not,  sufficed  to  re- 
lieve the  holder  of  it  from  all  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  parish 
church  ;  but  it  was  still  the  law  and  practice  of  Massachusetts  to  re- 
gard all  persons,  in  any  town  or  parish,  who  belonged  to  no  religious 
society  whatever,  as  regular  members  of  the  parish  or  Congregational 
church,  and  taxable  for  the  support  of  its  clergy. 

I  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  the  accumulated  evils  which  grew  out 
of  the  connection  between  the  Church  and  the  State  in  Massachu- 
setts. Those  evils  became  so  great  that  the  friends  of  evangelical 
religion,  in  other  words,  of  the  orthodox  faith  of  every  name,  re- 
solved to  unite  in  urging  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  State,  by  which  some  better  results  might  be  obtained.  Their 
efforts  were  crowned  with  success.  The  amendment  having  been 
voted  by  the  Legislature  in  three  successive  sessions,  1831-33,  became 
part  of  the  organic  law  of  the  State,  and  the  union  of  Church  and 
State  was  brought  to  a  close. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

EFFECTS    OF  THE   DISSOLUTION   OF  THE   UNION   OF   CHUECH  AND  STATE 
IN   THE   SEVERAL    STATES    IN   WHICH    IT    ONCE   EXISTED. 

It  will  be  readily  believed  that  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  in 
any  country  where  it  has  once  existed,  can  not  be  dissolved  with- 
out some  attendant  inconvenience.  If  such  has  been  the  nature  of 
the  connection,  that  the  Church  has  been  wholly  dependent  on  the 
State  for  its  support,  for  the  keeping  of  its  places  of  worship  in  re- 
pair, the  maintenance  of  its  pastors,  and  the  incidental  expenses  of 
public  worship,  very  serious  embarrassments  must  inevitably  attend 
a  sudden  dissolution  of  such  a  union.  Such  was  unquestionably  the 
case  in  some  of  the  States  of  America.  In  others,  again,  in  which 
the  connection  had  been  one  of  no  long  duration,  had  never  been 
very  close,  and  had  not  been  carried  out  to  a  great  extent,  that  re- 
sult was  attended  with  but  little  evil,  and  that  not  very  lasting. 

Nowhere  were  the  ill  consequences  of  the  dis-establishment  of  the 
Church  felt  more  seriously  than  in  Virginia,  and  this  may  be  ascribed 

*  For  a  brief  and  clear  view  of  the  laws  of  Massachusetts  on  this  subject,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  a  sermon  of  the  late  Rev.  William  Cogswell,  D.D.,  on  Eeligious 
Liberty,  preached  on  the  day  of  the  annual  Fast  in  Massachusetts;  April  3d,  1828, 
and  published  in  Boston. 


CHAP.  IY.]  EFFECTS    OF   THE   DISSOLUTION.  229 

to  several  causes.  The  worthless  character  of  many  of  the  clergy- 
men sent  over  from  England,  had  bred  in  many  places,  from  the  very 
first,  great  indifference  to  the  Church  and  its  services.  The  people 
had  become  tired  of  compulsory  payments,  for  the  support  of  a  form 
of  worship  which  they  had  ceased  to  love  or  respect.  Thus  many 
became  indifferent  to  religious  worship  of  every  sort,  and  others  went 
off  to  the  "  dissenters" — the  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  etc.,  when  there 
were  churches  of  these  denominations  hi  their  neighborhoods.  How- 
ever deplorable  it  might  be  that  the  venerable  edifices  in  which  their 
fathers  had  worshipped  should  be  almost  deserted  from  such  a  cause, 
it  was  nevertheless  inevitable.  Not  that  this  representation  applies 
to  every  parish :  in  many  cases,  the  faithful  and  consistent  fives  of  the 
pastors  kept  their  flocks,  under  God,  in  a  state  of  prosperity. 

In  the  second  place,  a  large  majority,  some  say  rather  more  than 
two  thirds  of  the  Episcopal  clergy*  in  Virginia,  were  opposed  to  the 
Revolution,  and  most  of  these  returned  to  England.  Nor  are  they  to, 
be  blamed  without  mercy  for  so  doing.  Many  of  them,  it  must  be 
remembered,  were  Englishmen  by  birth,  and  England  was  the  land 
of  all  their  early  associations.  They  had  never  suffered  oppression, 
but  had  ever  been  of  the  party  in  favor  with  the  monarch.  Thus 
nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  that  even  good  men  among  them 
should  be  Tories.  Others  there  were,  doubtless,  who  saw  that  the 
independence  of  the  country  would  be  likely  so  to  alter  the  state  of 
things  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  continue  their  delinquen- 
cies with  impunity,  which  they  had  enjoyed  when  responsible  only 
to  a  bishop  three  thousand  miles  off.  But  this  loyalty  to  the  British 
crown  was  not  likely  to  find  much  forbearance  among  a  people,  so 
many  of  whom  were  republican  in  sentiment,  and  hostile  for  the  time 
to  the  mother  country ;  and  the  Episcopal  Church  could  not  fail  to 
suffer  from  the  sympathy  shown  by  many  of  its  clergy  for  those  who 
were  considered  the  country's  enemies.  This  was,  no  doubt,  coun- 
teracted so  far  by  there  being  in  the  minority  of  the  clergy  such 
staunch  republicans  and  avowed  partisans  of  the  colonies  as  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Madison,  afterward  bishop  of  the  State,  Drs.  Griffith  and 
Bracken,  Messrs.  Buchanan,  Jarret,  and  others  ;f  while  as  regards 

*  Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  136. 

\  In  one  instance,  an  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Virginia,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Muhlenburg, 
relinquished  his  charge,  accepted  a  commission  as  colonel  in  the  American  army, 
raised  a  regiment  among  his  own  parishioners,  served  through  the  whole  war,  and 
retired  from  the  service  at  its  close  with  the  rank  of  a  brigadier-general.  The  last 
sermon  that  he  ever  preached  to  his  people  before  he  left  for  the  camp,  was  delivered 
in  military  dress.— Thatcher's  "Military  Journal,"  p.  152.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Thurston, 
of  Frederic  county,  in  the  same  State,  also  bore  arms  as  a  colonel  in  the  service  of 
the  country. 


230  THE   NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

the  laity,  no  men  in  all  the  colonies  entered  more  warmly  into  the 
Revolution  than  did  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia.* 

In  the  third  place,  Virginia  was  the  immediate  theatre  of  no  small 
part  of  the  war,  and  was  repeatedly  overrun  by  the  armies  of  both 
sides.  Now,  without  attributing  too  much  to  wantonness,  though 
much,  no  doubt,  was  owing  to  that,  it  may  readily  be  supposed  that 
the  Episcopal  churches,  the  best  in  the  colony,  would  be  sure  to  be 
used  as  barracks,  store-houses,  hospitals,  etc.,  thus  losing  at  once 
their  sacred  character,  and  suffering  much  in  their  furniture. 
Partly,  indeed,  from  accident,  partly,  it  is  believed,  from  design, 
many  were  destroyed  by  fire  and  other  causes. 

In  the  fourth  place,  so  engrossed  were  all  men's  minds  with  the 
war,  that  the  time  was  very  unfavorable  for  doing  good.  Many  of 
the  ministers  who  remained  in  the  province  found  great  difficulty  in 
collecting  the  people  together,  or  obtaining  for  themselves  the  means 
>of  subsistence.  Some  betook  themselves  to  teaching  schools,  but 
even  to  that  the  times  were  unfavorable.  Many  who  were  mere 
boys  shouldered  the  musket  and  went  to  the  war,  returning  no  more 
to  their  homes  until  hostilities  had  ceased,  if  death  did  not  prevent 
them  from  returning  at  all. 

Bearing  these  things  in  mind,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  state 
of  the  Episcopal  churchesf  in  Virginia  was  deplorable  enough  on  the 
return  of  peace,  and  that  they  little  needed  the  aggravation  of  being 
thrown  for  their  support  entirely  upon  their  own  members,  when 
these  were  impoverished  by  the  length  of  the  war,  and  rendered  by 
it  incapable  of  doing  much  for  the  Church,  however  well  disposed  to 
make  sacrifices  in  her  cause.  But  an  extract  from  the  distinguished 
author  to  whom  I  have  so  often  had  occasion  to  refer,  will  give  a 
clearer  idea  of  the  state  of  things  than  I  can  otherwise  present : 

"On  the  19th  of  April,  1783,  precisely  eight  years  after  the  first 
effusion  of  blood  at  Lexington,  peace  was  proclaimed  to  the  Ameri- 
can army  by  order  of  the  commander-in-chief.  Time  was  now 
afforded  to  men  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  permanent  establish- 
ment of  such  institutions,  civil  and  religious,  as  might  comport  with 

*  Such  as  General  "Washington,  Patrick  Henry  (of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  the 
last  chapter),  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  the  mover  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  his 
brother,  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  one  of  the  signers,  George  Mason,  Edmund  Pendle- 
ton, Peter  Lyons,  Paul  Carrington,  "William  Fleming,  "William  Grayson,  with  the 
families  of  the  Nelsons,  Meades,  Mercers,  Harrisons,  Randolphs,  and  hundreds  of 
other  names  deservedly  dear  to  Virginia. — Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Virginia"  p.  137. 

f  Not  that  the  damage  done  by  the  war  to  other  denominations  was  inconsidera- 
ble. The  Presbyterians  probably  suffered  more  in  their  church  edifices,  from  being 
far  more  obnoxious  to  the  resentment  of  the  enemy. 


CHAP.  IV.]  EFFECTS    OF  THE   DISSOLUTION.  231 

their  desires  or  views  of  duty.  Much  was  to  be  done ;  and  rejoicing 
with  thankfulness,  as  now  we  may,  in  the  present  prosperity  of  the 
Church  in  Virginia,  it  is  well  to  look  back  on  its  condition  as  it 
emerged  from  the  Revolution,  and  by  a  contemplation  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  stood  in  the  way  of  its  resuscitation,  be  moved  to  the 
exercise  of  gratitude.  When  the  colonies  first  resorted  to  arms,  Vir- 
ginia, in  her  sixty-one  counties,  contained  ninety-five  parishes,  one 
hundred  and  four  churches  and  chapels,  and  ninety-one  clergymen. 
When  the  contest  was  over,  she  came  out  of  the  war  with  a  large 
number  of  her  churches  destroyed  or  injured  irreparably,  with  twenty- 
three  of  her  ninety-five  parishes  extinct  or  forsaken,  and  of  the  re- 
maining seventy-two,  thirty-four  were  destitute  of  ministerial  serv- 
ices; while  of  her  ninety-one  clergymen,  twenty-eight  only  remained, 
who  had  lived  through  the  storm,  and  these,  with  eight  others  who 
came  into  the  State  soon  after  the  struggle  terminated,  supplied 
thirty-six  of  the  parishes.  Of  these  twenty-eight,  fifteen  only  had 
been  enabled  to  continue  in  the  churches  which  they  supplied  prior 
to  the  commencement  of  hostilities ;  and  thirteen  had  been  driven 
from  their  cures  by  violence  or  want,  to  seek  safety  or  comfort 
in  some  one  of  the  many  vacant  parishes,  where  they  might  hope 
to  find,  for  a  time  at  least,  exemption  from  the  extremity  of  suf- 
fering."* 

This  is  a  picture  dark  enough,  yet  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  evils  it  represents  were  almost  wholly  owing  to  the  Revolution- 
ary war  and  its  consequences,  and  could  not  have  been  much  allevi- 
ated had  the  Church  Establishment,  instead  of  being  arrested  in  17 76, 
been  continued  until  17 83.  But  in  the  gloomy  years  that  followed 
the  Revolution,  the  Episcopal  Church  continued  prostrate,  and  felt 
the  loss  of  her  establishment  most  severely.  Then  did  it  seem  as  if 
nothing  short  of  her  utter  ruin  would  satisfy  the  resentment  of  her 
enemies.  She  had,  indeed,  in  the  day  of  her  power,  been  exclusive, 
domineering,  and  persecuting ;  her  own  sins  had  brought  upon  her 
this  severe  visitation.  From  her  case,  as  well  as  from  all  past  expe- 
rience, persecuting  Churches  should  learn  that  a  Church  that  op- 
presses, will  one  day  be  herself  oppressed,  and  most  likely  by  those 
on  whose  neck  she  had  placed  her  foot. 

But  let  us  turn  to  a  brighter  page.  "  The  Lord,  after  he  hath 
afflicted,  delighteth  to  heal."  So  it  was  with  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  Virginia.  He  had  some  good  thing  in  reserve  for  her,  and  had 
been  preparing  her  for  it  by  the  discipline  of  His  rod.  She  gradually 
emerged  from  her  difficulties.     Her  people  learned  by  degrees  to 

*  Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  pp.  153,  154. 


232  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

trust  in  themselves,  or,  rather,  in  God,  and  began  to  look  to  their 
own  exertions  rather  than  to  a  tobacco-tax  for  the  support  of  their 
churches  and  pastors.  Faithful  ministers  multiplied;  an  excellent 
bishop  was  elected  and  consecrated ;  benevolent  societies  began  to 
spring  up ;  a  theological  school  was  planted  within  her  borders,  where 
many  youths  of  talent  and  piety  have  been  trained  under  excellent 
professors  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  And  although 
the  ministers  and  parishes  are  not  now  much  more  numerous  than 
they  were  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  yet 
their  number  is  considerable,  and  constantly  increasing.  There  are 
more  than  one  hundred  and  ten  ministers  and  churches.  But,  above 
all,  I  do  not  think  it  possible  to  find  a  body  of  ministers  of  equal 
number,  in  any  denomination,  who,  in  point  of  theological  education, 
prudent  zeal,  simple  and  effective  eloquence,  general  usefulness, 
and  the  esteem  in  which  they  are  held  by  the  people,  can  be  re- 
garded as  superior  to  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  the  present  day  in  Vir- 
ginia.* What  a  change  !  How  wonderfully  has  all  been  overruled 
by  God  for  good !  Instead  of  perpetual  wrangling  with  their  parish- 
ioners and  the  law  officers  about  the  taxes  on  tobacco  levied  for  their 
support,  as  was  formerly  the  case:  they  are  supported,  in  a  way 
hereafter  to  be  detailed,  I  do  not  say  extravagantly  or  abundantly, 
but  in  general  comfortably,  by  the  contributions  of  their  congrega- 
tions. And  instead  of  being  disliked,  to  use  no  harsher  term,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  they  are  universally  respected,  and  greatly 
beloved,  by  the  members  of  other  churches. 

In  Maryland  as  well  as  Virginia,  though  in  a  much  less  degree,  the 
dissolution  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  produced  serious  embar- 
rassments and  long-continued  difficulty.  In  none  of  the  colonies  had 
the  established  clergy  received  such  an  ample  maintenance  as  in 
Maryland.  Their  stipends  were  in  many  cases  most  liberal  and  even 
large  for  those  days,  so  that  to  throw  them  at  once  on  the  voluntary 
support  of  their  parishioners  was  a  hazardous  step,  and  for  the  time 
led  to  many  cases  of  hardship.  When  the  Revolution  broke  out, 
there  were  twenty  parishes  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  province,  and 
twenty-four  on  the  western ;  in  all,  forty-four.     Each  of  these  had  an 

*  This  eulogy  will  not  be  thought  extravagant  by  any  one  that  has  had  opportuni- 
ties of  knowing  them.  I  have  had  the  privilege,  as  well  as  the  happiness,  of  making 
the  acquaintance  of  many  of  them,  and  have  known  many  more  by  character  through 
sources  worthy  of  entire  confidence.  The  late  excellent  Bishop  Moore  was  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  him.  The  present  bishop,  Dr.  Meade,  enjoys  the  confidence  and 
esteem  both  of  Christians  and  of  the  world,  in  a  higher  degree  than  perhaps  any  other 
minister  of  the  Gospel  in  America.  The  assistant  bishop,  Dr.  Johns,  is  a  distinguished 
and  excellent  man.  The  Professors  in  the  diocesan  Theological  Seminary,  near  Alex- 
andria, are  widely  known  and  highly  esteemed. 


CHAP.  IV.]  EFFECTS  OF  THE  DISSOLUTION.  233 

incumbent,  "though  not  always  of  the  purest  character,"*  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war  in  1783,  there  were  about  eighteen  or  twenty  re- 
maining.! But  if  this  diminution  were  owing  at  all  to  the  dissolution 
of  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  it  was  so  in  but  a  small  degree. 
The  fact  is,  that  abou.t  two  thirds  of  the  established  clergy  were  op- 
posed to  the  war  from  its  commencement,  and  refused  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  government,  so  that  the  greater  part 
of  them  left  the  country.  On  the  return  of  peace,  the  Episcopal 
Church  gradually  recovered  from  its  depression,  and  ever  since  it  has 
made  pretty  steady  progress,  and  been  decidedly  prosperous.  Dr. 
Clagget  was  appointed  its  first  bishop  in  If  92,  its  Convention  was 
organized,  and  canons  established,  by  which  proper  discipline  was 
secured.  The  clergy  were  for  a  long  time  less  numerous  than  before 
the  Revolution  ;  not  so  much,  however,  for  lack  of  the  means  of  sup- 
porting them,  as  for  lack  of  suitable  men.  Some  ministers  did,  in- 
deed, leave  their  parishes,  and  the  State  itself,  just  after  the  war  of 
the  Revolution,  and  even  so  late  as  1822,  for  want  of  support;  but 
this  was  either  before  the  churches  had  been  sufficiently  trained  to 
the  work  of  raising  a  maintenance  for  their  ministers,  or  it  arose  from 
the  churches  being  really  too  weak  for  the  burden.  Maryland  had 
fifty  Episcopal  clergymen  in  182f  ;  this  number  had  risen  to  seventy- 
two  in  1838,  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  churches  were  still 
without  ministers.  There  are  at  present  not  far  from  one  hundred 
churches,  and  nearly  as  many  ministers.  At  no  period  of  its  estab- 
lishment by  the  State  was  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Maryland  so  pros- 
perous as  it  has  been  during  some  years  back.  Not  that  in  all  cases 
the  clergy  are  supported  as  they  ought  to  be,  or  as  they  were  during 
the  union  of  Church  and  State ;  but  in  point  of  talents  and  sound 
learning,  combined  with  piety  and  other  ministerial  gifts,  they  are 
immeasurably  superior  to  their  predecessors  before  the  Revolution. 

In  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  in  New  York,  though  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Episcopal  Church  produced,  as  in  other  cases,  a 
kind  of  syncope  for  a  time,  from  this  it  ere  long  recovered,  and  its 
prosperity  is  now  incomparably  greater  than  it  ever  was  when  it  was 
supported  by  the  State.  In  the  State  of  New  York  it  may  be  said  to 
have  entered  on  its  present  career  of  extraordinary  prosperity  with 
the  election  and  consecration  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart, 
D.D.,  as  bishop  of  the  diocese,  previous  to  which  its  churches  and 
ministers  were  few  compared  with  their  present  numbers.  Seldom 
has  a  Church  owed  more  to  the  energy  and  perseverance  of  one 
man. 

But  hi  no  part  of  the  United  States  was  the  proposal  to  dis-estab- 
*  Dr.  Hawks's  "  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland."    \  Ibid.,  p.  301. 


234  THE   NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  in. 

lish  the  Church  received  with  more  serious  apprehension  than  in  New 
England.  The  language  in  which  the  celebrated  Dr.  Dwight,  presi- 
dent of  Yale  College,  and  author  of  a  very  valuable  system  of  theol- 
ogy, as  well  as  other  distinguished  men  of  that  State,  deprecated  the 
measure,  is  still  extant  in  pamphlets  and  in  journals,  and  these  have 
often  been  quoted  in  England  by  the  friends  of  the  Church  Estab- 
lishment there  in  opposition  to  its  opponents.  But  it  ought  to  be 
known  that  not  a  single  survivor  at  this  day,  of  all  who  once  wrote 
against  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  in  Connecticut,  has  not 
long  since  seen  that  he  was  mistaken,  and  has  not  found  that  to  be  a 
blessing  which  he  once  regarded  as  a  calamity.  And  had  not  Dr. 
Dwight  died  just  as  the  change  came  into  operation,  no  doubt  he, 
too,  would  have  changed  his  opinion.*  Forty  years  have  elapsed 
since  that  time,  and  although  I  have  been  much  in  Connecticut  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty-five  years,  know  many  of  the  clergy,  and  have 
conversed  much  with  them  on  the  subject,  out  of  the  three  or  four 
hundred  ministers  of  that  State,  I  am  not  aware  of  there  being  one 
Congregational  minister  who  would  like  to  see  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  restored  in  it.  On  no  point,  I  am  confident,  are  the 
evangelical  clergy  of  the  United  States,  of  all  Churches,  more  fully 
agreed  than  in  holding  that  a  union  of  Church  and  State  would 
prove  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  that  could  be  inflicted  on  us, 
whatever  it  may  prove  in  other  countries.  This  is  the  very  language 
I  have  heard  a  thousand  times  from  our  best  and  ablest  men  when 
speaking  on  the  subject. 

In  Massachusetts,  which  was  the  last  of  the  States  to  abolish  the 
union  of  the  Church  and  the  civil  power,  the  change  was  adopted 
from  a  conviction  of  the  evils,  on  the  one  side,  resulting  from  the 
union  in  that  State,  and  of  the  advantages,  on  the  other  side,  that 
would  accrue  from  its  dissolution :  a  conviction  that  led  all  the  evan- 
gelical denominations  to  combine  for  its  overthrow.  In  fine,  after 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century's  experience  of  the  change,  I  appre- 
hend not  one  person  of  influence  in  all  their  ranks  will  be  found  to 
regret  it. 

And  now,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  United  States,  Truth  stands 
on  its  own  immovable  vantage-ground.     So  far  as  the  civil  power  is 

*  The  author  has  often  conversed  on  this  subject  with  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher, 
D.D.,  who,  when  the  change  took  place,  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Connecticut,  but 
has  since  been  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston,  and  lately  a  Professor  in  a  theological 
seminary  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Dr.  Beecher  was  as  much  opposed  to  the  dissolution 
as  Dr.  Dwight  was,  and  both  preached  and  wrote  against  it.  But  with  characteristic 
candor,  he  hesitates  not  now  to  confess  that  his  apprehensions  were  quite  unfounded. 
Few  men  have  occupied  a  higher  place  in  the  United  States  than  Dr.  Beecher, 
whether  as  a  preacher  or  as  a  writer. 


CHAP.  V.]      POWER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  TO  PREVENT  RELIGION.  235 

concerned,  there  is  not  the  slightest  interference  with  the  rights  of 
conscience  or  with  the  religious  worship  of  any  one.  Religious  lib- 
erty, fettered  by  no  State  enactment,  is  as  perfect  as  it  can  be.  Nor 
is  any  sect  or  denomination  of  Christians  favored  more  than  another. 
All  depend,  under  God,  for  their  support  on  the  willing  hearts  and 
active  hands  of  their  friends,  while  the  civil  government,  relieved 
from  the  ten  thousand  difficulties  and  embarrassments  which  a  union 
of  Church  and  State  would  involve,  has  only  to  mete  out  justice  with 
even  scales  to  all  the  citizens,  whatever  may  be  their  religious  opin- 
ions and  preferences. 


CHAPTER  V. 

WHETHER    THE    GENERAL    GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES   HAS 

THE  POWER  TO  PROMOTE  RELIGION. 

It  seems  to  be  inferred  by  some  that  because  the  Constitution  de- 
clares that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,"*  the  General 
Government  can  do  nothing  whatever  to  promote  religion.  This  is 
certainly  a  mistake. 

A  great  variety  of  opinions  has  been  expressed  by  writers  on  pub- 
lic and  political  law  on  the  question,  How  far  any  government  has  a 
right  to  interfere  in  religious  matters ;  but  that  such  a  right  exists  to 
a  certain  extent,  is  admitted  by  all  of  them.  Nor  can  it  be  otherwise 
so  long  as  religion  shall  be  thought  necessary  to  the  well-being  of 
society,  and  to  the  stability  of  government  itself.  It  is  essential  to 
the  interests  of  men,  even  in  this  world,  that  they  should  be  neither 
ignorant  of,  nor  indifferent  to,  the  existence,  attributes,  and  provi- 
dence of  one  Almighty  God,  the  Ruler  of  the  universe ;  and,  above 
all,  a  people  that  believe  in  Christianity  can  never  consent  that  the 
government  they  live  under  should  be  indifferent  to  its  promotion, 
since  public  as  well  as  private  virtue  is  connected  indissolubly  with  a 
proper  knowledge  of  its  nature  and  its  claims,  and  as  the  everlasting 
happiness  of  men  depends  upon  its  cordial  reception. 

On  this  subject  it  may  be  interesting  to  know  the  opinions  of  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  jurists  the  United  States  have  ever  pos- 
sessed, the  late  Mr.  Justice  Story,  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court : 

"  The  real  difficulty  lies  in  ascertaining  the  limits  to  which  govern- 

*  First  of  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitution. 


236  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

ment  may  rightfully  go  in  fostering  and  encouraging  religion.  Three 
cases  may  easily  be  supposed.  One,  where  a  government  affords  aid 
to  a  particular  religion,  leaving  all  persons  free  to  adopt  any  other ; 
another,  where  it  creates  an  ecclesiastical  establishment  for  the  prop- 
agation of  the  doctrines  of  a  particular  sect  of  that  religion,  leaving  a 
like  freedom  to  all  others ;  and  a  third,  where  it  creates  such  an  es- 
tablishment, and  excludes  all  persons  not  belonging  to  it,  either 
wholly  or  in  part,  from  any  participation  in  the  public  honors,  trusts, 
emoluments,  privileges,  and  immunities  of  the  State.  For  instance,  a 
government  may  simply  declare  that  the  Christian  religion  shall  be 
the  religion  of  the  State,  and  shall  be  aided  and  encouraged  in  all  the 
varieties  of  sects  belonging  to  it ;  or  it  may  declare  that  the  Catholic 
or  Protestant  religion  shall  be  the  religion  of  the  State,  leaving  every 
man  to  the  free  enjoyment  of  his  own  religious  opinions ;  or  it  may 
establish  the  doctrines  of  a  particular  sect,  as  of  Episcopalians,  as  the 
religion  of  the  State,  with  a  like  freedom ;  or  it  may  establish  the 
doctrines  of  a  particular  sect,  as  exclusively  the  religion  of  the  State, 
tolerating  others  to  a  limited  extent,  or  excluding  all  not  belonging 
to  it  from  all  public  honors,  trusts,  emoluments,  privileges,  and  im- 
munities. 

"  Now  there  will  probably  be  found  few  persons  in  this,  or  any 
other  Christian  country,  who  would  deliberately  contend  that  it  was 
unreasonable  or  unjust  to  foster  and  encourage  the  Christian  religion 
generally  as  a  matter  of  sound  policy,  as  well  as  of  revealed  truth. 
In  fact,  every  American  colony,  from  its  foundation  down  to  the 
Revolution,  with  the  exception  of  Rhode  Island  (if,  indeed,  that  State 
be  an  exception),  did  openly,  by  the  whole  course  of  its  laws  and 
institutions,  support  and  sustain,  in  some  form,  the  Christian  religion, 
and  almost  invariably  gave  a  peculiar  sanction  to  some  of  its  funda- 
mental doctrines.  And  this  has  continued  to  be  the  case  in  some 
States  down  to  the  present  period,  without  the  slightest  suspicion  that 
it  was  against  the  principles  of  public  law  or  of  republican  liberty.* 
Indeed,  in  a  republic,  there  would  seem  to  be  a  peculiar  propriety  in 
viewing  the  Christian  religion  as  the  great  basis  on  which  it  must 
rest  for  its  support  and  permanence,  if  it  be,  what  it  has  ever  been 
deemed  by  its  truest  friends  to  be,  the  religion  of  liberty.  Montes- 
quieu has  remarked,  that  the  Christian  religion  is  a  stranger  to  mere 
despotic  power.  The  mildness  so  frequently  recommended  in  the 
Gospel  is  incompatible  with  the  despotic  rage  with  which  a  prince 
punishes  his  subjects,  and  exercises  himself  in  cruelty.f     He  has  gone 

*  Kent's  "  Commentaries,"  sect,  xxxiv.,  p.  SS-SY.     Rawle  "  On  the  Constitution," 
chap,  x.,  pp.  121,  122. 

f  Montesquieu,  "Spirit  of  Laws,"  b.  xxiv.,  c.  hi. 


CHAP.  V.]       POWER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  TO  PREVENT  RELIGION.  237 

even  further,  and  affirmed,  that  the  Protestant  religion  is  far  more 
congenial  with  the  spirit  of  political  freedom  than  the  Catholic. 
1  When,'  says  he,  '  the  Christian  religion,  two  centuries  ago,  became 
unhappily  divided  into  Catholic  and  Protestant,  the  people  of  the 
North  [of  Europe]  embraced  the  Protestant,  and  those  of  the  South 
still  adhered  to  the  Catholic.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  people  of 
the  North  have,  and  ever  will  have,  a  spirit  of  liberty  and  independ- 
ence which  the  people  of  the  South  have  not ;  and,  therefore,  a  religion 
which  has  no  visible  head  is  more  agreeable  to  the  independency  of 
climate  than  that  which  has  one.'*  "Without  stopping  to  inquire 
whether  this  remark  be  well  founded,  it  is  certainly  true  that  the 
parent  country  has  acted  upon  it  with  a  severe  and  vigilant  zeal ;  and 
in  most  of  the  colonies  the  same  rigid  jealousy  has  been  maintained 
almost  down  to  our  own  times.  Massachusetts,  while  she  promul- 
gated, in  her  Bill  of  Rights,  the  importance  and  necessity  of  the 
public  support  of  religion,  and  the  worship  of  God,  authorized  the 
Legislature  to  require  it  only  for  Protestantism.  The  language  of 
that  Bill  of  Rights  is  remarkable  for  its  pointed  affirmation  of  the 
duty  of  government  to  support  Christianity,  and  the  reasons  for  it. 
'  As,'  says  the  third  article, '  the  happiness  of  a  people,  and  the  good 
order  and  preservation  of  civil  government,  essentially  depend  upon 
piety,  religion,  and  morality,  and  as  these  can  not  be  generally  dif- 
fused through  the  community  but  by  the  institution  of  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God,  and  of  public  instructions  in  piety,  religion,  and  morality, 
therefore,  to  promote  their  happiness,  and  to  secure  the  good  order 
and  preservation  of  their  government,  the  people  of  this  common- 
wealth have  a  right  to  invest  their  Legislature  with  power  to  author- 
ize and  require,  and  the  Legislature  shall  from  time  to  time  author- 
ize and  require  the  several  towns,  parishes,  etc.,  etc.,  to  make  suitable 
provision,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the  institution  of  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God,  and  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  public  Protestant 
teachers  of  piety,  religion,  and  morality,  in  all  cases  where  such  pro- 
vision shall  not  be  made  voluntarily.'  Afterward  there  follow  pro- 
visions prohibiting  any  superiority  of  one  sect  over  another,  and 
securing  to  all  citizens  the  free  exercise  of  religion. 

"  Probably,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  [of  the 
United  States],  and  of  the  amendment  to  it  now  under  consideration, 
the  general,  if  not  universal,  sentiment  in  America  was,  that  Chris- 
tianity ought  to  receive  encouragement  from  the  State,  so  far  as  was 
not  incompatible  with  the  private  rights  of  conscience  and  the  free- 
dom of  religious  worship.  An  attempt  to  level  all  religions,  and  to 
make  it  a  matter  of  State  policy  to  hold  all  in  utter  indifference, 
*  Montesquieu,  "Spirit  of  Laws,"  b.  xxiv.,  chap.  v. 


238  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  m. 

would  have  created  universal  disapprobation,  if  not  universal  indig- 
nation. 

"  It  yet  remains  a  problem  to  be  solved  in  human  affairs,  whether 
any  free  government  can  be  permanent  where  the  public  worship  of 
God,  and  the  support  of  religion,  constitute  no  part  of  the  policy  or 
duty  of  the  State  in  any  assignable  shape.  The  future  experience  of 
Christendom,  and  chiefly  of  the  American  States,  must  settle  this 
problem,  as  yet  new  in  the  history  of  the  world,  abundant  as  it  has 
been  in  experiments  in  the  theory  of  government. 

"  But  the  duty  of  supporting  religion,  and  especially  the  Christian 
religion,  is  very  different  from  the  right  to  force  the  consciences  of 
other  men,  or  to  punish  them  for  worshipping  God  in  the  manner 
which  they  believe  their  accountability  to  Him  requires.  It  has 
been  truly  said,  that  '  religion,  or  the  duty  we  owe  to  our  Creator, 
and  the  manner  of  discharging  it,  can  be  dictated  only  by  reason  and 
conviction,  not  by  force  or  violence.'*  Mr.  Locke  himself,  who  did 
not  doubt  the  right  of  government  to  interfere  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  especially  to  encourage  Christianity,  at  the  same  time  has  ex- 
pressed his  opinion  of  the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  liberty  of 
conscience,  in  a  manner  becoming  his  character  as  a  sincere  friend  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  '  No  man,  or  society  of  men,'  says  he, 
1  have  any  authority  to  impose  then  opinions  or  interpretations  on 
any  other,  the  meanest  Christian  ;  since,  in  matters  of  religion,  every 
man  must  know,  and  believe,  and  give  an  account  of  himself.'f  The 
rights  of  conscience  are,  indeed,  beyond  the  reach  of  any  human 
power.  They  are  given  by  God,  and  can  not  be  encroached  upon  by 
human  authority  without  a  criminal  disobedience  of  the  precepts  of 
natural  as  well  as  of  revealed  religion. 

"The  real  object  of  this  amendment  was  not  to  countenance,  much 
less  to  advance,  Mohammedanism,  or  Judaism,  or  Infidelity,  by  pros- 
trating Christianity,  but  to  exclude  all  rivalry  among  Christian  sects, 
and  to  prevent  any  national  ecclesiastical  establishment  which  should 
give  to  a  hierarchy  the  exclusive  patronage  of  the  national  govern- 
ment. It  thus  cuts  off  the  means  of  religious  persecution  (the  vice 
and  pest  of  former  ages),  and  of  the  subversion  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science in  matters  of  religion,  which  had  been  trampled  upon  almost 
from  the  days  of  the  apostles  to  the  present  age.  J  The  history  of  the 
parent  country  had  afforded  the  most  solemn  warnings  and  melan- 
choly instructions  on  this  head  ;§  and  even  New  England,  the  land 

*  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights.      1  Tucker's  Blackstone's   Commentaries,  Appendix, 

p.  296. 

f  Lord  King's  Life  of  John  Locke,  p.  313.  J  2  Lloyd's  Debates,  p.  195. 

§  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  p.  41-59. 


CHAP.  V.]       POWER  OF  THE  GOVERNMEOT  TO  PROMOTE  RELIGION.       239 

of  the  persecuted  Puritans,  as  well  as  other  colonies  where  the  Church 
of  England  had  maintained  its  superiority,  would  furnish  out  a  chap- 
ter as  full  of  the  darkest  bigotry  and  intolerance  as  any  which  could 
be  found  to  disgrace  the  pages  of  foreign  annals.  Apostacy,  heresy, 
and  nonconformity  had  been  standard  crimes  for  public  appeals  to 
kindle  the  flames  of  persecution,  and  apologize  for  the  most  atrocious 
triumphs  over  innocence  and  virtue. 

"  It  was  under  a  solemn  consciousness  of  the  dangers  from  ecclesi- 
astical ambition,  the  bigotry  of  spiritual  pride,  and  the  intolerance 
of  sects,  thus  exemplified  in  our  domestic  as  well  as  foreign  annals, 
that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  exclude  from  the  national  govern- 
ment all  power  to  act  upon  the  subject.*  The  situation,  too,  of 
different  States  equally  proclaimed  the  policy,  as  well  as  the  neces- 
sity, of  such  an  exclusion.  In  some  of  the  States,  Episcopalians  con- 
stituted the  predominant  sect ;  in  others,  Presbyterians ;  in  others, 
Congregationalists ;  in  others,  Quakers ;  and  in  others,  again,  there 
was  a  close  numerical  rivalry  among  contending  sects.  It  was  im- 
possible that  there  should  not  arise  perpetual  strife  and  perpetual 
jealousies  on  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  ascendancy,  if  the  National 
Government  were  left  free  to  create  a  religious  establishment.  The 
only  security  was  in  extirpating  the  power.  But  this  alone  would 
have  been  an  imperfect  security,  if  it  had  not  been  followed  up  by  a 
declaration  of  the  right  of  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  and  a  prohi- 
bition (as  we  have  seen)  of  all  religious  tests.  Thus  the  whole  power 
over  the  subject  of  religion  is  left  exclusively  to  the  State  govern- 
ments, to  be  acted  upon  according  to  their  own  sense  of  justice  and 
the  State  Constitutions ;  and  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant,  the 
Calvinist  and  the  Arminian,  the  Jew  and  the  Infidel,  may  sit  down 
at  the  common  table  of  the  national  councils,  without  any  inquisition 
into  their  faith  or  mode  of  wrorship."t 

The  preceding  extracts  from  the  learned  commentator  on  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the  General 
Government  is  not  restrained  from  promoting  religion,  though  not 
allowed  to  make  any  religious  establishment,  or  to  do  any  thing  for 
the  purpose  of  aggrandizing  one  denomination  of  Christians  more 
than  another. 

There  is  also  a  manifest  difference  between  legislating  directly  for 
religion  as  an  end  of  jurisdiction,  and  keeping  it  respectfully  in  view 
while  legislating  for  other  ends,  the  legitimacy  of  which  is  not  ques- 

*  2  Lloyd's  Debates,  p.  195-197.  "  The  sectarian  spirit,"  said  the  late  Dr.  Corrie, 
"is  uniformly  selfish,  proud,  and  unfeeling."— Edinburg  Review,  April,  1832,  p.  135. 

\  See  Kent's  Commentaries,  Lecture  xxiv.  Rawle  on  the  Constitution,  chap,  x., 
pp.  121,  122.     2  Lloyd's  Debates,  p.  195. 


240  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  HI. 

tioned ;  so  that  if  we  admit  that  the  States  alone  could  do  the  former, 
the  General  Government  might,  at  least,  be  competent  to  the  latter, 
and  in  this  way  the  harmony  of  the  whole  might  be  preserved. 

But  this  restricted  view  of  the  case  is  not  necessary.  All  that  the 
Constitution  does  is  to  restrain  Congress  from  making  any  law  "  re- 
specting an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
of  the  same."  Every  thing  that  has  no  tendency  to  bring  about  an 
establishment  of  religion,  or  to  interfere  with  the  free  exercise  of 
religion,  Congress  may  do.  And  we  shall  see,  hereafter,  that  this  is 
the  view  of  the  subject  taken-by  the  proper  authorities  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

WHETHER  THE   GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES   MAY  JUSTLY  BE 

CALLED    INFIDEL    OR   ATHEISTICAL. 

Because  no  mention  of  the  Supreme  Being,  or  of  the  Christian 
religion,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  some 
have  pronounced  it  infidel,  others  atheistical.  But  that  neither  opin- 
ion is  correct,  will  appear  from  a  moment's  consideration  of  the  case. 

Most  certainly,  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  in 
1787,  under  the  presidency  of  the  immortal  Washington,  was  neither 
infidel  nor  atheistical  in  its  character.  All  the  leading  men  in  it  were 
believers  in  Christianity,  and  Washington,  as  all  the  world  knows, 
was  a  Christian.  Several  of  the  more  prominent  members  were  well 
known  to  be  members  of  churches,  and  to  live  in  a  manner  consistent 
with  their  profession.  Even  Franklin,  who  never  avowed  his  relig- 
ious sentiments,  and  can  not  be  said  with  certainty  to  have  been  an 
infidel,  proposed,  at  a  time  of  great  difficulty  in  the  course  of  their 
proceedings,  that  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  should  be  invited  to  open 
their  proceedings  with  prayer.  Many  members  of  the  Convention 
had  been  members  also  of  the  Continental  Congress,  which  carried  on 
the  national  government  from  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution 
until  the  Constitution  went  into  effect.  Now  the  religious  views  of 
that  Congress  we  shall  presently  see  from  their  acts. 

The  framers  of  that  Constitution  seem,  in  fact,  to  have  felt  the 
necessity  of  leaving  the  subject  of  religion,  as  they  left  many  things 
besides,  to  the  governments  of  the  several  States  composing  the 
Union.  It  was  a  subject  on  which  these  States  had  legislated  from 
the  very  first.  In  many  of  them  the  Christian  religion  had  been,  and 
in  some  it  still  continued  to  be,  supported  by  law  ;  in  all,  it  had  been 


CHAF.  VI.]  THE   GOVEBNMENT   NOT  ATHEISTICAL.  241 

the  acknowledged  basis  of  their  liberty  and  well-being,  and  its  insti- 
tutions had  been  protected  by  legal  enactments.  Nothing,  accord- 
ingly, could  be  more  natural  in  the  Convention  than  to  deem  the 
introduction  of  the  subject  unnecessary.  There  is  yet  another  view 
of  the  subject. 

"  On  this  head,"  says  an  able  writer,  "  as  on  others,  the  Federal 
Constitution  was  a  compromise.  Religion  could  not  well  be  intro- 
duced into  it  for  any  purpose  of  positive  regulation.  There  was  no 
choice  but  to  tolerate  all  Christian  denominations,  and  to  forbear 
entering  into  the  particular  views  of  any.  Religion  was  likely  to  fare 
best  hi  this  way.  Men  who  loved  it  better  than  we  do  nowadays, 
felt  bound  in  prudence  to  leave  it  at  once  unaided  and  unencumbered 
by  constitutional  provisions,  save  one  or  two  of  a  negative  character. 
And  they  acted  thus,  not  that  it  might  be  trodden  under  foot,  the 
pearl  among  swine,  but  to  the  very  end  of  its  greater  ultimate  prev- 
alence, its  more  lasting  sway  among  the  people."* 

There  is  truth,  unquestionably,  in  these  remarks ;  still  I  am  of  opin- 
ion that  the  Convention,  while  sensible  that  it  was  unwise  to  make 
religion  a  subject  of  legislation  for  the  General  Government,  thought 
that  this,  or  even  any  mention  of  the  thing  at  all,  was  unnecessary. 
The  Constitution  was  not  intended  for  a  people  that  had  no  religion, 
or  that  needed  any  legislation  on  the  subject  from  the  proposed  Gen- 
eral or  National  Government ;  it  was  to  be  for  a  people  already 
Christian,  and  whose  existing  laws,  emanating  from  the  most  appro- 
priate, or  to  say  the  least,  the  most  convenient  sources,  gave  ample 
evidence  of  their  being  favorable  to  religion.  Their  doing  nothing 
positive  on  the  subject  seems,  accordingly,  to  speak  more  loudly  than 
if  they  had  expressed  themselves  in  the  most  solemn  formulas  on  the 
existence  of  the  Deity  and  the  truth  of  Christianity.  These  were 
clearly  assumed,  being,  as  it  were,  so  well  known  and  fully  acknowl- 
edged as  to  need  no  specification  in  an  instrument  of  a  general  nature, 
and  designed  for  general  objects.  The  Bible  does  not  begin  with  an 
argument  to  prove  the  existence  of  God,  but  assumes  the  fact,  as  one 
the  truth  of  which  it  needs  no  attempt  to  establish. 

This  view  is  confirmed  by  what  is  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution 
itself.  From  the  reference  to  the  Sabbath,  in  Article  I.,  section  vii., 
it  is  manifest  that  the  framers  of  it  believed  that  they  were  drawing 
up  a  Constitution  for  a  Christian  people — a  people  who  valued  and 
cherished  a  day  associated,  if  I  may  so  speak,  with  so  large  a  part  of 
Christianity.  Regarding  the  subject  in  connection  with  the  circum- 
stances that  belong  to  it,  I  do  not  think  that  the  government  of  the 

*  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  Moral  and  Religious  Character  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment," p.  72. 

16 


242  THE   NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

United  States  can  justly  be  called  either  infidel  or  atheistical,  on  ac- 
count of  its  Federal  Constitution.  The  authors  of  that  Constitution 
never  dreamed- that  they  were  to  be  regarded  as  treating  Christianity 
with  contempt,  because  they  did  not  formally  mention  it  as  the  law 
of  the  land,  which  it  was  already,  much  less  that  it  should  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  government.  If  the  latter  was  intended,  we  shall 
presently  see  that  their  acts,  from  the  very  organization  of  the  gov- 
ernment, belied  any  such  intention. 

Should  any  one,  after  all,  regret  that  the  Constitution  does  not 
contain  something  more  explicit  on  the  subject,  I  can  not  but  say 
that  I  participate  in  that  regret.  Sure  I  am  that,  had  the  excellent 
men  who  framed  the  Constitution  foreseen  the  inferences 'that  have 
been  drawn  from  the  omission,  they  would  have  recognized,  in  a 
proper  formula,  the  existence  of  God,  and  the  truth  and  the  import- 
ance of  the  Christian  religion. 

I  conclude  this  chapter  in  the  language  of  one  who  has  ably  treated 
this  question.  "  Consistent  with  themselves,  the  people  of  1787 
meant  by  the  federal  arrangement  nothing  but  a  new  and  larger  or- 
ganization of  government  on  principles  already  familiar  to  the  country. 
The  State  governments  were  not  broad  enough  for  national  purposes, 
and  the  old  Confederation  was  deficient  in  central  power.  It  was 
only  to  remedy  these  two  defects,  not  of  principle,  but  of  distributive 
adjustment,  that  the  public  mind  addressed  itself:  innovation,  to  any 
other  end,  was  never  thought  of;  least  of  all  in  reference  to  religion, 
a  thing  utterly  apart  from  the  whole  design.  So  that,  admitting 
that  the  Constitution  framed  on  that  occasion  does  not  in  terms  pro- 
claim itself  a  Christian  document,  what  then  ?  Does  it  proclaim  itself 
imchristian  ?  For  if  it  is  merely  silent  in  the  matter,  law  and  reason 
both  tell  us  that  its  religious  character  is  to  be  looked  for  by  inter- 
pretation among  the  people  who  fashioned  it ;  a  people,  Christian  by 
profession  and  by  genealogy ;  what  is  more,  by  deeds  of  fundamental 
legislation  that  can  not  deceive."* 

*  "An  Inquiry  into  the  Moral  and  Religious  Character  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment," pp.  84,  85. 


CHAP.  Vn.]      CHRISTIAN    CHARACTER    OP  THE   GOVERNMENT.  243 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   GOVERNMENT    OP  THE    UNITED    STATES    SHOWN  TO   BE   CHRISTIAN 

BY   ITS   ACTS. 

Ant  doubts  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  may  sug- 
gest as  to  the  Christian  character*  of  the  National  Government,  will 
be  dissipated  by  a  statement  of  facts. 

In  the  first  place,  in  transacting  the  affairs  of  the  government,  the 
Sabbath  is  recognized,  and  respect  for  it  enjoined  ;  not  only  so,  but 
it  is  observed  to  a  degree  rarely  witnessed  in  other  countries.  All 
public  business  is  suspended,  unless  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity. 
Congress  adjourns  over  the  Sabbath  ;f  the  courts  do  not  sit ;  the 
custom-houses,  and  all  other  public  offices,  are  shut,  not  only  for  a 
few  hours,  or  part  of  it,  but  during  the  whole  day. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Christian  character  of  the  government  is 
seen  in  the  proclamations  that  have  been  made  from  time  to  time, 
calling  on  the  people  to  observe  days  of  fasting  and  prayer  in  times 
of  national  distress,  and  of  thanksgiving  for  national  or  general  mer- 
cies. Not  a  year  passed  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution  without 
the  observance  of  such  days.  At  the  commencement  of  that  war  the 
Congress,  in  one  of  these  proclamations,  expressed  its  desire  "  to 
have  the  people  of  all  ranks  and  degrees  duly  impressed  with  a  sol- 
emn sense  of  God's  superintending  providence,  and  of  their  duty  to 
rely  in  all  their  lawful  enterprises  on  His  aid  and  direction."  The 
objects  of  a  general  fast  are  set  forth  :  "  That  they  may  with  united 
hearts  confess  and  bewail  their  manifold  sins  and  transgressions,  and 
by  a  sincere  repentance  and  amendment  of  life  appease  His  righteous 
displeasure,  and  through  the  merits  and  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ 
obtain  His  pardon  and  forgiveness."  A  few  months  later  we  find  the 
following  language  :  "  The  Congress  do  also,  in  the  most  earnest 
manner,  recommend  to  all  the  members  of  the  United  States,  and  par- 

*  When  I  speak  of  the  Christian  character  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
I  mean  that  it  is  so  far  regulated  by  the  Christian  religion  as  to  partake  of  its  spirit, 
and  that  it  is  not  infidel  or  opposed  to  Christianity — Christian  as  those  of  England 
and  other  parts  of  Christendom  are  Christian— not  that  every  act  of  the  government 
is  truly  conformable  to  the  requirements  of  Christianity.  Alas !  where  shall  we  find 
a  government  whose  acts  are  fully  conformed  to  these  ? 

f  When  the  day  for  the  adjournment  of  Congress  falls  on  Saturday,  it  sometimes 
happens  that,  on  account  of  the  accumulation  of  business,  the  session  is  protracted 
through  the  night  into  the  early  morning  of  the  Sabbath ;  for  doing  which  that  body 
fails  not  to  be  severely  censured,  as  it  deserves,  by  the  religious,  and  even  by  some 
of  the  secular  journals. 


244  THE   NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

ticularly  the  officers,  civil  and  military,  under  them,  the  exercise  of 
repentance  and  reformation  ;  and  further  require  of  them  the  strict 
observance  of  the  articles  which  forbid  profane  swearing  and  all  im- 
moralities."    And  in  1777,  Congress  called  upon  the  nation  "That 
with  one  heart  and  voice  the  good  people  may  express  the  grateful 
feelings  of  their  hearts,  and  consecrate  themselves  to  the  service  of 
their  Divine  Benefactor ;  and  that,  together  with  their  sincere  ac- 
knowledgments and  offerings,  they  may  join  the  penitent  confession 
of  their  manifold  sins,  whereby  they  have  forfeited  every  favor,  and 
their  earnest  supplication  that  it  may  please  God,  through  the  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ,  mercifully  to  forgive  and  blot  them  out  of  remem- 
brance ;  that  it  may  please  Him  graciously  to  afford  His  blessing  on 
the  governments  of  these  States  respectively,  and  prosper  the  public 
council  of  the  whole ;  to  inspire  our  commanders  both  by  land  and 
by  sea,  and  all  under  them,  with  that  wisdom  and  fortitude  which 
may  render  them  fit  instruments,  under  the  government  of  Almighty 
God,  to  secure  to  these  United  States  the  greatest  of  all  blessings- 
independence  and  peace  ;  that  it  may  please  Hun  to  prosper  the  trade 
and  manufactures  of  the  people,  and  the  labor  of  the  husbandman, 
that  our  land  may  yield  its  increase  ;  to  take  schools  and  seminaries 
of  education,  so  necessary  for  cultivating  the  principles  of  true  lib- 
erty, virtue,  and  piety,  under  His  nurturing  hand ;  and  to  prosper 
the  means  of  religion  for  the  promotion  and  enlargement  of  that 
kingdom  which  consisteth  in  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost."     In  1779,  among  other  objects  for  which  they  call  on 
the  people  to  pray,  we  find  the  following  :  "  That  God  would  grant 
to  His  Church  the  plentiful  effusions  of  Divine  grace,  and  pour  out 
His  Holy  Spirit  on  all  ministers  of  the  Gospel ;  that  He  would  bless 
and  prosper  the  means  of  education,  and  spread  the  light  of  Chris- 
tian knowledge  throughout  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth." 

Similar  language  is  found  in  the  proclamations  of  1780,  1781,  and 
1782.  Such  was  the  spirit  which  actuated  the  councils  of  the  nation 
in  the  Revolution.  And  after  the  Constitution  had  gone  into  effect, 
we  find,  in  the  earlier  period  of  its  reign,  that  days  of  fasting  and 
prayer  for  similar  blessings  were  observed  upon  the  invitation  of  Con- 
gress. In  1812,  when  the  last  war  with  England  broke  out,  we  find 
Congress  using  the  following  language :  "  It  being  a  duty  peculiarly 
incumbent  in  a  time  of  public  calamity  and  war,  humbly  and  devoutly 
to  acknowledge  our  dependence  on  Almighty  God,  and  to  implore 
His  aid  and  protection,  therefore  resolved,  that  a  joint  committee  of 
both  Houses  wait  on  the  President,  and  request  him  to  recommend  a 
day  of  public  humiliation  and  prayer,  to  be  observed  by  the  people 
of  the  United  States  with  religious  solemnity,  and  the  offering  of 


CHAP.  VII.]      CHRISTIAN   CHARACTER    OF   THE   GOVERNMENT.  245 

fervent  supplications  to  Almighty  God  for  the  safety  of  these  States, 
and  the  speedy  restoration  of  peace."  And  when  the  peace  arrived, 
the  same  branch  of  the  government  called,  in  like  manner,  for  a  day 
of  thanksoivino-,  which  President  Madison  did  not  hesitate  to  recom- 
mend.  And  though  President  Jackson,  I  regret  to  say,  had,  as  Mr. 
Jefferson  had,  scruples  as  to  how  far  he  was  empowered  by  the  Con- 
stitution to  appoint,  or,  rather,  to  recommend  such  days  of  fasting 
and  prayer,  and  refused,  accordingly,  to  do  so  at  a  time  when  it  was 
loudly  called  for  by  the  circumstances  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Tyler  did 
not  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  call  upon  the  people  to  observe  such  a 
day  upon  the  death  of  the  lamented  President  Harrison.  And  sel- 
dom has  such  a  day  been  so  remarkably  observed  in  any  country,  the 
people  nocking  to  their  respective  churches,  and  listening  with  pro- 
found  attention  to  discourses  suited  to  the  affecting  occasion.  It  was 
marked,  in  short,  with  the  solemnity  of  a  Sabbath.  The  nation  felt 
that  God,  who  had  stricken  down  the  man  whom  they  had  elevated 
so  lately,  and  with  such  enthusiasm,  to  the  presidency,  was  loudly 
calling  upon  them  not  to  trust  in  "  man,  whose  breath  is  in  his  nos- 
trils." The  appointment  of  that  fast  was  manifestly  acceptable  to  the 
nation  at  large.  President  Taylor  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  on  ac- 
count of  the  cholera. 

In  the  third  place,  the  General  Government  has  at  various  times 
authorized  the  employment  of  chaplains  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  at 
this  moment  there  are  such  in  all  the  larger  vessels  of  war,  and  at 
twenty  of  the  chief  fortresses  and  military  stations*    There  is  also  a 

*  I  can  not  avoid  remarking,  however,  that  the  appointment  of  some  twenty -four 
or  five  chaplains  in  the  navy  very  strikingly  illustrates  the  incompetency  of  the  civil 
power  to  manage  spiritual  matters.    Most  of  the  chaplains  in  the  United  States'  navy, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  comparatively  recent  appointments,  have  been  little 
qualified  for  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  from  four  to  twelve  hundred  men  on  board 
a  ship  of  war.    A  secretary  of  the  navy  is  seldom  fitted  to  make  the  best  selection  for 
such  a  post.     It  would  be  better  done  if  committed  to  some  of  the  missionary  socie- 
ties, or  to  them  in  conjunction  with  the  secretary.    For  more  than  twenty  years  after 
the  last  war  with  England  we  had  no  chaplains  in  our  little  army ;  but  since,  for  twenty 
years  and  more,  the  government,  at  the  instance  of  many  of  the  officers,  has  ap- 
pointed twenty  chaplains  for  as  many  of  the  chief  posts.     The  chaplains  are  chosen 
by  the  senior  officers  of  each  post — as  good  an  arrangement,  probably,  as  could  be 
devised.    When  there  were  no  chaplains  employed  by  the  government,  the  ministers 
in  the  vicinity  of  our  forts  and  garrisons,  and  the  missionary  societies,  attended  to  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  officers  and  men.     The  officers  and  men  of  a  regiment,  in 
some  cases,  raised  a  sufficient  sum  among  themselves  for  the  employment  of  a  mis- 
sionary, for  the  greater  part,  or  the  whole  of  his  time,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  them. 
Almost  all  our  forts  and  garrisons  are  often  visited  by  ministers  who  volunteer  to 
preach  at  certain  stated  times  to  the  military  stationed  in  them.     Thus  is  the  Word 
of  Life  made  known  to  men  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  their  country's  service. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  national  army,  in  times  of  peace,  for  a  long  period, 


246  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

chaplain  at  the  government  military  school  at  West  Point,  for  the 
training  of  young  officers.  Moreover,  the  Congress  testifies  to  its 
interest  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  its  sense  of  its  importance, 
by  employing  two  chaplains,  one  for  the  Senate  and  the  other  for  the 
House  of  Representatives,  to  open  the  sittings  of  these  bodies  every 
day  with  prayer,  and  to  preach  every  Sabbath  to  the  two  Houses, 
convened  in  the  Hall  of  the  Representatives,  at  twelve  o'clock. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  policy  of  the  General  Government  may  be 
considered  as  Christian,  inasmuch  as  it  is  directed,  in  a  large  meas- 
ure, by  a  Christian  spirit.  As  a  people,  we  have  preferred  peace  to 
war ;  we  have  endeavored  to  act  with  simple  integrity  and  good  faith 
to  foreign  nations.  With  few  exceptions,  the  General  Government 
has  acted  fairly  to  the  Indians  on  our  borders ;  and  in  the  instances 
in  wThich  it  has  been  blamed,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  it  could  have 
acted  otherwise.  To  avoid  a  civil  war,  it  has  once  or  twice,  perhaps, 
failed  to  act  with  sufficient  promptitude  in  protecting  them  from  their 
ruthless  white  invaders.  But,  generally  speaking,  its  conduct  toward 
the  Indians  has  been  mild  and  benevolent.  From  the  times  of  Wash- 
ington it  has  ever  willingly  lent  its  aid  in  promoting  the  introduction 
of  the  arts  of  civilized  life  among  them ;  it  has  expended  much  money 
in  doing  so ;  and  at  this  moment  it  is  co-operating  with  our  mission- 
ary societies,  by  giving  them  indirect  but  effectual  aid  in  that  quarter. 
But- 1  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  elsewhere  of  the  conduct  of  the 
General  Government  with  respect  to  this  subject. 

In  the  fifth  place,  the  same  spirit  appears  in  what  takes  place  in 
judicial  affairs.  As,  first,  the  rejection  of  the  oath  of  an  atheist;  sec- 
ond, the  requiring  of  a  belief  in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, in  order  to  the  validity  of  a  man's  testimony ;  and,  lastly, 
the  administering  of  oaths  on  the  Bible. 

In  the  sixth  place,  this  appears  from  the  readiness  shown  by  Con- 
gress in  making  large  grants  of  valuable  public  lands  for  the  support 
of  seminaries  of  learning,  asylums  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  for  hos- 
pitals, although  aware  that  the  institutions  thus  endowed  were  often 
to  be  under  the  direction  of  decided  Christians,  who  would  give  a 
prominent  place  in  them  to  their  religious  views.  This  I  could  show 
by  many  facts,  were  it  necessary. 

But  I  have  said  enough,  I  trust,  to  prove  that  though  the  encour- 

seldom  numbered  more  than  six  or  eight  thousand  men.  It  would  now,  if  complete, 
embrace  seventeen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-seven  officers  and  men.  Last 
year  (November,  1855),  it  had  fifteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  officers 
and  men.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  officers 
are  pious  men,  and  do  much  good  by  holding  religious  meetings  in  their  respective 
regiments  and  companies. 


CHAP.  VIII.]      CHRISTIAN   BASIS    OP   THE   STATE   GOVERNMENTS.  247 

agement  or  promotion  of  religion  does  not  directly  belong  to  the 
General  Government,  but  to  the  States,  the  former  is  neither  hostile 
nor  indifferent  to  the  religious  interests  of  the  country.  This,  indeed, 
is  not  likely  to  be  the  case,  so  long,  at  least,  as  a  large  proportion  of 
our  public  men  entertain  the  respect  they  now  show  for  religion. 
Such  respect  is  the  more  interesting,  as  it  can  only  flow  from  the 
spontaneous  feelings  of  the  heart.  They  are  not  tempted  by  any  re- 
ligious establishment  to  become  the  partisans  of  religion.  Religion 
stands  on  its  own  basis,  and  seeks,  not  ineffectually,  to  win  the  re- 
spect and  affections  of  all  men  by  its  own  simple  merits.  Many  of 
the  national  legislators  are  either  members  of  the  churches,  or  their 
warm  supporters ;  while  few  among  them  are  not  believers  in  Chris- 
tianity, or  do  not  attend  some  sanctuary  of  the  Most  High  on  the 
Sabbath. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE    GOVERNMENTS    OF    THE    INDIVIDUAL    STATES    ORGANIZED    ON  THE 

BASIS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

After  considering  the  claims  of  the  General  Government  to  be 
regarded  as  Christian  in  character,  let  us  inquire  how  far  the  indi- 
vidual States,  and  particularly  the  original  Thirteen,  are  entitled  to 
the  same  distinction :  confining  ourselves  in  this  chapter  to  the  evi- 
dence supplied  by  their  earliest  constitutions  or  fundamental  laws, 
which  were  mostly  made  during,  or  shortly  after,  the  Revolution. 

Virginia  was  unquestionably  a  Christian  State,  but  her  Constitution 
is  silent  on  the  subject.  It  was  drawn  up  under  the  eye  of  one  of 
the  greatest  enemies  that  Christianity  has  ever  had  to  contend  with 
in  America ;  but  although  he  had  influence  enough  to  prevent  the 
religion  which  he  hated  from  being  mentioned  in  the  Constitution  of 
Virginia,  he  could  not  obliterate  all  traces  of  it  from  her  laws. 

Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  had  adopted  no  Constitutions  of 
their  own  when  that  of  the  United  States  was  framed.  The  latter 
of  these  two  States  has  been  governed  almost  to  this  day  by  the 
charter  granted  by  Charles  II.  Both  States  were  of  Puritan  origin, 
and  the  charters  of  both  were  based  on  Christian  principles,  as  are 
their  present  Constitutions. 

The  first  Constitution  of  New  York  dated  from  1777.  It  strongly 
guarded  the  rights  of  conscience  and  religious  worship.  It  excluded 
the  clergy  from  public  offices  of  a  secular  nature,  on  the  express 


248  THE  NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

ground  that  "  by  their  profession  they  were  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  God  and  to  the  cure  of  souls,"  and  "  ought  not  to  be  diverted  from 
the  great  duties  of  their  functions." 

The  Constitution  of  New  Jersey,  as  originally  framed  in  1776,  be- 
sides guaranteeing  to  every  one  the  "  inestimable  privilege  of  wor- 
shipping Almighty  God  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience,"  declared  that  "  all  persons  professing  a  belief  in  the 
faith  of  any  Protestant  sect,  and  who  should  demean  themselves  peace- 
ably under  the  government,  should  be  capable  of  being  members  of 
either  branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  should  fully  and  freely  enjoy 
every  privilege  and  immunity  enjoyed  by  others,  their  fellow-citizens." 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  style  of  this  instrument,  it  can  not 
be  denied  that  it  favored  the  professors  of  Protestant  Christianity. 

The  Constitution  of  New  Hampshire,  after  laying  it  down  that 
"  every  individual  has  a  natural  and  inalienable  right  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  and  his  reason,"  says, 
"  that  morality  and  piety,  rightly  grounded  on  evangelical  principles, 
would  give  the  best  and  greatest  security  to  government,  and  would 
lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligations  to  due  subjection;" 
and  again,  "  that  the  knowledge  of  these  was  most  likely  to  be  prop- 
agated by  the  institution  of  the  public  worship  of  the  Deity,  and 
public  instruction  in  morality  and  religion ;"  therefore,  to  promote 
these  important  purposes,  "the  towns"  are  empowered  to  adopt 
measures  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  "public  Protestant 
teachers  of  piety,  religion,  and  morality."  Although  the  towns  are 
still  authorized  to  take  measures  for  the  support  of  public  worship, 
this  is  no  longer  accomplished  by  a  general  assessment. 

The  first  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  was  framed  in  1780.  In  it 
we  find  the  following  language  :  "  That  as  the  happiness  of  a  people, 
and  the  good  order  and  preservation  of  civil  government,  essentially 
depend  upon  piety,  religion,  and  morality ;  and  as  these  can  not  be 
generally  diffused  through  a  community  but  by  the  institution  of  the 
public  worship  of  God,  and  of  public  instruction  in  piety,  religion,  and 
morality :  therefore,  to  promote  their  happiness,  and  to  secure  the 
good  order  and  preservation  of  their  government,  the  people  of  this 
commonwealth  have  a  right  to  invest  their  Legislature  with  power  to 
authorize  and  require,  and  the  Legislature  shall  from  time  to  time 
authorize  and  require  the  several  towns,  parishes,  precincts,  and  other 
bodies  politic,  or  religious  societies,  to  make  suitable  provision,  at 
their  own  expense,  for  the  institution  of  the  public  worship  of  God, 
and  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  public  Protestant  teachers  of 
piety,  religion,  and  morality,  in  all  cases  where  such  provision  shall 
not  be  made  voluntarily ;  and  the  people  of  this  commonwealth  have 


CHAP.  VIII.]       CHRISTIAN   BASIS    OF   THE   STATE   GOVEENMENTS.  249 

also  a  right  to,  and  do,  invest  their  Legislature  with  authority  to  en- 
join upon  all  the  subjects  an  attendance  upon  the  instructions  of  the 
public  teachers  as  aforesaid,  at  stated  times  and  seasons,  if  there  be 
any  one  whose  instructions  they  can  conscientiously  attend."  It  was 
also  ordained,  that  "because  a  frequent  recurrence  to  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  constant  adherence  to 
those  of  piety,  justice,  moderation,  temperance,  industry,  and  frugal- 
ity, are  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  the  advantages  of  liberty 
and  to  maintain  a  tree  government,  the  people  ought  consequently  to 
have  a  particular  regard  to  all  those  principles  in  the  choice  of  their 
officers  and  representatives ;  and  they  have  a  right  to  require  of  their 
lawgivers  and  magistrates  an  exact  and  constant  observance  of  them 
in  the  formation  and  execution  of  all  laws  necessary  for  the  good  ad- 
ministration of  the  commonwealth."  And,  lastly,  it  was  prescribed 
that  every  person  "chosen  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  senator, 
or  representative,  and  accepting  the  trust,"  shall  subscribe  a  solemn 
profession  "  that  he  believes  the  Christian  religion,  and  has  a  firm 
persuasion  of  its  truth." 

.The  Constitution  of  Maryland,  made  in  1776,  empowers  the  Legis- 
lature "  to  lay  a  general  tax  for  the  support  of  the  Christian  religion," 
and  declares  that  "  all  persons  professing  the  Christian  religion  are 
equally  entitled  to  protection  in  their  religious  liberty."  All  tests  are 
disallowed,  excepting  these :  an  oath  of  office ;  an  oath  of  allegiance ; 
"  and  a  declaration  of  a  belief  in  the  Christian  religion." 

The  first  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  made  in  the  same  year,  re- 
quired that  every  member  of  the  Legislature  should  make  this  solemn 
declaration :  "  I  do  believe  in  one  God,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of 
the  universe,  the  rewarder  of  the  good  and  the  punisher  of  the 
wicked ;  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  to  be  given  by  Divine  inspiration." 

The  Constitution  of  Delaware,  made  at  the  same  period,  premises, 
"  That  all  men  have  a  natural  and  inalienable  right  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences  and  understand- 
ings ;"  and  declares,  "  that  all  persons  professing  the  Christian  religion 
ought  forever  to  enjoy  equal  rights  and  privileges."  In  relation  to 
the  members  of  the  Legislature,  it  enjoins,  that  every  citizen  who 
shall  be  chosen  a  member  of  either  house  of  the  Legislature,  or  ap- 
pointed to  any  other  public  office,  shall  be  required  to  subscribe  the 
following  declaration :  "  I  do  profess  faith  in  God  the  Father,  and  in 
Jesus  Christ  His  only  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God,  blessed  for- 
evermore;  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  to  be  given  by  Divine  inspiration." 

The  Constitution  of  North  Carolina,  made  about  the  same  period, 


250  THE   NATIONAL  EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

declares  expressly,  "  That  no  person  who  should  deny  the  being  of 
God,  or  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  religion,  or  the  Divine  authority 
of  either  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  or  who  should  hold  religious 
principles  incompatible  with  the  freedom  and  safety  of  the  State, 
should  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  or  place  of  trust  in  the  civil 
government  of  the  State." 

But  the  Constitution  of  South  Carolina,  made  in  1V78,  was  the 
most  remarkable  of  all.  It  directs  the  Legislature,  at  its  regular 
meeting,  to  "  choose  by  ballot  from  among  themselves,  or  from  the 
people  at  large,  a  governor  and  commander-in-chief,  a  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, and  privy  council,  all  of  the  Protestant  religion."  It  prescribes 
that  no  man  shall  be  eligible  to  either  the  Senate  or  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, "unless  he  be  of  the  Protestant  Religion."  And,  in  a 
word,  it  ordains  "  that  the  Christian  religion  be  deemed,  and  is  hereby 
constituted  and  declared  to  be,  the  established  religion  of  the  land." 

Provision  was  also  made  for  the  incorporation,  maintenance,  and 
government  of  such  "  societies  of  Christian  Protestants"  as  chose  to 
avail  themselves  of  laws  for  the  purpose,  and  required  that  every  such 
society  should  first  agree  to,  and  subscribe  in  a  book  the  five  articles 
following : 

"  First,  That  there  is  one  eternal  God,  and  a  future  state  of  rewards 
and  punishments. 

"  Second,  That  God  is  publicly  to  be  worshipped. 

"  Third,  That  the  Christian  religion  is  the  true  religion. 

"  Fourth,  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
are  of  Divine  inspiration,  and  are  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

"  Fifth,  That  it  is  lawful,  and  the  duty  of  every  man,  being  there- 
unto called  by  those  who  govern,  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth." 

Even  more  than  this :  the  Conscript  Fathers  who  made  the  Consti- 
tution of  South  Carolina  went  on  to  declare,  "  That  to  give  the  State 
sufficient  security  for  the  discharge  of  the  pastoral  office,  no  person 
shall  officiate  as  a  minister  of  any  established  church  who  shall  not 
have  been  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  society  to  which  he  shall 
minister,  nor  until  he  shall  have  made  and  subscribed  the  following 
declaration,  over  and  above  the  aforesaid  five  articles ;  viz.,  '  That  he 
is  determined,  by  God's  grace,  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  instruct 
the  people  committed  to  his  charge,  and  to  teach  nothing  as  required 
of  necessity  to  eternal  salvation  but  that  which  he  shall  be  persuaded 
may  be  concluded  and  proved  from  the  Scriptures ;  that  he  will  use 
both  public  and  private  admonitions,  as  well  to  the  sick  as  to  the 
whole  within  his  cure,  as  need  shall  require  and  occasion  be  given ; 
that  he  will  be  diligent  in  prayers  and  in  reading  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  in  such  studies  as  help  to  the  knowledge  of  the  same ; 


CHAP.  VIII.]      CHRISTIAN  BASIS  OP  THE  STATE  GOVERNMENTS.  251 

that  he  will  be  diligent  to  frame  and  fashion  his  own  self  and  his  family- 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  to  make  both  himself  and 
them,  as  much  as  in  him  lies,  wholesome  examples  and  patterns  of 
the  flock  of  Christ ;  that  he  will  maintain  and  set  forward,  as  much 
as  he  can,  quietness,  peace,  and  love,  among  all  people,  and  especially 
among  those  committed  to  his  charge." 

Who  does  not  recognize  in  this  Constitution  the  spirit  of  the  old 
Huguenot  Confession  of  Faith,  and  of  the  Synods  of  France,  which 
those  who  had  been  persecuted  in  the  Gallican  kingdom  had  carried 
with  them  to  the  New  World  ? 

The  Constitution  of  Georgia,  made  in  1777,  says:  "Every  officer 
of  the  State  shall  be  liable  to  be  called  to  account  by  the  House  of 
Assembly,"  and  that  all  the  members  of  that  House  "  shall  be  of  the 
Protestant  religion." 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  State  Constitutions  in  the  opening 
scenes  of  our  national  existence.  Of  the  thirteen  original  States, 
the  organic  laws  of  all  but  one  expressly  enjoined  the  Christian 
religion,  and  almost  without  exception,  the  Protestant  form  of  Chris- 
tianity. But  even  Virginia  was,  in  fact,  as  much  Christian  as  any  of 
them. 

From  all  this,  the  reader  will  see  how  the  nation  set  out  on  its 
career.  It  was,  in  every  proper  sense  of  the  word,  a  Christian  nation. 
And  though  the  Constitutions  of  the  old  States  have  since  been  de- 
prived of  what  was  exclusive  in  regard  to  religion,  and  the  political 
privileges  of  the  Protestants  are  now  extended  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, without  any  exception  that  I  am  aware  of,  yet  the  legislative 
action  of  those  States,  as  well  as  that  of  the  new,  is  still  founded  on 
Christianity,  and  is  as  favorable  as  ever  to  the  promotion  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  I  am  not  sure  that  there  is  now  even  one  State  in  which 
the  Jew  has  not  equal  privileges  with  the  professor  of  Christianity. 
He  has  everywhere  the  right  to  worship  God  publicly,  according  to 
the  rites  of  his  religion.  In  some  States  he  holds  offices  of  trust  and 
influence,  the  law  opening  to  him  as  well  as  to  others  access  to  such 
offices.  Thus,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  few  years  ago,  a  descendant 
of  Abraham  was  a  judge  of  one  of  the  courts,  and  discharged  its 
duties  faithfully  and  acceptably.  It  is  seldom  that  there  is  not  a  Jew 
in  one  or  the  other  House  of  Congress.  Jews  form  but  a  small  body 
in  America,  and  as  they  hold  what  may  be  called  the  basis  of  the 
Christian  religion,  worship  God  according  to  the  Old  Testament,  and 
believe  in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  such  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  laws  as  should  place  them  on  the  same  footing  with 
Christians,  as  respects  political  privileges,  was  not  deemed  too  lati- 
tudinarian  or  unsafe.     They  surely  have  as  good  a  claim  to  be  con- 


252  THE  NATIONAL  ERA.  [BOOK  III. 

sidered  fit  to  become  members  of  a  government  founded  on  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Bible,  as  Unitarians  can  pretend  to,  and  hold  safer 
principles  than  the  Universalists. 

I  repeat,  in  few  words,  that  the  State  governments  were  founded 
on  Christianity,  and  almost  without  exception,  on  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  progress  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  religious  lib- 
erty, every  thing  that  looked  like  an  interference  with  the  rights 
of  conscience  in  any  sect  was  laid  aside,  and  all  men  whose  relig- 
ious principles  were  not  thought  subversive  of  the  great  moral  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity,  were  admitted  to  a  full  participation  in  civil 
privileges  and  immunities.  This  is  the  present  position  of  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  several  States  in  the  American  Union.  Their  legis- 
lation, while  it  avoids  oppressing  the  conscience  of  any  sect  of  relig- 
ionists, is  still  decidedly  favorable,  in  general,  to  the  interests  of 
Christianity ;  the  unchristian  element,  if  I  may  so  term  it,  is  too  in- 
significant, taking  the  country  as  a  whole,  to  exert  an  influence  of 
any  importance  on  the  national  legislation. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  LEGISLATION   OF  THE    STATES   SHOWN  TO   BE  IN  FAVOR    OP 

CHRISTIANITY. 

We  have  said  that  the  organic  laws  of  the  State  governments  have 
been  so  far  modified  as  to  extend  political  rights  to  citizens  of  all 
shades  of  religious  opinions ;  that  in  every  State  the  rights  of  con- 
science are  guaranteed  to  all  men ;  and  that  in  these  respects,  the 
whole  thirty-one  States  and  seven  Territories  composing  the  Amer- 
ican Union  are  as  one.  But  we  must  not  be  understood  as  meaning 
thereby,  that  irreligion  and  licentiousness  are  also  guaranteed  by  the 
organic  laws,  or  by  any  laws  whatever.  This  would  be  absurd. 
Rights  of  conscience  are  religious  rights,  that  is,  rights  to  entertain 
and  utter  religious  opinions,  and  to  enjoy  public  religious  worship. 
Now  this  expression,  even  in  its  widest  acceptation,  can  not  include 
irreligion — opinions  contrary  to  the  nature  of  religion,  subversive  of 
the  reverence,  love,  and.  service  due  to  God,  of  virtue,  morality,  and 
good  manners.  What  rights  of  conscience  can  atheism,  irreligion,  or 
licentiousness  pretend  to  ?  It  may  not  be  prudent  to  disturb  them  in 
their  private  haunts  and  secret  retirements.  There  let  them  remain 
and  hold  their  peace.  But  they  have  no  right,  by  any  law  in  the  United 
States  that  I  am  aware  of,  to  come  forward  and  propagate  opinions  and 


CHAP.  IX.]  LEGISLATION   IN  FAVOR   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  253 

proselytize.  Such  attempts,  on  the  contrary,  are  everywhere  opposed 
by  the  laws,  and  if,  at  times,  these  laws  are  evaded,  or  their  enforce- 
ment intentionally  intermitted,  this  does  not  proceed  from  any  ques- 
tion of  their  being  just,  but  from  a  conviction  that,  in  some  circum- 
stances, it  is  the  less  of  two  evils  not  to  enforce  them.  It  is  sometimes 
the  best  way  to  silence  a  noisy,  brainless  lecturer  on  atheism,  to  let 
him  alone,  and  the  immoral  conduct  of  some  preachers  of  unright- 
eousness is  the  best  refutation  of  their  impious  doctrines.  At  times, 
however,  another  course  must  be  pursued.  Profane  swearing,  blas- 
phemy, obscenity,  the  publication  of  licentious  books  and  pictures, 
the  interruption  of  public  worship,  and  offences  of  a  like  nature,  are 
punishable  by  the  laws  of  every  State  in  the  American  Union.  Now, 
whence  had  these  laws  their  origin,  or  where  do  we  find  their  sanc- 
tion ?  Take  the  laws  against  profane  swearing.  Where  did  men  learn 
that  that  is  an  offence  against  which  the  law  should  level  its  denuncia- 
tions ?     Surely  from  the  Bible,  and  from  no  other  source. 

I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  one  State  that  has  no  laws  for  the  due 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  But  whence  came  such  regulations? 
From  the  light  of  Nature  ?  From  the  conclusions  of  human  wisdom  ? 
Has  philosophy  ever  discovered  that  one  day  in  seven  should  be  con- 
secrated to  God  ?  I  know  that  experience  and  a  right  knowledge 
of  the  animal  economy  show  that  the  law  setting  apart  one  day  in 
seven  is  good,  favorable  to  human  happiness,  and  merciful  to  the 
beasts  of  burden.  But  the  Sabbath  is  of  God ;  and  putting  aside 
some  dim  traditions  and  customs  among  nations  near  the  spot  where 
the  Divine  command  respecting  it  was  first  given  to  Moses,  or  the 
people  in  whose  code  it  afterward  held  a  permanent  place,  we  find 
it  only  in  the  Bible. 

But  it  is  not  only  by  the  statute  law  of  the  United  States  that  such 
offences  are  forbidden,  they  are  punishable  likewise  under  the  com- 
mon law,  which  has  force  in  that  country,  as  well  as  in  England.  Of 
this  admirable  part  of  the  civil  economy,  Christianity  is  not  merely 
an  inherent,  it  is  a  constituent  part.  This,  though  denied  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  Dr.  Cooper,  and  others,  has  been  so  decided  by  many  of 
the  ablest  judges  in  the  land.  For  it  has  been  held,  that  while  the 
abolition  of  religious  establishments  in  the  United  States  necessarily 
abolishes  that  part  of  the  common  law  which  attaches  to  them  in 
England,  it  does  nothing  more,  and  thus  many  offences  still  remain 
obnoxious  to  it,  on  the  ground  of  their  being  contrary  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

A  person  was  indicted  at  New  York,  in  1811,  for  aspersing  the 
character  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  denying  the  legitimacy  of  his  birth. 
He  was  tried,  condemned,  fined,  and  imprisoned.     On  that  trial,  the 


254  THE  NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

late  Chancellor  Kent,  an  authority  believed  to  be  second  to  none  in 
the  country,  expressed  himself  as  follows : 

"  The  people  of  this  State,  in  common  with  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try, profess  the  general  doctrines  of  Christianity  as  the  rule  of  their 
faith  and  practice ;  and  to  scandalize  the  Author  of  these  doctrines  is 
not  only,  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  extremely  hnpious,  but,  even 
in  respect  to  the  obligations  due  to  society,  is  a  gross  violation  of 
decency  aud  good  order.  Nothing  could  be  more  offensive  to  the 
virtuous  part  of  the  community,  or  more  injurious  to  the  tender 
morals  of  the  young,  than  to  declare  such  profanity  lawful.  It  would 
go  to  confound  all  distinction  between  things  sacred  and  profane." 
"  No  government,"  he  maintained,  "  among  any  of  the  polished  na- 
tions of  antiquity,  and  none  of  the  institutions  of  modern  Europe  (a 
single  monitory  case  excepted),  ever  hazarded  such  a  bold  experi- 
ment upon  the  solidity  of  the  public  morals,  as  to  permit  with  im- 
punity, and  under  the  sanction  of  their  tribunals,  the  general  religion 
of  the  community  to  be  openly  insulted  and  defamed."  "  True,"  he 
adds,  "the  Constitution  has  discarded  religious  establishments.  It 
does  not  forbid  judicial  cognizance  of  those  offences  against  religion 
and  morality  which  have  no  reference  to  any  such  establishment,  or 
to  any  particular  form  of  government,  but  are  punishable  because 
they  strike  at  the  root  of  moral  obligation,  and  weaken  the  security 
of  the  social  ties.  To  construe  it  as  breaking  down  the  common  law 
barriers  against  licentious,  wanton,  and  impious  attacks  upon  Chris- 
tianity itself,  would  be  an  enormous  perversion  of  its  meaning."* 

These  just  opinions  were  fully  sustained  by  the  decision  pronounced 
in  Pennsylvania,  at  the  trial  of  a  man  indicted  for  blasphemy,  not 
against  God  directly,  but  against  the  Bible ;  the  design  charged  upon 
him  being  that  of  "  contriving  and  intending  to  scandalize  and  bring 
into  disrepute  and  vilify  the  Christian  religion  and  the  Scriptures  of 
truth."  On  that  occasion,  the  late  Judge  Duncan  said,  that  "  even 
if  Christianity  were  not  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  it  is  the  popu- 
lar religion  of  the  country ;  an  insult  to  which  would  be  indictable, 
as  tending  to  disturb  the  public  peace ;"  and  added,  "  that  no 
society  can  tolerate  a  willful  and  despiteful  attempt  to  subvert  its 
religion."f 

The  application  of  the  common  law,  by  the  courts  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  the  protection  of  clergymen  living  in  the  discharge  of  their  official 
duties,  confirms  all  that  has  been  said  respecting  the  light  in  which 
Christianity  is  regarded  by  the  State  governments. 

Further,  every  State  has  laws  for  the  protection  of  all  religious 

*  Johnson's  "Reports,"  p.  290. 

\  11  Sergeant  and  Rawle's  Reports,  p.  394. 


CHAP.  X.]      LEGISLATION  INCIDENTALLY  FAVORABLE  TO  RELIGION.      255 

meetings  from  disturbance,  and  these  are  enforced  when  occasion  re- 
quires. Indeed,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  offence  that  is  more  promptly 
punished  by  the  police  than  interference  with  religious  worship, 
whether  held  in  a  church,  in  a  private  house,  or  even  in  the  forest. 

All  the  States  have  laws  for  the  regulation  of  church  property,  and 
of  that  devoted  to  religious  uses.  In  some  States,  every  religious 
body,  immediately  on  being  organized,  is  pronounced  de  facto  incor- 
porated ;  and  in  none,  generally,  is  there  any  difficulty  in  procuring 
an  act  of  incorporation,  either  for  churches  or  for  benevolent  societies. 

No  State  allows  the  oath  of  an  atheist  to  be  received  in  a  court  of 
justice,  and  in  one  only,  in  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  is  that  of  a  disbe- 
liever in  a,  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  received  as  evi- 
dence. That  State  is  New  York,  where  the  law  requires  simply  the 
belief  in  a  state  of  rewards  and  punishments ;  in  other  words,  if  a 
man  believes  that  there  is  a  God  who  punishes  men  for  evil  actions, 
and  rewards  them  for  their  good  ones,  whether  in  this  world  or  in 
that  which  is  to  come,  his  oath  will  be  received  in  a  court  of  justice. 
Of  course,  the  man  who  believes  neither  in  the  existence  of  God,  nor 
in  any  sort  of  divine  punishment,  can  not  be  sworn,  nor  can  his  testi- 
mony be  allowed,  in  a  court  in  that  State. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  LEGISLATION   OF   THE   STATES    OFTEN   BEARS  FAVORABLY,  THOUGH 
INCIDENTALLY,    ON  THE   CAUSE    OF   RELIGION. 

If  there  be  no  Established  Church  in  any  of  the  States  at  the 
present  time,  it  is  not,  as  we  have  shown,  from  any  want  of  power  in 
the  States  to  create  such  an  establishment,  but  because  it  has  been 
found  inexpedient  to  attempt  promoting  religion  in  that  way.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  with  us  all  such  establishments  have  been, 
upon  the  whole,  more  injurious  than  beneficial.  They  have  been  re- 
nounced because,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  they  could  never  be 
made  to  operate  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  do  some  injustice  to  one 
portion  or  other  of  the  citizens. 

To  this  general  conviction  we  must  ascribe  what  appears  at  first  sight 
to  be  an  anomaly :  the  fact  that  power  to  aid  religion  by  legal  enactment 
is  expressly  conferred  in  the  Constitution  of  some  of  the  States,*  and 
yet  that  power  is  suffered  to  lie  dormant,  nor  is  there  the  least  prospect 

*  Maryland,  New  Hampshire,  and  South  Carolina. 


256  THE  NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  in. 

of  its  ever  being  exercised  again.  But  although  the  States  have 
thought  it  best  for  the  interests  of  religion  itself,  as  well  as  most 
equitable  to  all  classes  of  the  inhabitants,  to  relinquish  all  attempts  to 
promote  religion  by  what  is  called  an  establishment,  yet  they  have 
deemed  it  neither  unwise  nor  unjust  to  pursue  the  same  end  indi- 
rectly. Several  instances  of  this  kind  have  been  stated  already ;  we 
may  notice  a  few  more. 

The  States  do  much  to  promote  education  in  all  its  stages,  though 
in  doing  so  they  often  assist  the  cause  of  religion,  in  what  might  be 
considered  nearly  the  most  direct  manner  possible.  For  instance, 
they  aid  colleges  directed  by  religious  men,  and  that,  too,  without 
stipulating  for  the  slightest  control  over  these  institutions.  On  this 
we  shall  yet  have  occasion  to  speak  more  at  large,  and  we  introduce 
it  here  merely  to  indicate  what  the  States  are  thus  doing  for  Chris- 
tianity in  the  way  of  concurrence  with  other  bodies.  Some  States 
have  given  considerable  sums  to  endow  colleges  at  the  outset. 
Others  contribute  annually  to  their  support,  and  this  while  well 
aware  that  the  colleges  aided  by  such  grants  are  under  a  decided  re- 
ligious influence.  So  is  it  also  with  the  academies,  of  which  there  are 
several  even  in  the  smallest  States,  and  many  in  the  largest.  Young 
men  are  instructed  in  the  classics  and  mathematics  at  these,  prepara- 
tory to  being  sent  to  college,  and  as  many  of  them  are  conducted  by 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  and  other  religious  men,  they  are  nurseries  of 
vast  importance  both  for  the  Church  and  for  the  State. 

Again,  by  promoting  primary  schools,  the  States  co-operate  in  pro- 
moting religion ;  for  mere  intellectual  knowledge,  although  not  a  part 
of  religion,  greatly  facilitates  its  diffusion  by  means  of  books.  In  the 
six  New  England  States,  it  is  long  since  provision  was  first  made  by 
law  for  the  good  education  of  every  child  whose  parents  choose  to  avail 
themselves  of  it ;  and,  accordingly,  hardly  is  there  to  be  found  an 
adult  native  of  those  States  who  can  not  read.  Some  uneducated 
persons  there  are,  especially  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode 
Island,  but  they  are  few  compared  with  what  may  be  found  in  other 
lands.  In  all  the  six  States,  except  Connecticut,  each  "  town"  is  re- 
quired to  assess  itself  for  as  many  schools  as  it  may  need.  Connec- 
ticut has  a  school  fund  of  above  $2,000,000,  yielding  an  annual  rev- 
enue of  above  $112,000,  and  this  maintains  schools,  a  part  of  the  year 
at  least,  in  every  school  district  of  the  State.  In  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Ohio,  there  are  efficient  primary  school  systems  in  ope- 
ration, supported  by  law,  and  capable  of  supplying  all  the  youth  with 
education.  The  State  support  consists  partly  of  the  interest  of  per- 
manent State  funds  set  apart  for  the  purpose,  partly  of  money  raised 
in  each  of  the  townships  by  assessment.     The  systems  pursued  in 


CHAP.  X.]       LEGISLATION  INCIDENTALLY  FAVOEABLE  TO  EELIGION.      257 

New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  though  less  efficient,  are  highly  useful. 
Efforts  are  making  in  several  of  the  Western  States  to  introduce  a 
like  provision,  and  a  good  deal  is  done  in  the  Southern  States  to 
educate  the  children  of  the  poor,  by  means  of  funds  set  apart  for  that 
purpose. 

The  instruction  given  in  the  primary  schools  of  the  United  States 
depends  greatly  for  its  character  upon  the  teachers.  "Where  these 
are  pious,  they  find  no  difficulty  in  giving  a  great  deal  of  religious, 
instruction  ;  where  they  are  not  so,  but  little  instruction  is  given  that 
can  be  called  religious.     The  Bible  is  read  in  most  of  the  schools. 

Several  of  the  States  have  liberally  contributed  to  the  establishment 
of  asylums  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  for  the  blind,  almost  all  of 
which  institutions  are  under  a  decidedly  religious  influence.  The 
governments  of  several  States  containing  large  cities,  have  done  much 
in  aid  of  the  efforts  of  philanthropic  individuals  and  associations  for 
establishing  Retreats  or  Houses  of  Refuge,  where  young  offenders 
who  have  not  gone  hopelessly  astray  may  be  placed  for  reformation. 
These  institutions  have  been  greatly  blessed. 

Before  concluding  my  remarks  on  the  indirect  bearing  of  the  State 
legislation  in  America  upon  religion,  I  have  a  few  words  to  say  on 
one  or  two  subjects  connected  with  religion,  but  different  from  those 
already  mentioned.  One  is  marriage,  which  with  us,  is  in  a  great 
degree  a  civil  institution,  regulated  by  the  laws  of  each  State,  pre- 
scribing how  it  should  be  performed.  In  so  far  as  it  is  a  contract 
between  the  parties,  under  proper  circumstances  of  age,  consent  of 
friends,  sufficient  number  of  witnesses,  etc.,  it  has,  with  us,  no  neces- 
sary connection  with  religion.  In  all  the  States  it  may  take  place 
if  the  parties  choose,  before  a  regularly  ordained  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  be  accompanied  with  religious  services.  The  civil  power 
decides  within  what  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  it  may  take 
place.  On  this  point,  and  this  mainly,  can  any  collision  take  place 
between  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authorities.  For  instance,  some 
churches  pronounce  marriage  with  a  deceased  wife's  sister  to  be 
incestuous  and  unlawful.  Such  marriages,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
expressly  allowed  by  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  and  are  not  forbidden 
by  those  of  any  other  State  excepting  Virginia.  In  all  cases  of  this 
kind,  a  man  must  make  his  election  as  to  which  he  will  obey — the 
Church  or  the  State.  As  condemnation  by  the  former  subjects  a 
man  to  no  civil  penalties,  all  that  he  can  suffer  is  excommunication. 

As  for  divorces,  they  are  wholly  regulated  by  the  civil  government, 
and  fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  States.  In  some  they  are 
allowed  for  very  few  causes  ;  much  more  looseness  of  practice 
prevails  in  others.     In  South  Carolina,  I  understand  that  no  divorce 

IV 


258  THE   NATIONAL   ERA.  [BOOK  in. 

has  been  granted  since  it  became  a  State.      In  some  States  it  be 
longs  to  the  legislature  to  grant  divorces,  and  in  others  to  the  courts 

of  law. 

What  are  called  mixed  marriages,  or  marriages  between  Protest- 
ants and  Roman  Catholics,  which  have  given  rise  to  so  much  trouble 
of  late  in  some  countries  of  Europe,  occasion  no  difficulty  with  us. 
Marriage,  by  our  laws,  being  a  civil  contract,  is  held  valid  at  common 
law  whenever  the  consent  of  the  parties,  supposing  there  is  no  legal 
impediment,  is  expressed  in  a  way  that  admits  of  proof.  The  refusal 
of  a  priest  to  grant  the  nuptial  benediction,  or  the  "  sacrament  of  mar- 
riage," except  upon  conditions  to  which  the  parties  might  not  be  will- 
ing to  agree,  would  be  of  little  consequence.  They  have  only  to  go 
to  the  civil  magistrate,  and  they  will  be  married  without  the  slightest 
difficulty.  No  Roman  Catholic  priest,  or  Protestant  minister  in  the 
United  States,  would  dare  to  refuse  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  mar- 
riage, unless  for  most  justifiable  reasons  ;  for  if  he  did,  he  would  soon 
hear  of  it  through  the  press,  which  is  with  us  an  instrument  of  cor- 
recting any  little  instances  of  tyranny  or  injustice. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

IN  WHAT  CASES  THE  ACTION  OF  THE  CIVIL  AUTHORITY  MAY  BE  DIRECTED 

IN   REFERENCE  TO   RELIGION. 

Besides  the  incidental  bearing  which  the  legislation  of  the  indi- 
vidual States  has  upon  religion,  and  which  sometimes  comes  not  a 
little  to  its  help,  there  are  cases  in  which  the  civil  authority  intervenes 
more  directly,  not  in  settling  points  of  doctrine,  but  in  determining 
questions  of  property ;  and  these  are  by  no  means  of  rare  occurrence 
where  there  are  conflicting  claims  in  individual  churches.  This,  in- 
deed, has  happened  several  times,  in  reference  to  property  held  by 
large  religious  denominations.  The  first  of  these  cases  occurred  in 
New  Jersey,  and  on  that  occasion  the  courts  decided  upon  the  claims 
to  certain  property,  urged  by  the  Orthodox  and  the  Hicksites,  two 
bodies  into  which  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  has  been  divided 
throughout  the  United  States.  And  although  the  trial  took  place 
on  a  local  cause,  or,  rather,  for  a  local  claim,  yet  the  principle  upon 
which  it  was  decided  affected  all  the  property  held  by  Quaker  socie- 
ties  in  the  State. 

The  second  case  occurred  in  1839,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  the  Su- 


CHAP.  XI.]         CrVIL  INTERVENTION  IN   HATTERS    OF   RELIGION.  259 

preme  Court  had  to  decide  upon  the  claims  of  the  Old  and  New  School, 
to  certain  property  belonging  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  on  its  being  divided  into  two  separate  bodies,  each  of 
which  assumed  the  name  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Here  the 
court  had  of  necessity  to  decide  which  of  the  two  ought  by  law  to  be 
considered  the  true  representative  and  successor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  before  its  division.  The  decision,  however,  did  not  rest  on 
doctrinal  grounds,  but  wholly  on  the  acts  of  the  bodies  themselves, 
the  court  refusing  to  take  up  the  question  of  doctrines  at  all,  as  not 
being  within  their  province.  Not  so  in  the  case  of  the  Quakers  just 
referred  to.  There  the  court  considered  the  question  of  doctrine, 
in  order  to  determine  which  body  was  the  true  Society  of  Friends. 

A  few  years  ago  a  similar  intervention  of  a  law  court  occurred  in 
the  case  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  North  and  South. 

I  apprehend  that  I  have  now  said  enough  to  place  the  nature  of 
the  mutual  relations  between  Church  and  State  in  America  fairly  be- 
fore the  reader,  and  will  dismiss  the  subject  by  giving  some  extracts 
from  a  communication  which  the  late  Hon.  Henry  Wheaton  had  the 
goodness  to  address  to  me,  and  which  presents,  in  some  respects,  a 
resume,  or  summary  of  what  may  be  said  on  this  subject : 

"  In  answer  to  your  first  query,  I  should  say  that  the  State  does 
not  view  the  Christian  Church  as  a  rival  or  an  enemy,  but  rather  as 
an  assistant  or  co-worker  in  the  religious  and  moral  instruction  of  the 
people,  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  civil  govern- 
ment. 

"It  is  not  true  that  the  Church  is  treated  as  a  stranger  by  the 

State. 

"  There  are  ample  laws  in  all  the  States  of  the  American  Union  for 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  the  securing  of  Church  property,  and 
the  undisturbed  tranquillity  of  public  worship  by  every  variety  of 
Christian  sects.  The  law  makes  no  distinction  among  these  sects,  and 
gives  to  no  one  the  predominance  over  the  others.  It  protects  all 
equally,  and  gives  no  political  privileges  to  the  adherent  of  one  over 
those  of  another  sect. 

"The  laws  of  the  several  States  authorize  the  acquisition  and  hold- 
ing of  Church  property,  under  certain  limitations  as  to  value,  either  by 
making  a  special  corporation  for  that  purpose,  or  through  the  agency 
of  trustees  empowered  under  general  regulations  for  that  purpose. 
Without  going  into  detail  on  this  subject,  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
they  proceed  upon  the  principle  of  allowing  the  church  to  hold  a  suf- 
ficient amount  of  real  and  personal  property  to  enable  it  to  perform 
its  appropriate  functions,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  guard  against 
abuse,  by  allowing  too  great  an  amount  of  wealth  to  be  perpetually 


260  THE   NATIONAL   EEA.  [BOOK  III. 

locked  up  in  mortmain  by  grants  and  testamentary  dispositions  ad 
pios  usus.  In  some  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  the  English  statute 
of  mortmain  has  been  introduced,  by  which  religious  corporations  are 
disabled  from  acquiring  real  property  unless  by  special  license  of  the 
government.  In  others,  the  capacity  to  acquire  it  is  regulated  and 
limited  by  the  special  acts  of  legislation  incorporating  religious  socie- 
ties. The  ecclesiastical  corporations  existing  before  the  Revolution, 
which  separated  the  United  States  from  the  parent  country,  continue 
to  enjoy  the  rights  and  property  which  they  had  previously  held  un- 
der acts  of  Parliament,  or  of  the  provincial  legislatures. 

"  Blasphemy  is  punished  as  a  criminal  offence  by  the  laws  of  the 
several  States. 

"  Perjury  is,  in  like  maimer,  punished  as  a  crime ;  the  form  of 
administering  the  oath  being  according  to  the  conscientious  views  of 
different  religious  sects.  The  Quakers  are  allowed  to  affirm  solemnly ; 
the  Jews  swear  upon  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  only ;  and 
certain  Christian  sects  with  the  uplifted  hand. 

"There  has  been  much  discussion  among  our  jurists  as  to  how  the 
oaths  of  infidels  ought  to  be  considered  in  courts  of  justice.  But,  so 
far  as  I  recollect,  the  general  result  is  to  reject  the  oath  of  such  per- 
sons only  as  deny  the  being  of  God,  or  a  future  state  of  rewards 
and  punishments,  without  absolutely  requiring  a  belief  in  revealed 
religion. 

"  The  laws  regulating  marriage,  with  us,  are  founded  on  precepts  of 
Christianity ;  hence  polygamy  is  absolutely  forbidden,  and  punished 
as  a  crime  under  the  denomination  of  bigamy.  Marriages  between 
relations  by  blood  in  the  ascending  or  descending  lines,  and  between 
collaterals  in  the  first  degree,  are  absolutely  forbidden  in  all  the 
States ;  and  in  some,  all  marriages  within  the  Levitical  degrees  are 
also  forbidden. 

"  The  common  law  of  England,  which  requires  consent  merely, 
without  any  particular  form  of  solemnization,  to  render  a  marriage 
legally  valid,  is  adopted  in  those  States  of  the  American  Union  which 
have  not  enacted  special  legislative  statutes  on  the  subject.  In  some 
of  the  States  marriage  is  required  to  be  solemnized  in  the  presence  of 
a  clergyman  or  magistrate. 

"  All  our  distinguished  men,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  Christians  of  one 
denomination  or  other.  A  great  reaction  has  taken  place  within  the 
last  thirty  years  against  the  torrent  of  infidelity  let  in  by  the  super- 
fical  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

"  I  believe  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  is,  with  us,  consid- 
ered almost,  if  not  universally,  as  a  blessing." 

With  these  extracts,  which  give  the  views  of  one  of  the  most  dis- 


CHAP.  XII.]       EEVIEW  OF  THE  GROUND  GONE  OVEE.  261 

tinguished  statesmen  and  diplomatists  in  America,  and  which  confirm 
the  opinions  we  have  advanced  on  all  the  points  to  which  they  refer, 
we  close  our  remarks  on  the  existing  relations  between  Church  and 
State  in  that  country. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EEVIEW  OP  THE  GROUND  GONE  OVEE. 

We  have  now  traced  the  religious  character  of  the  early  colonists  who 
settled  in  America ;  the  religious  establishments  which  they  planted ; 
the  happy  and  the  unhappy  influences  of  those  establishments ;  their 
overthrow  and  its  consequences;  and,  finally,  the  relations  which 
have  subsisted  between  the  churches  and  the  civil  governments  since 
the  Revolution.  We  are  now  about  to  enter  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  resources  which  the  churches  have  developed  since  they  have 
been  compelled  to  look,  in  dependence  upon  God's  blessing,  to  their 
own  exertions,  instead  of  relying  on  the  arm  of  the  State. 

A  review  of  the  ground  which  we  have  gone  over  may  be  given 
almost  in  the  very  words  of  an  able  author,  to  whom  we  have  been 
repeatedly  indebted. 

1.  "The  first  settlers  of  the  United  States  went  to  it  as  Christians, 
and  with  strong  intent  to  occupy  the  country  in  that  character. 

2.  "  The  lives  they  lived  there,  and  the  institutions  they  set  up,  were 
signalized  by  the  spirit  and  doctrine  of  the  religion  they  professed. 

3.  "  The  same  doctrine  and  spirit,  descending  upon  the  patriots  of 
the  federal  era,  entered  largely  into  the  primary  State  Constitutions 
of  the  Republic,  and,  if  analogy  can  be  trusted,  into  the  constructive 
meaning  of  the  Federal  Charter  itself. 

4.  "  Christianity  is  still  the  popular  religion  of  the  country. 

5.  "  And,  finally,  notwithstanding  some  untoward  acts  of  individual 
rulers,  it  is  to  this  day,  though  without  establishments,  and  with  equal 
liberty  to  men's  consciences,  the  religion  of  the  laws  and  of  the  gov- 
ernment. If  records  tell  the  truth — if  annals  and  documents  can  out- 
weigh the  flippant  rhetoric  of  licentious  debate,  our  public  institutions 
carry  still  the  stamp  of  their  origin  :  the  memory  of  better  times  is 
come  down  to  us  in  solid  remains ;  the  monuments  of  the  fathers  are 
yet  standing ;  and,  blessed  be  God,  the  national  edifice  continues 
visibly  to  rest  upon  them."* 

*  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  Moral  and  Religious  Character  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment," pp.  139,  140. 


BOOK   IV. 

THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE    IN  AMEEIOA ;    ITS 

ACTION  AND  INFLUENCE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  VOLTJNTAEY   PEINCIPLE  THE   GEEAT  ALTERNATIVE. THE   NATTJEE 

AND   VASTNESS    OF  ITS   MISSION". 

The  reader  has  remarked  the  progress  of  Religious  Liberty  in  the 
United  States  from  the  first  colonization  of  the  country  until  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  traced  the  effects  of  its  successive  developments  in 
modifying  the  relations  between  the  Churches  and  the  State. 

He  has  seen  that  when  that  country  began  to  be  settled  by  European 
emigrants,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  freedom  of 
conscience  and  the  rights  of  the  immortal  mind  were  but  little  under- 
stood in  the  Old  World.  Those  even  who  fled  to  the  New,  to  enjoy 
this  greatest  of  all  earthly  blessings,  had  but  an  imperfect  apprehen- 
sion of  the  subject  and  its  bearings.  That  which  they  so  highly 
prized  for  themselves,  and  for  the  attainment  of  which  they  had  made 
such  sacrifices,  they  were  unwilling  to  accord  to  others. 

Not  that  men  were  not  allowed,  in  every  colony,  to  entertain  what- 
ever opinions  they  chose  on  the  subject  of  religion,  if  they  did  not 
endeavor  to  propagate  them  when  contrary  to  those  of  the  Established 
Church,  where  such  a  church  existed.  In  the  colonies  where  the  great- 
est intolerance  prevailed,  men  were  compelled  to  attend  the  National 
Church,  but  they  were  not  required,  in  order  to  be  allowed  a  resi- 
dence, to  make  a  profession  of  the  established  faith.  This  was  the 
lowest  possible  amount  of  religious  liberty.  Low  as  it  is,  however, 
it  is  not  yet  enjoyed  by  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  greatest  part  of 
Italy,  and  some  other  Roman  Catholic  countries. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  a  step  in  advance  was  made  by  Virginia 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   NATURE   AND   VASTNESS    OP   ITS   MISSION.  263 

and  Massachusetts,  of  all  the  colonies  the  most  rigid  in  their  views 
of  the  requirements  of  a  Church  Establishment.  Private  meetings 
of  dissenters  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  modes  of  worship  began 
to  be  tolerated. 

A  second  step  was  to  grant  to  such  dissenters  express  permission 
to  hold  public  meetings  for  worship,  without  releasing  them,  how- 
ever, from  their  share  of  the  taxes  to  support  the  Established  Church. 

The  third  step  which  religious  freedom  made,  consisted  in  relieving 
dissenters  from  the  burden  of  contributing  in  any  way  to  the  support 
of  the  Established  Church. 

And,  finally,  the  fourth  and  great  step  was  to  abolish  altogether 
the  support  of  any  Church  by  the  State,  and  place  all,  of  every  name, 
on  the  same  footing  before  the  law,  leaving  each  Church  to  support 
itself  by  its  own  proper  exertions. 

Such  is  the  state  of  things  at  present,  and  such  it  will  remain.  In 
every  State,  liberty  of  conscience  and  liberty  of  worship  are  complete. 
The  government  extends  protection  to  all.  Any  set  of  men  who  wish 
to  have  a  church  or  place  of  worship  of  their  own,  can  have  it,  if  they 
choose  to  erect  or  hire  a  building  at  their  own  charges.  Nothing  is 
required  but  to  comply  with  the  terms  which  the  law  prescribes  in 
relation  to  holding  property  for  public  uses.  The  proper  civil  author- 
ities have  nothing  to  do  with  the  creed  of  those  who  open  such  a 
place  of  worship*  They  can  not  offer  the  smallest  obstruction  to 
the  opening  of  a  place  of  worship  anywhere,  if  those  who  choose  to 
undertake  it  comply  with  the  simple  terms  of  the  law  in  relation  to 
such  property. 

Nor  can  the  police  authorities  interfere  to  break  up  a  meeting, 
unless  it  can  be  proved  to  be  a  nuisance  to  the  neighborhood  by  the 
disturbance  which  it  occasions,  or  on  account  of  the  immoral  practices 
which  may  be  committed  in  it — not  on  account  of  the  particular 
religious  faith  which  may  be  there  taught.  All  improper  meddling 
with  a  religious  meeting,  no  matter  whether  it  be  held  in  a  church  or 
in  a  private  house,  would  not  be  tolerated. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  shown,  neither  the  General  Govern- 
ment nor  that  of  the  States  does  any  thing  directly  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  public  worship.  Religion  is  protected,  and  indirectly  aided, 
as  has  been  proved,  by  both ;  but  nowhere  does  the  civil  power  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  the  churches,  or  pay  the  salaries  of  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  excepting  in  the  case  of  the  chaplains  connected  with  the 
public  service. 

Upon  what,  then,  must  Religion  rely  ?    Only,  under  God,  upon  the 

*  In  California,  the  Chinese  have  opened  temples  for  their  heathenish  worship 
without  molestation. 


264  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

efforts  of  its  friends,  acting  from  their  own  free  will,  influenced  by 
that  variety  of  considerations  which  is  ordinarily  comprehended  under 
the  title  of  a  desire  to  do  good.  This,  in  America,  is  the  grand  and 
only  alternative.  To  this  principle  must  the  country  look  for  all 
those  efforts  which  must  be  made  for  its  religious  instruction.  To 
the  consideration  of  its  action,  and  the  development  of  its  resources, 
the  book  upon  which  we  now  enter  is  devoted. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  work  which,  under  God's  blessing, 
must  be  accomplished  by  this  instrumentality. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  in  1850  was,  by  the  census, 
ascertained  to  be  twenty-three  millions  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  souls.  At  present 
(January,  1856)  it  surpasses  twenty-seven  millions.  Upon  the  vol- 
untary principle  alone  depends  the  religious  instruction  of  this  entire 
population,  embracing  the  thousands  of  churches  and  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  Sunday-schools,  mission- 
ary societies,  and  all  the  other  instrumentalities  that  are  employed 
to  promote  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  from  one  end  of  the  country 
to  the  other.  Upon  the  mere  unconstrained  good-will  of  the  people, 
especially  of  those  among  them  who  love  the  Saviour  and  profess 
His  name,  does  this  vast  superstructure  rest.  Those  may  tremble  for 
the  result  who  do  not  know  what  the  human  heart  is  capable  of  doing 
when  left  to  its  own  energies,  moved  and  sustained  by  the  grace  and 
the  love  of  God. 

Still  more :  not  only  must  all  the  good  that  is  now  doing  in  that 
vast  country,  and  amid  more  than  twenty-seven  millions  of  souls,  be 
continued  by  the  voluntary  principle,  but  the  increasing  demands  of 
a  population  augmenting  in  a  ratio  to  which  the  history  of  the  world 
furnishes  no  parallel,  must  be  met  and  supplied.  And  what  this  will 
require  may  be  conceived,  when  we  state  the  fact  that  the  annual  in- 
crease of  the  population  during  the  decade  from  1840  to  1850  was 
six  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-one,  upon 
an  average !  From  1790  to  1800  the  average  annual  increase  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand 
six  hundred  and  nine;  from  1800  to  1810  it  was  one  hundred  and 
ninety-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-eight ;  from  1810  to 
1820  it  was  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
thirty-one;  from  1820  to  1830  it  was  three  hundred  and  twenty-two 
thousand,  eight  hundred  and  seventy-eight;  from  1830  to  1840  it  was 
four  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-four ; 
from  1840  to  1850  it  was,  as  has  just  been  said,  six  hundred  and 
twelve  thousand  nine  and  thirty-one;  from  1850  to  1860  it  will  prob- 
ably be,  at  least,  eight  hundred  thousand.     To  augment  the  number 


CHAP.  II.]       FOUNT) ATION   IX   THE    CHARACTER    OF   THE   PEOPLE.  265 

of  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  churches,  etc.,  so  as  adequately  to  meet 
this  annual  demand,  will  require  great  exertion. 

At  the  first  sight  of  this  statistical  view  of  the  case,  some  of  my 
readers  will  be  ready  to  exclaim  that  the  prospect  is  hopeless. 
Others  will  say,  Woe  to  the  cause  of  religion  if  the  government  does 
not  put  its  shoulder  to  the  wheel !  But  I  answer,  not  only  in  my 
own  name,  but  dare  to  do  it  in  that  of  every  well-informed  American 
Christian,  "  ]STo !  we  want  no  more  aid  from  the  government  than  we 
receive,  and  what  it  so  cheerfully  gives.  The  prospect  is  not  des- 
perate so  long  as  Christians  do  their  duty  in  humble  and  heartfelt  re- 
liance upon  God."  If  we  allow  that  church  accommodation  must  be 
annually  made  for  one  half  of  this  annual  increase  of  population, 
which  is  more  than  Dr.  Chalmers  demanded,  we  have  four  hundred 
thousand  persons  to  provide  for.  This  would  require  annually  the 
building  or  opening  of  four  hundred  churches,  holding  one  thousand 
persons  each,  and  an  increase  of  four  hundred  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel ;  or,  what  would  be  much  more  probable,  eight  hundred  churches, 
each  holding  on  an  average  five  hundred  persons ;  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  preachers  to  occupy  them.  That  that  number  should  be 
eight  hundred  would  certainly  be  desirable  ;  and  yet  a  smaller  num- 
ber could  suffice ;  for  in  many  cases  one  minister  must,  in  order  to 
find  his  support,  preach  to  two  or  more  congregations.  So,  if  eight 
hundred  churches  be  not  built  every  year,  something  equal  to  this 
in  point  of  accommodation  must  be  either  built  or  found  in  some 
way  or  other.  Sometimes  school-houses  answer  the  purpose  in  the 
new  settlements ;  sometimes  private  houses,  or  some  public  building, 
can  make  up  for  the  want  of  a  church. 

Now  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel  to  what  extent  facts  show  that  pro- 
vision is  actually  made  to  meet  this  vast  demand,  and  even  more. 
For  the  present,  all  that  I  contemplate  in  giving  this  statistical  view 
of  the  subject  is,  to  enable  the  reader  to  form  some  idea  of  the  work 
to  be  accomplished  on  the  voluntary  principle  in  America,  if  religion 
is  to  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  population. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FOUNDATION    OF   THE  VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE  TO    BE    SOUGHT    IN    THE 
CHARACTER  AND  HABITS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Some  minuteness  of  detail  will  be  found  necessary,  in  order  to  give 
the  reader  a  proper  idea  of  the  manifestations  of  what  has  been  called 


266  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

the  Voluntary  Principle  in  the  United  States,  and  to  trace  it  through- 
out all  its  many  ramifications  there.  But,  before  entering  upon  this, 
I  would  fain  give  him  a  right  conception  of  the  character  of  the  peo- 
ple, as  being  that  to  which  the  principle  referred  to  mainly  owes  its 
success. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  former  parts  of  this  work  to  show,  that 
whether  we  look  to  the  earlier  or  later  emigration  to  America,  no 
small  energy  of  character  must  have  been  required  in  the  emigrants 
before  venturing  on  such  a  step ;  and  with  regard  to  the  first  settlers 
in  particular,  that  nothing  but  the  force  of  religious  principle  could 
have  nerved  them  to  encounter  the  difficulties  of  all  kinds  that  beset 
them.  But  if  great  energy,  self-reliance,  and  enterprise,  be  the  nat- 
ural attributes  of  the  original  emigrant,  as  he  quits  all  the  endear- 
ments of  home,  and  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  States  far  advanced 
in  civilization,  for  a  life  in  the  woods,  amid  wild  beasts,  and  some- 
times wilder  men,  pestilential  marshes,  and  privations  innumerable, 
the  same  qualities  are  very  much  called  forth  by  colonial  life,  after 
the  first  obstacles  have  been  overcome.  It  accustoms  men  to  disre- 
gard trifling  difficulties,  to  surmount  by  their  own  efforts  obstacles 
which,  in  other  states  of  society,  would  repel  all  such  attempts,  and 
prompts  them  to  do  many  things  which,  in  different  circumstances, 
they  would  expect  others  to  do  for  them. 

Moreover,  the  colonies  were  thrown  very  much  on  their  own  re- 
sources from  the  first.  England  expended  very  little  upon  them. 
Beyond  maintaining  a  few  regiments,  from  time  to  time,  in  scattered 
companies,  at  widely-separated  points,  and  supplying  some  cannon 
and  small  fire-arms,  she  did  scarcely  any  thing  even  for  the  defence 
of  the  country.  In  almost  every  war  with  the  Indians,  the  colonial 
troops  alone  carried  on  the  contest.  Instead  of  England  helping 
them,  they  actually  helped  her  incomparably  more  in  her  wars 
against  the  French,  in  the  Canadas,  and  in  the  provinces  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  Cape  Breton,  when  they  not  only  furnished  men,  but 
bore  almost  the  whole  charge  of  maintaining  them.  Then  came  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  which,  in  calling  forth  all  the  nation's  ener- 
gies during  eight  long  years,  went  far  to  cherish  that  vigor  and  inde- 
pendence of  character  which  had  so  remarkably  distinguished  the 
first  colonists. 

And  although  in  some  of  the  colonies  the  Church  and  State  were 
united  from  the  first,  the  law  did  little  more  than  prescribe  how  the 
churches  were  to  be  maintained.  It  made  some  men  give  grudgingly, 
who  would  otherwise  have  given  little  or  nothing ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  it  limited  others  to  a  certain  fixed  amount,  who,  if  left  to  them- 
selves, would  perhaps  have  given  more. 


CHAP,  n.]   FOUNDATION  IN  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  PEOPLE.    267 

"With  the  exception  of  a  few  thousand  pounds  for  building  some  of 
the  earliest  colleges,  and  a  few  more,  chiefly  from  Scotland,  for  the 
support  of  missionaries,  most  of  whom  labored  among  the  Indians,  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  aid  received  from  the  mother  country,  or  from 
any  other  part  of  Europe,  for  religious  purposes  in  our  colonial  days. 
I  do  not  state  this  by  way  of  reproach,  but  as  a  simple  fact.  The 
Christians,  not  only  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  Holland  and  Germany 
also,  were  ever  willing  to  aid  the  cause  of  religion  in  the  colonies ; 
they  did  what  they  could,  or,  rather,  what  the  case  seemed  to  re- 
quire, and  the  monuments  of  their  piety  and  liberality  remain  to  this 
day.  Still,  the  colonists,  as  was  their  duty,  depended  mainly  on  their 
own  efforts.  In  several  of  the  colonies  there  was  from  the  first  no 
Church  Establishment ;  in  two  of  those  which  professed  to  have  one, 
the  State  never  did  any  thing  worth  mention  for  the  support  of  the 
churches ;  and  in  all  cases  the  dissenters  had  to  rely  on  their  own  ex- 
ertions. In  process  of  time,  as  we  have  seen,  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  came  gradually  to  an  end  throughout  the  whole  coimtry, 
and  all  religious  bodies  were  left  to  their  own  resources. 

Thus  have  the  Americans  been  trained  to  exercise  the  same  en- 
ergy, self-reliance,  and  enterprise  in  the  cause  of  religion  which  they 
exhibit  in  other  affairs.  Thus,  as  we  shall  see,  when  a  new  church  is 
called  for,  the  people  first  inquire  whether  they  can  not  build  it  at 
their  own  cost,  and  ask  help  from  others  only  after  having  done  all 
they  think  practicable  among  themselves — a  course  which  often  leads 
them  to  find  that  they  can  accomplish  by  their  own  efforts  what,  at 
first,  they  hardly  dared  to  hope  for. 

Besides,  there  has  grown  up  among  the  truly  American  part  of  the 
population  a  feeling  that  religion  is  necessary  even  to  the  temporal 
well-being  of  society,  so  that  many  contribute  to  its  promotion, 
though  not  themselves  members  of  any  of  the  churches.  This  senti- 
ment may  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  especially 
among  the  descendants  of  the  first  Puritan  colonists  of  New  England. 
I  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  give  an  illustration  of  it. 

These  remarks  point  the  reader  to  the  true  secret  of  the  success  of 
the  voluntary  plan  in  America.  The  people  feel  that  they  can  help 
themselves,  and  that  it  is  at  once  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to  do  so. 
Should  a  church  steeple  fall  to  the  ground,  or  the  roof  be  blown 
away,  or  any  other  such  accident  happen,  instead  of  looking  to  some 
government  official  for  the  means  of  needful  repair,  a  few  of  them  put 
their  hands  into  their  pockets,  and  supply  these  means  themselves,  with- 
out delay  or  the  risk  of  vexatious  refusals  from  public  functionaries. 


268  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HOW  CHURCH  EDIFICES  ARE  BUILT  IN  THE  CITIES  AND  LARGE  TOWNS. 

The  question  was  often  proposed  to  me  during  my  residence  in 
Europe,  "  How  do  you  build  your  churches  in  America,  since  the 
government  gives  no  aid  ?" 

Different  measures  are  pursued  in  different  places.  I  shall  speak 
first  of  those  commonly  adopted  in  the  cities  and  large  towns. 
There  a  new  church  is  built  by  what  is  called  "  colonizing  ;"  that  is, 
the  pastor  and  other  officers  of  a  large  church,  which  can  not  accom- 
modate all  its  members,  after  much  conference,  on  being  satisfied 
that  a  new  church  is  called  for,  propose  that  a  commencement  be 
made  by  certain  families  going  out  as  a  colony,  to  carry  the  enter- 
prise into  effect,  and  engage  to  assist  them  with  their  prayers  and 
counsels,  and,  if  need  be,  also  with  their  purses.  Upon  this,  such  as 
are  willing  to  engage  in  the  undertaking  go  to  work.  Sometimes  in- 
dividuals or  families  from  two  or  more  churches  of  the  same  denomi- 
nation coalesce  in  the  design. 

Or  a  few  gentlemen,  interested  in  religion,  whether  all  or  any  of 
them  are  members  of  a  church  or  not,  after  conferring  on  the  im- 
portance of  having  another  church  in  some  part  of  the  city  where  an 
increase  of  the  population  seems  to  require  it,  resolve  that  one  shall 
be  built.  Each  then  subscribes  what  he  thinks  he  can  afford,  and 
subscriptions  may  afterward  be  solicited  from  other  gentlemen  of 
property  and  liberality  in  the  place,  likely  to  aid  such  an  undertaking. 
Enough  may  thus  be  obtained  to  justify  a  commencement ;  a  com- 
mittee is  appointed  to  purchase  a  site  for  a  building,  and  to  superin- 
tend its  erection.  When  finished,  it  is  opened  for  public  worship,  a 
pastor  is  called,  and  then  the  pews,  whieh  are  generally  large  enough 
to  accommodate  a  family  each,  are  disposed  of  at  a  sort  of  auction  to 
the  highest  bidder.  In  this  way,  the  sum  which  may  be  required,  in 
addition  to  the  original  subscriptions,  is  at  once  made  up.  The  total 
cost,  indeed,  is  sometimes  met  by  the  sums  received  for  the  pews, 
but  much  depends  upon  the  situation  and  comfort  of  the  building, 
and  the  popularity  of  the  preacher. 

The  pews  are  always  sold  under  the  condition  of  punctual  payment 
of  the  sums  to  be  levied  upon  them  annually,  for  the  pastor's  support 
and  other  expenses ;  failing  which,  after  allowing  a  reasonable  time, 
they  are  re-sold  to  other  persons.  But  if  all  the  required  conditions 
be  fulfilled,  they  become  absolutely  the  purchaser's,  and  may  be  be- 
queathed or  sold  like  any  other  property. 


CHAP.  III.]      BUILDING  OF  CHURCH  EDIFICES  IN  CITIES  AND  TOWNS.     269 

Instead  of  being  sold  in  fee-simple,  the  pews  are  sometimes  merely- 
rented  from  year  to  year.  This  prevails  more  in  large  towns  and 
villages  than  in  cities,  and  in  such  cases  the  churches  must  be  built 
solely  by  "  subscription,"  as  it  is  called,  that  is,  by  sums  contributed 
for  that  special  object.  Should  these  prove,  in  the  first  instance,  in- 
sufficient, a  second,  and  perhaps  a  third  subscription  follows,  after  a 
longer  or  shorter  interval. 

The  seats  in  some  churches,  even  of  our  largest  cities,  are  free  to 
all.  Such  is  the  case  with  all  the  Quaker,  and  some  of  the  Metho- 
dist meeting-houses  ;  these  are  occupied  on  what  is  called  the  "  free- 
seat"  plan,  and  have  the  advantage  of  being  attended  with  less 
restraint,  especially  by  strangers  or  persons  who  may  not  have  the 
means  to  pay  for  seats.  But  there  are  disadvantages  also  in  this  plan. 
Families  which  regularly  attend,  and  which  may  bear  the  expense  of 
the  church,  have  no  certain  place  where  all  may  sit  together,  and  in 
case  of  being  delayed  a  little  longer  than  usual,  may  find  it  difficult 
to  get  seats  at  all.  The  Methodist  churches,  accordingly,  are  coming 
more  and  more  into  the  other  plan  in  our  large  cities.  Where  they 
have  not  done  so,  and  also  in  the  Quaker  meeting-houses,  the  males 
occupy  one  half  of  the  house,  the  females  the  other  ;  a  rule,  however, 
observed  more  constantly  in  the  latter  than  in  the  former  body. 
Church  edifices,  or  meeting-houses,  on  the  free-seat  plan,  must,  of 
course,  be  built  by  subscription  alone. 

A  more  common  practice  in  forming  new  congregations,  and  erect- 
ing church  edifices,  is  this  :  The  families  which  engage  in  the  under- 
taking first  obtain  some  place  for  temporary  service — the  lecture- 
room  attached  to  some  other  church,  a  court-house,  a  school-room, 
or  some  other  building* — and  there  they  commence  their  regular 
Sabbath  services  at  the  usual  hours.  After  announcing  their  intention 
by  public  advertisement,  they  proceed  to  organize  a  church,  that  is, 
a  body  of  believers,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  communion  to 

*  In  Philadelphia  there  is  a  building  called  the  Academy,  built  for  Mr.  "Whitfield's 
meetings,  the  upper  part  of  which  is  now  divided  into  two  rooms,  each  capable  of  con- 
taining four  hundred  or  five  hundred  people,  and  both  constantly  used  as  places  of 
worship,  one  permanently  by  the  Methodists.  The  other  has  been  occupied  tempo- 
rarily by  colonies,  which  have  grown  into  churches,  and  then  gone  off  to  houses  which 
they  have  built  for  themselves.  In  this  way  that  one  room,  as  I  have  often  been  told, 
has  been  the  birth-place,  as  it  were,  of  more  than  twenty  different  chu/ches.  It  is 
rented  to  those  who  wish  to  occupy  it  by  the  corporation  to  which  it  belongs.  In 
the  lower  story  there  are  schools  held  throughout  the  week. 

The  chapel  of  the  University  of  New  York  is  used  for  the  same  purpose;  and  the 
Court-houses  throughout  all  the  land,  and  even  some  of  the  State-houses — that  is, 
the  buildings  in  which  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States  assemble — are  allowed 
to  be  used  as  places  of  worship  on  the  Sabboth  in  a  case  of  exigency. 


270  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

which  they  belong.  If  Presbyterians,  the  Presbytery  appoints  a 
committee  to  organize  the  church  according  to  the  Book  of  Disci- 
pline, by  the  appointment  and  consecration  to  office  of  ruling  elders, 
after  which  it  falls  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery.  A  pastor  is 
next  called,  and  regularly  inducted.  Meanwhile,  the  congregation 
may  be  supposed  to  be  increasing,  until  strong  enough  to  exchange 
their  temporary  for  a  permanent  place  of  worship.  In  this  way  new 
swarms  are  every  year,  in  our  large  cities,  leaving  the  old  hives,  if  I 
may  so  speak,  and  new  church  edifices  are  rising  in  various  localities 
where  the  population  is  extending. 

The  church  edifices  in  the  chief  towns  and  cities  are,  generally 
speaking,  large  and  substantial  buildings,  especially  in  the  more 
densely-settled  districts.  Those  in  the  suburbs  are  often  smaller,  and 
not  expected  to  be  more  than  temporary,  as  they  give  place  to  larger 
and  better  structures  in  a  few  years.  In  the  cities  and  larger  towns, 
whether  on  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  slopes,  or  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, they  are,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  built  of  brick  ;  a  few  are  of 
stone  ;  and  in  the  New  England  cities  and  towns  of  second  and  third 
rate  size,  they  are  often  built  of  wood. 

As  for  the  cost  of  church  edifices,  it  is  difficult  to  speak  precisely 
where  the  country  is  so  extensive.  In  the  suburbs  of  our  large  cities 
on  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  from  Portland,  in  Maine,  to  New  Orleans, 
as  well  as  California,  some  may  not  have  cost  more  than  $5,000  or 
$10,000 ;  but  in  the  older  and  more  densely-peopled  parts  of  those 
cities,  they  generally  cost  $20,000  and  upward.  Some  have  cost 
$60,000  or  $80,000,  and  yet  are  comparatively  plain,  though  very 
chaste  and  substantial  buildings.  Not  a  few  have  cost  above 
$100,000,*  without  including  such  as  Trinity  Church  at  New  York, 
belonging  to  the  Episcopalians,  or  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  at 
Baltimore,  for  these  very  elegant  and  expensive  buildings  have  cost 
at  least  $300,000,  if  not  more.  There  may  have  been,  in  some  cases, 
a  useless  expenditure  of  money  on  interior  decorations,  but  in  gen- 
eral, the  churches,  even  in  our  largest  cities,  are  neat  and  rather  plain 
buildings  externally,  but  exceedingly  comfortable  within. 

The  village  churches  of  New  England  are,  for  the  most  part,  con- 
structed of  wood ;  that  is,  of  beams  framed  together  and  covered 

*  The  church  in  which  the  late  eloquent  Dr.  Mason  was  last  settled  as  a  minister 
in  New  York,  cost,  I  believe,  rather  more  than  $100,000.  It  was  an  excellent,  large, 
tasteful,  substantial,  brick  building.  Yet  this,  and  some  others  in  the  lower  parts  of 
the  city,  whence  business  is  driving  the  people  to  the  upper  part,  have  been  torn 
down,  and  their  sites  are  covered  with  shops  and  counting-rooms.  The  congregations 
have  mainly  migrated  to  about  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two  miles  northward.  So  matters 
go  in  our  London. 


CHAP.  IV.]    HOW  CHURCHES  AEE  BUILT  IN  THE  NEW  SETTLEMENTS.      2*71 

with  boards ;  and  being  almost  universally  painted  white  and  sur- 
mounted with  steeples,  they  have  a  beautiful  appearance.  The 
church-going  bell  every  Sabbath  sends  forth  its  notes  far  and  wide 
amid  the  hills  and  dales  of  that  interesting  country.  In  other  parts 
of  the  Atlantic  States,  the  churches,  though  often  of  wood,  like  those 
of  New  England,  are  still  oflener  of  brick  or  stone,  or  of  unpainted 
frames  and  boards,  which  is  especially  the  case  in  the  South. 

Any  one  may  be  satisfied,  by  careful  inquiry,  that  even  our  cities 
and  large  towns,  as  respects  churches,  may  well  bear  a  comparison 
with  the  best  supplied  in  any  part  of  Europe.  Boston,  for  instance, 
in  1850,  had  more  than  eighty  churches,  many  of  which  could  accom- 
modate from  one  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  persons,  and  that  for  a 
population  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  souls.  New 
York  had  that  year  more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty  churches  for 
five  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants. 

Philadelphia  is  better  supplied  with  churches  than  New  York. 
Those  of  all  the  leading  denominations  there  have  greatly  increased 
during  the  last  few  years.  The  Methodists  have,  in  the  course  of 
the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  built  in  the  city  and  suburbs  above 
twenty-five  churches,  most  of  which  are  capacious  buildings  ;  and  the 
Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  have  increased  greatly  the  number 
of  theirs,  but  not  in  the  same  proportion.  The  second  and  third  rate 
cities  and  large  towns  are  far  better  supplied  than  the  large  cities, 
Salem,  in  Massachusetts,  New  Haven,  Poughkeepsie,  Troy,  Newark, 
in  New  Jersey,  and  Rochester,  are  well  supplied  with  churches,  hav- 
ing, in  fact,  accommodation  for  more  than  half  the  population. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

HOW   CHURCHES   ARE  BUILT   IN  THE   NEW   SETTLEMENTS. 

But  it  is  in  the  building  of  places  of  worship  in  the  new  settle- 
ments of  the  Western  States,  and  on  the  Pacific  slopes,  and  in  the 
villages  that  are  springing  up  in  the  more  recently  peopled  parts 
bordering  on  the  Atlantic,  that  we  see  the  most  remarkable  develop- 
ment of  the  voluntary  principle.  Let  me  illustrate,  by  a  particular 
case,  what  is  daily  occurring  in  all  these  divisions  of  the  country. 

Let  us  suppose  a  settlement  commenced  in  the  forest,  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Indiana,  and  that  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  years  a 
considerable  number  of  emigrants  have  established  themselves  within 
a  mile  or  two  of  each  other,  in  the  woods.     Each  clears  away  by  de- 


272  THE  VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

orees  a  part  of  the  surrounding  forest,  and  fences  in  his  new  fields,  in 
the  midst  of  which  the  deadened  trees  still  stand  very  thickly.  By 
little  and  little  the  country  shows  signs  of  occupation  by  civilized  men. 
In  the  centre  of  the  settlement  a  little  village  begins  to  form 
around  a  tavern  and  a  blacksmith's  shop.  A  carpenter  places  himself 
there  as  at  a  convenient  station.  So  do  the  tailor,  the  shoemaker, 
the  wagon-maker,  and  the  hatter.  Nor  is  the  son  of  ^sculapius 
wanting ;  perhaps  he  is  most  of  all  needed  ;  and  it  will  be  well  if  two 
or  three  of  his  brethren  do  not  soon  join  him.  The  merchant,  of 
course,  opens  his  magazine  there.  And  if  there  be  any  prospect  that 
the  rising  village,  though  the  deadened  trees  stand  quite  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  streets,  may  become  the  "seat  of  justice"  for  a  new  county, 
there  will  soon  be  half  a  dozen  young  expounders  of  the  law  to  in- 
crease the  population,  and  offer  their  services  to  those  who  have 
suffered  or  committed  injustice. 

Things  will  hardly  have  reached  this  point  before  some  one  amid 
this  heterogeneous  population,  who  have  come  from  different  points  of 
the  older  States,  intermixed  with  wanderers  from  Europe — Irish,  Scotch, 
or  German — proposes  that  they  should  think  of  having  a  church,  or, 
at  least,  some  place  of  worship.     It  is  ten  chances  to  one  if  there  be 
not  some  pious  woman,  or  some  pious  man  with  his  family,  who 
sigh  for  the  privileges  of  the  sanctuary,  as  once  enjoyed  by  them  in 
the  distant  East.     What  is  to  be  done  ?     Some  one  proposes  that 
they  should  build  a  good  large  school-house,  which  may  serve  also  for 
holding  religious  meetings,  and  this  is  scarcely  sooner  proposed  than 
accomplished.     Though  possibly  made  of  mere  logs  and  very  plain,  it 
will  answer  the  purpose  for  a  few  years.   Being  intended  for  the  meet- 
ings of  all  denominations  of  Christians,  and  open  to  all  preachers  who 
may  be  passing,  word  is  sent  to  the  nearest  in  the  neighborhood. 
Ere  long  some  Baptist  minister,  in  passing,  preaches  hi  the  evening, 
and  is  followed  by  a  Presbyterian  and  a  Methodist.     By-and-by  the 
last  of  these  arranges  his  circuit  labors  so  as  to  preach  there  once  in 
a  fortnight,  and  the  minister  of  some  Presbyterian  congregation,  ten 
or  fifteen  miles  off,  agrees  to  come  and  preach  once  a  month. 

Meanwhile  from  the  increase  of  the  inhabitants,  the  congregations, 
on  the  Sabbath  particularly,  become  too  large  for  the  school-house. 
A  church  is  then  built  of  framed  beams  and  boards,  forming  no  mean 
ornament  to  the  village,  and  capable  of  accommodating  some  two  or 
three  hundred  people.  Erected  for  the  public  good,  it  is  used  by  all 
the  sects  in  the  place,  and  by  others  besides.  For  were  a  Sweden- 
borgian  minister  to  come  and  have  notice  given  that  he  would  preach, 
he  might  be  sure  of  finding  a  congregation,  though  as  the  sect  is 
small  in  America,  and  by  many  hardly  so  much  as  heard  of,  he  might 


CHAP.  IV.]     HOW  CHURCHES  ARE  BUILT  IN  THE  NEW  SETTLEMENTS.     273 

not  have  a  single  hearer  that  assents  to  his  views.  But  it  will  not  be 
long  before  the  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  or  Baptists,  feel  that  they 
must  have  a  minister  on  whose  services  they  can  count  with  more 
certainty,  and  hence  a  church,  also,  for  themselves.  And  at  last  the 
house,  which  was  a  joint-stock  affair  at  first,  falls  into  the  hands  of 
some  one  of  the  denominations,  and  is  abandoned  by  the  others,  who 
have  mostly  provided  each  one  for  itself.  Or  it  may  remain  for  the 
occasional  service  of  some  passing  Roman  Catholic  priest,  or  Univer- 
salist  preacher.* 

Such  is  the  process  continually  going  on  in  the  West,  and,  indeed, 
something  of  the  kind  is  taking  place  every  year,  in  hundreds  of 
instances,  throughout  all  the  States.  Settlers  of  one  denomination 
are  sometimes  sufficiently  numerous  in  one  place  to  build  a  church  for 
themselves  at  the  outset,  but  in  most  cases  they  hold  their  first  meet- 
ings for  worship  in  school-rooms  or  private  houses. 

The  rapid  increase  of  the  population  in  some  of  the  new  villages 
and  towns  of  the  West,  when  favorably  situated  for  trade,  is  aston- 
ishing, and  strikes  one  particularly  in  its  early  stages.  Thus,  when 
in  the  State  of  Alabama,  in  February,  1831,1  visited  the  town  of 
Montgomery  in  company  with  a  worthy  Baptist  minister,  in  the  course 
of  an  extensive  tour  through  the  Western  States  in  behalf  of  one  of 
our  benevolent  societies,  it  was  then  hardly  more  than  a  large  vil- 
lage. On  the  night  of  the  second  of  the  two  days  we  spent  in  it,  we 
preached  in  a  large  school-house,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly,  was 
the  only  place  for  holding  religious  meetings  existing  there  at  the 
time.  We  had  a  good  congregation,  though  a  circus  was  held  hard 
by.  Just  three  years  after,  when  repeating  the  same  tour,  I  spent 
a  Sabbath  and  one  or  two  days  more  at  the  same  spot,  but  under 
very  different  circumstances.  In  the  morning  I  preached  to  at  least 
six  hundred  persons,  in  a  Presbyterian  church,  built  of  frames  and 
covered  with  boards,  and  every  way  comfortable.  The  church, 
which  reckoned  one  hundred  members,  had  a  young  man  as  pastor, 
to  whom  they  gave  a  yearly  stipend  of  $1,000.  At  night  I  preached  in 
a  Baptist  church,  built  of  brick,  but  not  quite  finished,  which  could  hold 
three  hundred  persons  at  least.  Besides  these,  there  were  one  Meth- 
odist Episcopal,  and  one  Protestant  Methodist  church,  each,  so  far 
as  I  can  recollect,  as  large  as  the  Baptist  church.  Then  there  was  an 
Episcopal  church,  not  less  in  size,  though  probably  with  a  smaller 

*  In  some  places  in  the  South-western  States,  the  primitive  and  temporary  churches 
built  for  all  denominations,  in  the  new  villages  or  settlements,  are  called  "  republican 
churches ;"  that  is,  churches  for  the  accommodation  of  the  public  rather  than  for  any 
one  sect.  Large  school-houses,  also,  erected  for  the  double  purpose  of  teaching  and 
preaching,  are  called  "republican  meeting-houses." 

18 


274  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

congregation.  And,  withal,  there  was  a  Roman  Catholic  church, 
though  not  a  large  one,  I  believe.  All  this  after  an  interval  of  only 
three  years !  Eventful  years  they  had  been.  A  revival  of  religion, 
which  took  place  during  one  of  them,  had  brought  many  souls  to  the 
knowledge  of  salvation. 

This  was,  it  is  true,  an  extraordinary  case,  yet  something  very  sim- 
ilar in  kind,  although  not  in  degree,  is  going  on  at  a  great  many 
points  in  the  West. 

On  the  Genesee  River,  a  fewmiles  above  its  entrance  into  Lake 
Ontario,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  stands  a  town,  incorporated  as  a 
city,  called  Rochester.  The  place  is  famous  for  the  vast  quantity  of 
flour  made  at  its  mills.  Thirty-five  years  ago,  it  could  show  but  a 
few  houses  scattered  here  and  there,  where  now  there  is  a  well-built 
and  flourishing  city,  containing  at  least  forty  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  nearly  forty  churches,  many  of  which  are  large  and  fine  buildings, 
capable  of  accommodating  congregations  of  from  eight  to  twelve 
hundred  persons  each.  Among  these  churches  there  are  five  or  sh 
for  Germans,  French,  and  Swiss. 

Churches  and  church  property  of  every  description  are  held,  in  the 
United  States,  by  trustees  chosen  by  the  congregation  to  which  they 
belong.  The  laws  of  almost  every  State  provide  for  this.  These 
trustees,  who  may  be  two,  three,  or  more  in  number,  are  authorized 
to  act  for  the  congregation,  to  whom  they  report,  from  time  to  time, 
the  state  of  the  common  funds.  They  are  charged,  in  most  cases, 
with  the  collection  of  the  pastor's  salary,  as  well  as  with  the  general 
collection  and  outlay  of  money  for  the  congregation.  Without  their 
consent  the  church  edifice  can  not  be  given  to  any  other  than  the 
ordinary  religious  services  of  the  sanctuary. 

In  some  cases,  several,  if  not  all  of  the  churches  in  a  city,  belong- 
ing to  a  particular  communion,  are  held  by  a  common  board  of  trus- 
tees. All  the  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  of  New  York  are  so 
held.  One  corporation  has  the  proprietorship  of  four  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  churches  in  that  city,  and  another  holds  Trinity  Church,  and 
perhaps  some  others  belonging  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal  denomina- 
tion. In  all  denominations,  according  to  general  practice,  each  par- 
ticular church  and  congregation  has  its  own  trustees,  and  manages  its 
own  "  temporal"  affairs,  being  such  as  relate  to  the  church  edifice,  the 
ground  on  which  it  stands,  and  any  other  property  or  stocks  belong- 
ing to  it, ;  and  it  is  only  on  questions  of  right  to  property  that  the 
civil  courts,  or  even  the  State  Legislatures,  or  Congress  itself,  can 
ever  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  the  churches. 


CHAP.  V.]   HOW  THE  SALARIES  OF  THE  PASTORS  ARE  RAISED.      275 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE   DEVELOPED. HOW  THE    SALARIES    OF  THE 

PASTORS  ARE  RAISED. 

Under  this  head  we  find  different  measures  adopted  by  different 
churches,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

Universally  where  the  seats  and  pews  are  the  property  of  individ- 
uals or  families,  and  generally  where  they  are  rented  by  the  year,  the 
salaries  of  the  pastors,  and  sometimes  all  the  incidental  expenses,  are 
raised  by  a  certain  yearly,  half-yearly,  or  quarterly  rate  upon  each 
pew.  The  proportion  for  each  pew  is  fixed  by  the  trustees,  or  by  the 
elders,  or  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that  special  purpose,  but  in 
most  cases  by  the  trustees,  where  there  are  such.  "Where  the  seats 
are  free,  as  is  the  case  with  very  many  churches  of  all  denominations 
in  the  interior  of  the  country,  the  minister's  salary  is  raised  by  yearly 
subscription.  In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches,  with  few  excep- 
tions, the  ministers  are  supported  by  collections  among  the  members, 
quarterly  public  collections,  etc.  Sometimes,  also,  recourse  is  par- 
tially had  to  subscriptions,  especially  where  there  are  "  stationed"  or 
non-itinerating  ministers. 

Among  the  Protestant  denominations,  the  amount  of  the  pastor's 
salary  is  determined,  in  most  cases,  by  the  churches  themselves.  In 
the  Methodist  Churches,  the  amount  is  fixed  by  the  General  Con- 
ference. In  that  church,  the  minister,  in  ordinary  cases,  receives  so 
much  himself,  a  like  sum  for  his  wife,  and  so  much  for  each  of  his 
children,  according  to  their  ages,  with  certain  perquisites  besides, 
such  as  a  family  dwelling-house,  a  horse,  etc.,  making  up  altogether  a 
comfortable  maintenance  for  himself  and  his  household.  The  collec- 
tions of  each  "  circuit"  are  expected,  generally  speaking,  to  suffice  for 
the  salaries  of  the  ministers  who  occupy  them,  any  deficiency  being 
made  up  from  funds  which  the  Conference  may  have  in  hand  for 
meeting  such  contingencies.  The  clergy  of  all  evangelical  denomina- 
tions, with  two  exceptions,  receive  fixed  salaries  from  their  people, 
and  are  expected  to  devote  themselves  to  their  proper  vocation,  and 
to  "  live  by  the  altar."  The  exceptions  are  a  part  of  the  ministers 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  all  the  Quaker  preachers.  These  support 
themselves  by  their  labor,  or  from  other  sources,  and  preach  on  the 
Sabbath. 

The  Baptists  agree  with  the  Methodists  in  not  considering  a  college 
education,  or  an  acquaintance  with  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew 
tongues,  or  the  natural  and  moral  sciences,  indispensable  for  a  preacher 


276  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

of  the  Gospel :  hence  by  far  the  greater  number  of  them  have  had 
only  an  English  education,  together  with  such  theological  knowledge, 
derived  from  English  sources,  as  has  qualified  them,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  authorities  in  their  churches,  for  undertaking  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  In  both  these  denominations,  however,  there  are  not  a  few 
truly  learned  men,  who  have  passed  through  the  curriculum  of  some 
college,  and  have  diligently  added  to  the  acquirements  of  their  pre- 
paratory course.  The  regular  itinerating  ministers  of  the  Methodist 
churches  receive  salaries,  and  devote  themselves  wholly  to  their  min- 
isterial calling ;  whereas,  too  many  of  the  Baptist  ministers,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  especially  in  the  Southern  and  Western,  and  to 
a  certain  extent  in  the  Middle  States,  receive  either  no  salaries  at  all, 
or  none  of  any  consequence,  so  that  they  must  support  themselves  in 
some  other  way. 

The  preachers  among  the  Friends,  who,  as  the  reader  is  probably 
aware,  may  be  women  as  well  as  men,  receive  no  regular  salaries ; 
but  those  of  them  who,  under  the  belief  that  they  have  a  call  from 
the  Spirit  to  give  themselves  wholly  to  the  work,  travel  through  the 
country,  visiting  the  Friends'  "meetings,"  and  preaching  in  other 
places,  generally,  nay,  always,  if  their  own  means  are  not  abundant, 
receive  considerable  presents. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  any  very  satisfactory  answer  to  the  question, 
whether  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  well  supported  in  the  United 
States.  In  giving  a  general  reply  to  the  question,  I  should  say  that 
they  are  not.  That  is  to  say,  few,  if  any,  of  them,  receive  salaries  that 
would  enable  them  to  live  in  the  style  in  which  the  wealthiest  of  their 
parishioners  live.  Their  incomes  are  not  equal  to  those  of  the  greater 
number  of  lawyers  and  physicians,  though  these  are  men  of  no  better 
education  or  higher  talents  than  great  numbers  of  the  clergy.  None 
of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  United  States  derive  such  reve- 
nues from  their  official  stations  as  are  enjoyed  by  many  of  the  pa- 
rochial clergy  of  England,  to  say  nothing  of  the  higher  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  in  that  country.  There  are  few,  if  any,  of  them  who,  with 
economy,  can  do  more  than  live  upon  their  salaries;  to  grow  rich 
upon  them  is  out  of  the  question.* 


*  The  statements  made  by  foreigners,  in  -writing  about  the  United  States,  are 
sometimes  sufficiently  ludicrous.  For  instance,  M.  Beaumont,  in  his  "Marie,  ou 
l'Esclavage  aux  Etats-TJnis,"  accounts  for  the  great  number  of  churches  there  by  the 
great  number  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  He  says  that  the  ministry  is  not  only  very 
honorable,  but  very  lucrative  also ;  that  most  of  the  preachers  make  a  fortune  in  a 
few  years,  and  then  retire  from  the  ministry,  which  is  the  cause  of  there  being  so  few- 
old  men  in  the  pulpits  of  that  country.  Any  thing  more  absurd  on  such  a  subject  I 
can  not  imagine.     But  I  will  do  M.  Beaumont  the  justice  to  say,  that  I  do  not  blame 


CHAP.  V.]      HOW   THE   SAXARIES    OF    THE   PASTOES   AEE   EAISED.         277 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  greater  number  of  the  salaried  minis- 
ters in  the  United  States  are  able,  with  economy,  to  live  comfortably 
and  respectably.  This  holds  true  especially  of  the  pastors  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  even  of  the  older  parts  of  the  Western  States.  In 
New  England,  if  we  except  Boston,  the  salaries  of  the  Congrega- 
tional, Episcopal,  and  Baptist  pastors  are,  in  the  largest  towns,  such 
as  Providence,  Portland,  Salem,  Hartford,  New  Haven,  etc.,  from 
$800  to  $1,500 ;  in  the  villages  and  country  churches  they  vary  from 
$400  to  $700  or  $800,  besides  which  the  minister  sometimes  has  a 
"  parsonage"  and  "  glebe,"  that  is,  a  house  and  a  few  acres  of  land ; 
and,  hi  addition  to  all,  he  receives  many  presents.  His  marriage-fees 
are  a  source  of  some  profit.  In  other  parts  of  the  country,  and 
especially  hi  the  West,  the  clergy  are  not  so  well  provided  for.  The 
practice  in  New  England  of  giving  presents,  whether  casually  or  reg- 
ularly, and  at  some  set  time,  does  not  prevail  elsewhere  to  the  same 
degree. 

The  salaries  of  the  clergy  in  the  largest  and  wealthiest  churches  of 
the  principal  cities  are  often  liberal,  though  generally  no  more  than 
adequate*  Fifteen  or  eighteen  hundred,  two  thousand,  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars,  are  the  sums  commonly  given,  and,  in  a  few  cases, 
three  and  even  four  thousand  dollars.  A  Presbyterian  church  in 
New  Orleans,  I  believe,  gives  its  pastor  five  thousand,  and  the  high- 
est of  all  is  that  of  one  of  the  bishops  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
which,  I  have  been  told,  is  six  thousand  dollars.f 

Some  churches  have  permanent  funds,  which  go  far  toward  the 
pastor's  support.  The  corporation  of  the  collegiate  churches  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  New  York,  four  in  number  at  present, 

him  so  much  as  the  stupid  creatures  who  gave  him  such  information.  The  gay 
Frenchman  probably  did  not  set  his  foot  in  more  than  half-a-dozen  churches  when  in 
America,  and  of  these  not  one,  it  is  likely,  was  Protestant. 

*  The  clergy  are  expected  to  be  examples  of  hospitality  and  benevolence.  Many 
of  them  entertain  a  great  deal  of  company  at  their  houses.  Nothing  is  more  common 
than  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  when  visiting  any  place,  whether  in  town  or  country, 
to  stay  with  their  brethren ;  and  no  men  among  us  give  so  much,  in  proportion  to 
their  means,  to  all  the  religious  and  philanthropic  enterprises,  as  our  pastors  of  every 
denomination.  • 

f  I  refer  to  the  Bishop  of  New  York,  who,  if  he  has  to  pay  for  a  suffragan  to  take 
his  place  as  pastor  of  a  church,  or  co-pastor  with  others  in  two  or  three  churches,  as 
well  as  bear  his  traveling  expenses  when  visiting  his  diocese — as  I  doubt  not  is  the 
case — wiH  not  have  more  than  is  necessary  to  support  a  large  family  in  so  expensive 
a  city  as  New  York. 

As  for  New  Orleans,  it  is  the  most  expensive  city  for  supporting  a  family  in  the 
whole  Union,  and  $5,000  there  would  in  that  respect  be  not  more  than  half  the  sum 
in  Philadelphia,  The  church  in  that  city  referred  to  in  the  text,  has  recently  in- 
creased the  salary  of  its  pastor  to  $6,000,  if  not  $7,000,  as  is  reported. 


278  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

lias  enough  from  this  source  to  pay  the  salaries  of  the  four  pastors. 
The  corporation  of  Trinity  Church  (Episcopal)  possesses  vast  funds, 
the  income  from  which  has  enabled  the  trustees  to  contribute  largely 
toward  the  building  of  churches  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Three 
of  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  have  perma- 
nent funds  sufficient  for  the  support  of  their  public  services. 

But,  generally  speaking,  a  permanent  fund  is  found  to  be  rather 
injurious  than  beneficial  to  the  churches  in  the  United  States.  If  out 
of  debt,  that  is,  if  they  owe  nothing  for  their  church-edifices,  lecture- 
rooms,  vestry-rooms,  etc.,  they  need  no  endowment ;  the  hearts  of 
the  people  will  lead  them  to  do  the  rest.  I  speak  of  the  churches  in 
the  older  parts  of  the  country.  The  measures  we  take  for  the  support 
of  churches  in  the  new  settlements,  and  which  are  weak  as  yet,  I 
shall  show  hereafter. 

It  often  happens  that  ministers,  through  their  own  fault,  and  that 
of  the  ecclesiastical  body  to  which  they  belong,  are  not  so  amply  or 
punctually  provided  for  as  they  ought  to  be.  Were  the  duty  of  sup- 
porting well  the  ministry,  preached  as  often  and  as  plainly  as  it  should 
be,  they  would  be  better  provided  for.  As  it  is,  they  are  enabled  to 
live,  (with  economy,)  in  comfort,  and  a  faithful  pastor  will  nowhere 
be  allowed  to  starve.  It  is  a  great  matter,  too,  that  in  no  country  in 
the  world  are  ministers  of  the  Gospel  more  respected  by  the  people. 
A  great  many  of  them  are  well-educated  men,  and,  with  few  excep- 
tions, possess  agreeable  manners.  Many  of  them  belong  to  families 
of  the  first  rank  in  the  country  :*  and  as  they  can  at  least  give  their 
children  a  good  education,  with  the  advantages  of  which,  as  well  as 
of  a  good  character,  and  the  good  name  of  their  fathers,  they  are 
almost  invariably  prosperous,  and  often  form  alliances  with  the  wealth- 
iest and  most  distinguished  families.f 

*  I  could  mention,  were  it  proper,  many  instances  of  this.  One  or  two  I  may  state 
without  violating  the  rules  of  propriety.  No  man  stood  higher  in  American  society 
than  the  late  General  Yan  Eensselaer,  of  Albany.  One  of  his  sons  is  a  faithful  and 
distinguished  minister  of  the  Gospel.  The  late  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  of  New 
Jersey,  was  a  man  of  distinguished  talents,  who  had  raised  himself  to  the  highest 
offices  in  the  government  of  his  native  State,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Union,  and 
died  Vice-President  of  the  same.  One  of  his  sons  is  a  minister  in*  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Mr.  Southard,  I  judge  from  the  name,  which  is  common  in  France,  was  of 
Huguenot  origin. 

f  Of  late  years,  much  has  been  said  and  done  to  increase  the  salaries  of  ministers, 
on  account  of  the  greatly  augmented  expenses  of  living. 


CHAP.  VI.]  HOW  MINISTERS  ARE  EDUCATED  AND  SETTLED.  279 


CHAPTER  VI.      . 

HOW   MINISTERS    OF   THE   GOSPEL   ARE   BROUGHT  FORWARD,  AND   HOW 

THEY  BECOME  SETTLED  PASTORS. 

All  denominations  of  evangelical  Christians  in  the  United  States 
hold  it  to  be  of  the  highest  and  most  solemn  importance,  that  no  man 
should  enter  the  holy  ministry  without  well-founded  scriptural  evi- 
dence to  his  own  mind  and  conscience,  that  he  is  "  called  of  the  Holy 
Ghost"  to  take  that  office  upon  him :  nor  is  he  admitted  to  it  until  he 
has  satisfied  the  proper  authorities  of  the  Church  to  which  he  belongs 
of  the  manifestation  of  that  "  call,"  and  of  his  possessing,  in  addition 
to  an  unblemished  character,  the  talents  and  acquirements  necessary 
to  his  being  a  competent  expounder  of  God's  Word. 

For  a  man  to  take  upon  him  this  sacred  and  responsible  office 
merely  that  he  may  obtain  an  honorable  place  in  society,  or  gain  a 
decent  livelihood,  would  be  held  in  the  highest  degree  wrong,  dan- 
gerous to  his  own  soul,  and  ruinous  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  all 
who  might  be  committed  to  his  charge.  Evangelical  Christians  may 
differ  somewhat  as  to  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  required  evi- 
dence of  conversion,  but  all  agree  as  to  the  necessity  of  having  a 
truly  regenerated  ministry ;  it  being  obvious,  that  none  should  preach 
the  Gospel  who  have  not  tasted  its  power,  and  submitted  their  hearts 
and  lives  to  its  transforming  influence.  How  shall  a  man  who  does 
not  possess  "repentance  toward  God  and  faith  toward  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  explain  the  nature  of  these  to  his  fellow-men  ?  And 
how  can  he  who  has  not  been  made  to  exclaim,  "  Woe  unto  me  if  I 
preach  not  the  Gospel !"  discharge  the  office  of  a  preacher  with  that 
earnest  desire  for  the  glory  of  God  his  Saviour,  and  for  the  eternal 
welfare  of  men,  which  alone  can  be  approved  in  heaven,  or  be  suc- 
cessful on  earth  ?  A  regenerated  and  devoted  ministry  must  be  the 
first  of  all  earthly  blessings  to  a  Church,  and  it  is  the  only  instrument 
that  can  effectually  secure  the  morals  of  a  community,  and  the  sta- 
bility of  a  government.  In  these  sentiments  I  feel  assured  all  evan- 
gelical Christians  in  the  United  States  will  concur.  No  greater 
curse  could,  in  their  opinion,  befall  a  Church,  next  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  true  Gospel,  than  to  have  an  unconverted  ministry 
thrust  upon  it ;  and,  indeed,  the  latter  evil  would  soon  be  followed 
by  the  former. 

Pious  youths  are  brought  forward  to  the  ministry  in  various  ways. 
Such  persons  are  sometimes  found  in  the  situation  of  apprentices  to 
mechanical  trades,  or  of  clerks,  or  shopmen,  or  following  the  plough  on 


280  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

their  father's  farm.  The  pastor,  or  some  member  of  the  church  to 
which  they  belong,  having  discovered  their  talents,  may  think  these 
might  be  employed  to  advantage  in  the  ministry,  instead  of  being 
buried  in  such  engagements.  But  their  own  desires  should  first  be 
ascertained,  and  should  they  be  found  longing  to  proclaim  a  crucified 
Saviour  to  the  world,  they  ought  to  be  encouraged,  while  cherishing 
this  feeling,  to  put  themselves  into  a  position  for  finding  and  follow- 
ing the  will  of  God. 

It  is  probably  at  the  prayer-meeting,  the  Sabbath-school,  or  the 
Bible-class,  that  the  character  and  abilities  of  such  young  persons 
most  often  show  themselves ;  and  from  these  nurseries  of  the  Church 
have  come  forth  great  numbers  of  men  who  are  now  engaged  in  the 
ministry  throughout  the  United  States.  Many  young  men,  also,  who 
having  entered  our  colleges  with  other  views,  become  converted 
there,  and  are  called  to  preach  the  Gospel. 

When  a  pious  youth  of  promising  talents,  and  with  a  strong  bent 
to  the  ministry,  is  found  without  the  requisite  education,  or  the 
means  of  obtaining  it,  he  is  recommended  to  the  Education  Societies, 
which  have  proved  a  great  blessing  to  our  Churches ;  and  when  ap- 
proved of,  he  is  carried  through  the  course  of  instruction  which  the 
Church  to  which  he  belongs  requires  in  all  who  would  enter  the  ranks 
of  its  ministers. 

The  process  is  much  shorter  in  those  Churches  which,  without  ex- 
acting a  course  of  classical  and  scientific  education  at  college,  or  the 
regular  divinity  course  of  a  theological  school,  require  only  a  well- 
grounded  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  tongue,  and  of 
the  doctrines  which  they  contain.  After  a  suitable  examination  on 
the  part  of  the  j^roper  church  authorities,  the  candidate  is  permitted 
to  exercise  his  gifts  for  a  season,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  he  is 
likely  to  prove  an  acceptable  and  useful  preacher ;  and  if  the  result 
be  favorable  he  receives  full  ordination  from  the  proper  quarter. 

Among  the  Methodists,  the  preachers  spring  from  the  Classes^  as 
they  are  called.  At  the  meetings  of  these  companies  of  professed 
believers  and  inquirers,  the  graces  and  gifts  of  pious  young  men  are 
most  commonly  discovered.  In  due  time  they  are  brought  forward 
to  the  quarterly  meeting  of  all  the  classes  of  the  district.  They  are 
there  recommended  to  the  notice  of  the  presiding  elder,  and  by  him 
are  authorized  to  teach  and  preach  for  a  time,  but  not  to  administer 
the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Afterward  they 
receive  ordination  from  the  hands  of  the  bishop,  first  as  deacons,  and 
subsequently  as  presbyters  or  priests,  and  are  employed  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  either  as  traveling  or  stationed  ministers.  In  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches,  young  men  are  consecrated  to  the  ministry  by  a 


CHAP.  VI.]  HOW  MINISTERS  ARE  EDUCATED  AND  SETTLED.  281 

"  council  of  ministers  ;"  among  the  Presbyterians,  by  a  presbytery ; 
among  the  Episcopalians,  by  a  bishop. 

In  all  the  Churches  of  the  United  States,  except  the  Methodists 
and  Roman  Catholics,  the  pastors  are  chosen  by  the  people  to  whom 
they  preach.  Among  the  Methodists  they  are  appointed  by  the  An- 
nual Conference,  at  which  a  bishop  presides,  regard  being  had  to  the 
wishes  which  may  be  expressed  by  the  people  in  favor  of  certain 
ministers,  as  peculiarly  fitted,  in  point  of  character  and  talents,  for 
specific  localities.  The  appointment  of  the  priests  to  their  respective 
churches  among  the  Roman  Catholics  rests  wholly  with  the  bishops. 

When  a  church  belonging  to  any  of  the  other  denominations  loses 
its  pastor,  by  his  death  or  removal  to  some  other  place,  inquiry  is 
first  made  for  some  one  not  yet  settled,  or  who,  if  settled,  would  not 
object  to  change  his  place,  and  who,  it  is  thought,  would  prove  ac- 
ceptable to  the  flock.  The  person  fixed  upon  is  invited  to  preach  a 
few  times,  and  should  he  give  satisfaction,  the  congregation  agree  to 
call  him  to  be  their  pastor,  in  doing  which  they  must  proceed  accord- 
ing to  the  established  rules  of  the  religious  body  to  which  they  belong. 
Thus,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  no  call  to  become  a  pastor  of  a 
vacant  church  can  be  presented  to  any  one  without  the  consent  of  the 
Presbytery  within  whose  bounds  the  vacancy  has  taken  place ;  nor 
can  it  be  accepted  without  the  consent  of  the  Presbytery  to  which 
the  minister  who  has  received  it  belongs. 

In  the  Congregational  Churches  of  New  England,  the  practice  in 
calling  a  pastor  has  been  for  the  church  or  body  of  the  communicants 
to  make  out  a  call,  and  this  to  be  followed  by  another  from  the 
whole  congregation,  or,  rather,  from  the  males  who  contribute  toward 
the  support  of  public  worship,  the  amount  of  the  proffered  salary 
being  stated  in  the  latter  call.  In  the  Presbyterian,  and  most  other 
churches,  each  pewholder,  or  each  head  of  a  family  who  subscribes 
toward  the  pastor's  salary  for  himself  and  household,  and  others  who 
subscribe  only  for  themselves,  are  allowed  a  voice  in  the  call.  Such 
is  the  more  common  practice,  and  yet  there  are  Presbyterian  churches 
in  which  none  but  members  who  are  communicants  can  vote  in  call- 
ing a  pastor.  If  the  people  are  to  be  allowed  a  voice  in  calling  their 
pastors,  it  would  be  found  difficult  to  withhold  that  right  from  those 
who,  though  not  communicants,  contribute  as  much,  and  perhaps 
more,  than  those  who  are.  Nor  in  a  church  and  congregation  in 
which  the  people  have  been  well  instructed  in  the  truth,  and  w^here 
religion  prospers,  does  any  evil  of  much  consequence  commonly  result 
from  such  an  extension  of  the  right  of  voting  on  such  occasions.  For 
when  men  have  been  faithfully  instructed  in  the  Gospel,  it  is  found 
that  even  the  unconverted  will  readily  join  in  calling  an  efficient  min- 


» 


282  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IY. 

ister,  even  although  he  be  not  only  orthodox,  but  very  zealous  and 
faithful.  Such  men  have  sufficient  discrimination  to  know,  and  often 
they  will  say  it,  that  if  ever  they  are  to  become  the  religious  men 
they  hope  one  day  to  be,  they  need  a  faithful  pastor  to  secure* that 
great  blessing.  Such  men  have  sense  enough  to  know  that  a  light- 
minded,  worldly,  cold  preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  not  likely  to  prove  a 
blessing  to  them  or  their  families.  But  when  church  and  congrega- 
tion have  long  been  hearing  "  another  Gospel,"  have  become  hardened 
in  error,  and  strongly  attached  to  damnable  heresies,  it  were  absurd 
to  expect  the  unconverted  to  prefer  and  seek  for  a  faithful  minister. 
Such  a  state  of  things  should  not  be  allowed  to  occur.  And  then, 
with  respect  to  all  denominations  that  have  a  government  encompass- 
ing and  controlling  the  churches  connected  with  them,  there  is,  in  the 
last  resort,  a  power  to  prevent  the  settlement  of  unworthy  ministers 
in  the  churches  under  their  care. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    DEVELOPED    IN    HOME    MISSIONS. 

AMERICAN   HOME  MISSIONARY   SOCIETY. 

Thus  much  has  the  voluntary  principle  done  for  the  parts  of  the 
country  longest-settled  and  most  densely-peopled.  Let  us  now  see  what 
it  does  for  new  and  thinly-peopled  regions,  where  hundreds  of  new 
congregations  are  rising  annually,  without  the  means  of  maintaining 
the  institutions  of  the  Gospel  by  their  own  efforts.  Such  churches 
are  to  be  found  not  only  in  the  new  settlements  of  the  Far  West,  but 
also  in  the  growing  villages  of  the  East. 

This  inability  to  support  the  public  preaching  of  the  Gospel  often 
arises  from  the  number  of  sects  to  be  found  in  new  settlements,  and 
even  in  some  districts  of  the  older  States.  In  this  respect  diversity 
of  sects  sometimes  causes  a  serious  though  temporary  evil,  not  to  be 
compared  with  the  advantages  resulting  from  it  in  the  long  run.  It 
is  an  evil,  too,  which  generally  becomes  less  and  less  every  year  in 
any  given  place:  the  little  churches,  however  weak  at  first,  gradually 
becoming,  through  the  increase  of  population,  strong  and  independ- 
ent, and  what  is  now  an  evil  disappearing,  or,  rather,  as  I  hope  to 
prove,  being  converted  into  a  blessing. 

The  most  obvious  way  of  aiding  such  feeble  churches  is,  to  form 
societies  for  this  express  object  among  the  older  and  more  flomTshing 


CHAP.  VII.]  AMEEICAK   HOME   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY.  283 

churches.  This  has  been  done,  and  in  this  the  voluntary  principle  has 
beautifully  developed  itself,  particularly  during  the  last  thirty  years. 
It  began  with  some  denominations  not  long  after  the  Revolution ;  and 
early  in  this  century  we  find  missionary  societies  formed  among  the 
Congregational  Churches  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  for  the 
purpose  of  sending  ministers  to  "  the  West,"  that  is,  the  western  part 
of  the  State  of  New  York.*  The  " Far  West"  to  them  was  the 
northern  part  of  Ohio,  which  was  then  beginning  to  be  the  resort  of 
emigrants.  The  faithful  men  sent  by  these  societies  into  the  wilder- 
ness were  greatly  blessed  in  their  labors,  and  to  them,  under  God, 
many  of  the  now  flourishing  churches  of  those  regions  owe  their  ex- 
istence. Missionary  societies  were  subsequently  formed  in  the  other 
New  England  States,  for  supplying  destitute  places  within  their  own 
bounds  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  to  help  in  sending 
it  to  the  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Two  societies  were  formed,  likewise,  about  the  year  1819,  for  the 
same  object,  among  the  Presbyterians  and  Reformed  Dutch  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  these  supported  a  goodly  number  of  mission- 
aries, chiefly  in  the  new  and  feeble  churches  in  the  State  of  that  name. 
In  1826  they  were  united  into  one  body,  and  now  form  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society.f 

This  society,  from  its  very  outset,  has  advanced  with  great  vigor, 
and  has  been  directed  with  singular  zeal  and  energy.  At  its  first  meet- 
ing in  1827,  it  reported  that  in  the  course  of  the  year  just  closed  it 
had  employed  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  ministers,  who  had  labored 
in  One  hundred  and  ninety-six  congregations  and  missionary  dis- 
tricts. Its  receipts  for  the  same  period  amounted  to  $20,031.  This 
auspicious  commencement  must  be  ascribed  to  its  having  assumed  all 
the  engagements  of  the  Domestic  Missionary  Societies,  out  of  which 

*  I  have  seen  the  maps  which  some  of  those  pioneer  missionaries  made  of  the  por- 
tions of  the  State  of  New  York  which  lie  west  of  Albany,  in  the  years  1196-97.  What 
is  now  a  densely-settled  country  was  then  almost  terra  incognita.  At  present,  the 
"West,  or  frontier  country,  lies  far  more  than  a  thousand  miles  west  of  Albany,  instead 
of  just  beyond  it.  In  fact,  the  Pacific  coast  is  now  the  "Far  West,"  our  "ultima 
thule"  in  that  direction. 

f  The  epithet  American,  employed  by  this  society  and  others,  which  do  not  com- 
prise all  the  religious  denominations,  has  been  greatly  objected  to  as  savoring  of 
arrogance,  and  as  if  intimating  that  the  whole  of  America  belonged  to  them  exclu- 
sively as  a  field  of  labor.  Such  an  idea  probably  was  never  entertained  by  those 
who  use  the  word  in  the  nomenclature  of  their  societies.  All  that  they  mean  in  em- 
ploying it  is,  to  signify  that  the  field  to  which  their  attention  is  directed  is  not  a 
single  State,  or  a  few  States,  but  the  whole  country.  The  American  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  embraces  the  orthodox  Congregational  churches  in  New  England  and 
out  of  it,  and  the  New  School  Presbyterians,  and,  to  some  extent,  the  Keformed 
Dutch,  Lutheran,  and  German  Reformed  Churches. 


284  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

it  sprang.  The  Society  soon  drew  into  affiliation  with  it  all  the  State 
Domestic  Missionary  Societies  of  New  England,  some  of  which,  such 
as  those  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  had  been  of  long  standing 
were  well  established.* 

It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  history  of  an  institution  which 
has  been  so  much  blessed  to  a  vast  number  of  new  and  poor  churches 
throughout  all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  American  Confede- 
racy. But  we  can  only  present  a  summary  of  its  operations  at  two 
epochs,  during  the  thirty  years  that  it  has  been  distributing  blessings 
with  a  liberal  hand. 

In  the  year  ending  May  1st,  1835,  the  society  employed  seven  hun- 
dred and  nineteen  agents  and  missionaries.  Of  these,  four  hundred 
and  eighty-one  were  settled  as  pastors,  or  employed  as  "  stated  sup- 
plies" in  single  congregations  ;  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  extended 
their  labors  to  two  or  three  congregations  each,  and  fifty  were  em- 
ployed on  larger  districts.  In  all,  one  thousand  and  fifty  congrega- 
tions, missionary  districts,  and  fields  of  agency,  were  thus  supplied  in 
whole  or  in  part.  The  persons  added  to  the  churches  that  year  under 
the  care  of  the  society's  missionaries,  were  estimated  at  five  thousand; 
namely,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  by  letters  of  recommendation 
from  other  churches,  and  three  thousand  three  hundred  by  examina- 
tion on  profession  of  their  faith.  Several  of  the  churches  were  re- 
ported to  have  been  blessed  with  seasons  of  more  than  ordinary  inter- 
est in  religion ;  in  the  Sunday-schools  attached  to  them  there  were 
about  forty  thousand  scholars,  and  about  twelve  thousand  persons 
attended  the  Bible-classes.  The  number  of  those  who  had  joined 
the  temperance  associations  had  reached  seventy  thousand.  The  ex- 
penditure amounted  to  $83,394  ;  the  receipts  to  $88,863. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  what  was  done  by  the  society  within  the  year 
ending  1st  May,  1855.  The  number  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
service  of  the  Society,  in  twenty-seven  different  States  and  Terri- 
tories, during  the  year,  was  one  thousand  and  thirty-two.  Of 
the  whole  number,  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  were  the  pas- 
tors or  stated  supplies  of  single  congregations ;  three  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  ministered  to  two  or  three  congregations  each ;  and 
one  hundred  and  seventy-six  extended  their  labors  over  still  wider 
fields.  Ten  missionaries  preached  to  congregations  of  colored 
people ;  and  sixty  in  foreign  languages : — nineteen  to  Welsh,  and 
thirty-four  to  German  congregations,  and  seven  to  congregations  of 

*  These  societies  manage,  in  a  great  degree,  their  own  affairs,  appoint  and  support 
the  missionaries  who  labor  within  their  bounds,  and  pay  over  the  surplus  of  their  col- 
lections, if  they  have  any,  to  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  If  they  need 
help  at  any  time  from  that  society,  they  receive  it. 


CHAP.  Vn.]  AMERICAN   HOME   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY.  285 

Norwegians,  Swedes,  Swiss,  Frenchmen,  and  Hollanders.  The  num- 
ber of  congregations  and  missionary  stations  supplied,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  was  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  The  aggregate 
of  ministerial  labor  performed  was  equal  to  eight  hundred  and  fifteen 
years.  The  number  of  pupils  in  Sabbath  schools  was  sixty-four  thou- 
sand eight  hundred.  There  were  added  to  the  churches  five  thou- 
sand  six  hundred  and  thirty-four  persons,  viz. :  two  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  forty-eight  on  profession,  and  two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-six  by  letter.  Forty-eight  missionaries  made  mention  in 
their  reports  of  revivals  of  religion  in  their  congregations  ;  and  three 
hundred  and  sixty-six  missionaries  reported  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty-four  hopeful  conversions.  Sixty-six  churches  were 
organized  by  missionaries  during  the  year  ;  and  forty,  that  had  been 
dependent,  assumed  the  support  of  their  own  ministry.  Sixty-one 
houses  of  worship  were  completed,  thirty-eight  repaired,  and  fifty- 
two  others  in  process  of  erection.  Eighty-nine  young  men,  in  con- 
nection with  the  missionary  churches,  were  in  preparation  for  the 
Gospel  ministry.  The  disbursements  of  the  society  were  $177,717  ; 
the  receipts,  1180,136. 

The  plan  pursued  by  this  society,  and  by  all  the  other  societies  and 
boards  established  for  the  promotion  of  home  missions,  is  never  to 
support  a  missionary  at  its  sole  charges,  if  it  can  be  avoided  ;  but  to 
give  $100,  or  $150,  or  $200,  rarely  more  than  $100  or  $120  to  a 
young  and  feeble  church,  or  two  congregations  near  to  each  other, 
on  condition  of  their  making  up  the  deficiency  in  the  missionary's 
salary.  Thus  they  are  stimulated  and  encouraged  to  help  them- 
selves, and  as  soon  as  they  can  walk  alone,  the  society  leaves  them 
for  others  which  have  been  just  organized,  and  which  need  assist- 
ance. In  this  way  hundreds  of  congregations  have  been  built  up, 
and  hundreds  are  at  this  moment  emerging  from  the  weakness  of 
childhood  into  the  vigor  of  youth  and  manhood.  In  no  case,  how- 
ever, does  the  society  do  any  thing  toward  the  erection  of  church 
edifices.  The  people  must  find  these  for  themselves,  or  get  help 
from  societies  which  have  been  formed  for  that  object.  The  cheap- 
ness of  materials  in  the  new  settlements  and  in  the  villages  of  the 
interior,  renders  it  easv  to  erect  such  houses  as  will  suffice  until  the 
flock  gathers  strength,  and  can  do  something  more. 

The  society  engages,  in  some  cases,  men  of  talent  and  experience 
to  travel  over  a  given  district,  and  to  ascertain  at  what  points  the 
people  attached  to  one  or  other  of  the  denominations  which  it  repre- 
sents might,  with  proper  efforts,  be  formed  into  congregations.  The 
labors  of  such  agents  are  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  they  neces- 
sarily receive  their  whole  salaries  from  the  society. 


286  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IT. 

It  is  a  beautiful  feature  in  our  institutions  for  domestic  missions, 
that  while  encouraging  and  stimulating  new  and  feeble  congregations 
to  do  their  utmost  to  secure  for  themselves  the  regular  enjoyment  of 
Gospel  ordinances,*  they  cultivate  the  kindly  feelings  of  churches 
more  favorably  situated  in  the  older  parts  of  the  country.  Many 
of  the  latter  support  one  missionary,  and  some  of  them  several  each, 
in  the  new  and  destitute  settlements,  through  the  agency  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society.  Nay,  there  are  juvenile  societies 
in  the  Sunday-schools  that  support  each  of  them  one,  and  some  even 
two  or  three  missionaries,  if  not  more.  Individuals  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Atlantic  States  who  support  a  missionary  each,  and  thus  preach 
the  Gospel,  as  they  say,  "  by  proxy."  Still  more,  there  are  persons 
in  New  York  and  other  cities,  who  have  each  paid  the  entire  salary 
and  traveling  expenses  of  an  agent  laboring  in  a  large  district.  One 
of  these,  with  whom  I  was  long  acquainted,  a  hatter,  by  no  means 
wealthy,  who  worked  with  his  hands  at  the  trade,  gave  $600  for 
years,  to  support  one  such  laborer  in  Ohio.  He  is  now  dead.  Beau- 
tiful as  this  is,  it  is  perhaps  a  finer  sight  still  to  see  churches  and  con- 
gregations which  were  aided  by  the  society  in  their  day,  now  in  their 
turn  bearing  a  part,  if  not  the  whole  expense  of  the  labors  of  a  mis- 
sionary hi  a  congregation  not  yet  emerged  from  the  feeble  state  which 
they  once  were  in  themselves.  And  there  are  now  many  such 
throughout  the  United  States. 

In  1805  there  was  scarcely  a  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  church 
in  the  district  now  covered  by  the  seventeen  most  westerly  counties 
of  New  York.  A  few  missionaries  were  sent  thither  at  different 
times,  but  the  increase  was  small  until  the  Agency  for  Home  Mis- 
sions, now  in  connection  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
was  established  there  in  1826.  Now  there  are  on  this  field  more  than 
four  hundred  and  fifty  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  churches, 
containing,  it  is  supposed,  fifty  thousand  communicants.  During  the 
thirty  years  of  its  operations,  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
has  aided  more  than  three  hundred  of  those  churches,  and  nearly 
half  of  them  are  now  able  to  sustain  the  Gospel  without  assistance. 
The  churches  have  nearly  doubled  since  1826,  and  the  communicants 
have  probably  trebled.  Such  is  the  wonderful  work  that  God  has 
wrought  in  this  section  of  the  State.  Such  has  been  the  triumph  of  the 
Gospel.   It  is  indeed  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes. 

Passing  by  other  facts  showing  the  lateral  good  accomplished  by 
this  effort  to  plant  the  Gospel  in  Western  New  York,  we  mention 
that  many  of  the  foreign  missionaries  are  the  sons  of  those  churches. 

*  It  is  believed  that  the  churches  aided  by  the  society  raise,  in  one  way  or  an- 
other, nearly  three  times  as  much  as  they  receive ! 


CHAP.  VIII.]      PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD    OF   DOMESTIC   MISSIONS.  287 

One  of  them  is  now  pastor  of  a  church  of  seven  thousand  members 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  principally  gathered  through  the  blessing 
of  God  on  his  labors.  Besides  repaying  the  parent  society  more  than 
$100,000  expended  on  this  field,  those  churches  have  given  $60,000 
to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  more  destitute  beyond  them.  Nor  is  this 
all ;  they  have  been  most  generous  helpers  of  every  good  cause. 

We  conclude  our  notice  of  this  society  by  giving  the  following  ex- 
tract from  one  of  its  Annual  Reports  : 

"  The  results,  indeed,  of  that  mysterious  and  wonder-working  in- 
fluence which  a  God  of  grace  exerts  through  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation, and  which  He  connects  with  the  missionary  enterprise,  all 
surpass  finite  comprehension.  While  the  missionaries  are  preaching 
Christ  and  Him  crucified  to  the  living,  they  are  laying  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  of  many  generations ;  they  are  setting  in  motion 
trains  of  moral  influences,  which  will  not  cease  when  they  are  dead ; 
they  are  kindling  up  lights  in  Zion,  which  will  shine  brighter  and 
brighter  unto  the  perfect  day.  Churches,  that  were  near  unto  death, 
are  quickened,  and  become  able  of  themselves  to  sustain  the  Gospel, 
and  to  hand  down  its  blessings  to  those  who  shall  come  after  them. 
New  churches  are  organized,  to  throw  open  their  portals  to  the 
fathers,  and  the  children,  and  the  children's  children,  through  many 
generations,  and  to  send  out  their  influences  to  the  ends  of  the  world. 
The  organization,  or  resuscitation  of  a  church — heaven's  own  institu- 
tion— that  may  stand  through  all  coming  time,  and  bring  its  multi- 
tudes of  redeemed  ones  to  glory,  is  a  great  event.  And  to  plant  such 
churches,  wherever  there  are  souls  to  be  gathered  into  them,  our 
country  over,  and  nurture  them  till  they  no  longer  need  our  aid,  but 
become  our  most  efficient  fellow-laborers,  in  hastening  forward  the 
universal  reign  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  surely  a  great  work  !  And 
yet,  this  is  the  work  in  which  infinite  condescension  and  mercy  per- 
mits us,  as  friends  of  home  missions,  to  engage,  and  some  of  which  it 
is  our  privilege  here  to  record." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD    OF   DOMESTIC   MISSIONS,  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION 

OF   THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

Presbyterianism  owes  its  foundation  in  the  United  States  chiefly 
to  persons  who  had  been  exiled  from  Scotland  on  account  of  their  re- 
ligious principles,  and  to  Presbyterian  emigrants  from  the  north  of 


288  THE  VOLUNTAS Y   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

Ireland.  These  were  joined  in  many  places  by  settlers  from  New 
England,  who  had  no  objections  to  unite  with  them  in  forming  con- 
gregations on  Presbyterian  principles.  Presbyterians  of  Scottish  and 
Irish  origin  coalesced  in  other  places  with  Huguenots  from  France, 
and  with  colonists  originally  of  the  Dutch  or  German  Reformed 
Churches.  Thus  did  Presbyterian  congregations  begin  to  be  formed 
toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  first  preachers 
were  from  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  New  England.  They  were  few  in 
number  at  first,  and  were  often  invited  to  preach  in  neighborhoods 
where  some  resident  Presbyterians  might  desire  to  hear  the  Gospel, 
preached  by  men  of  the  same  religious  principles  with  themselves. 

The  first  presbytery  was  constituted  in  1705,  and  the  first  synod 
(that  of  Philadelphia)  in  1716.  After  that  the  work  of  home  missions 
began  to  acquire  greater  consistency.  Ministers  were  sent  out  on 
preaching  tours  among  the  small  Presbyterian  flocks,  or,  rather,  scat- 
tered groups  of  Presbyterian  families,  particularly  in  the  middle  and 
southern  provinces.  In  1741,  the  synod  was  divided  into  two  bodies, 
one  retaining  the  old  name  of  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  the  other 
calling  itself  the  Synod  of  New  York.  The  former,  soon  after  being 
constituted,  had  its  attention  drawn,  "  not  only  to  the  wants  of  the 
people  within  their  immediate  bounds,  but  to  those  also  of  the  emi- 
grants who  were  rapidly  extending  themselves  through  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina."  They  wrote,  accordingly,  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  asking  for  ministers  to  preach  in  these 
colonies,  and  for  assistance  in  establishing  a  seminary  for  the  educa- 
tion of  suitable  young  men  for  the  ministry.  A  letter  was  also  ad- 
dressed to  the  deputies  of  the  Synods  of  North  and  South  Holland, 
in  which  they  expressed  their  willingness  to  unite  with  the  Calvinistic 
Dutch  Churches  in  promoting  the  common  interests  of  religion. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  in  1745,  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  people  of  Virginia  were  brought  before  them,  and 
the  opinion  unanimously  expressed  that  Mr.  Robinson*  was  the  proper 
person  to  visit  that  colony.  He  visited  it  accordingly,  and  on  that,  as 
well  as  on  a  former  visit,  was  the  instrument  of  doing  much  good. 
He  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  formerly  mentioned. 

In  1758,  the  two  synods  were  merged  in  the  one  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  and  from  that  time  domestic  missions  began 

*  This  Mr.  Eobinson  was  a  remarkable  man.  His  manners  were  plain,  his  eloquence 
simple,  animated,  and  attractive.  He  had  but  one  eye,  and  was  from  that  circum- 
stance called  "one-eyed  Eobinson."  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  late  professor  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  says  that  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
for  people  to  go  twenty,  thirty,  and  even  forty  miles,  to  hear  him  preach  a  single 
sermon. 


CHAP.  VIII.]      PEESBYTEEIAN   BOAED   OF   DOMESTIC   MISSIONS.  289 

to  receive  considerable  attention,  and  collections  for  that  object  were 
ordered  to  be  made  in  the  churches.  In  1767,  or  1768,  the  Synod 
received  an  overture,  or  proposal,  from  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  "  that  there  should  be  an  annual  collection  in  every  congrega- 
tion ;  that  every  presbytery  should  appoint  a  treasurer  to  receive  and 
transmit  the  funds  thus  obtained ;  that  the  Synod  should  appoint  a 
general  treasurer,  to  whom  all  these  presbyterial  collections  should  be 
sent ;  and  that  every  year  a  full  account  of  the  receipts  and  disburse- 
ments should  be  printed  and  sent  down  to  the  churches."  This  was 
the  germ  of  the  present  Board  of  Missions.  In  the  same  year  peti- 
tions for  "  supplies"  were  received  from  twenty-one  places  in  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

Collections  were  thenceforward  made  in  the  churches.  In  1772,  it 
was  ordered  that  a  part  of  these  moneys  should  be  appropriated  to 
the  purchase  and  distribution  of  useful  religious  books,  and  to  the 
promotion  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians.  Two  years  afterward 
it  was  seriously  contemplated  to  send  missionaries  to  Africa ;  but  the 
war  of  the  Revolution  breaking  out  the  following  year,  the  project 
fell  to  the  ground.  Even  during  the  war  there  was  a  considerable 
demand  for  ministers  from  destitute  congregations,  and  to  meet  this 
many  faithful  ministers  made  missionary  tours,  at  no  small  personal 
hazard  from  the  dangers  of  war.  Measures  were  taken  in  1788  for 
forming  the  General  Assembly,  which  was  organized  in  1789,  and  at 
its  very  first  meeting  much  attention  was  paid  to  the  subject  of 
missions. 

"  It  is  believed,"  says  a  distinguished  divine  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  "that  at  this  time  (1789)  there  was  not  in  the  United 
States  another  religious  denomination,  besides  the  Presbyterian,  that 
prosecuted  any  domestic  missionary  enterprise;  except  that  then, 
as  since,  the  Methodists  sent  forth  their  circuit  preachers  in  all  di- 
rections."* 

In  the  year  1800,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chapman  was  appointed  a  mission- 
ary in  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  to  his  labors 
we  must  so  far  ascribe  the  great  difiusion  of  Presbyterianism  in  that 
important  section  of  the  country.  In  1802,  the  General  Assembly 
appointed  a  "  standing  committee,"  to  attend  to  the  greatly-increased 
interests  in  the  missionary  cause — a  measure  which  led  to  a  further 
extension  of  the  work.  A  correspondence  was  commenced  with  all 
the  known  missionary  societies  of  Europe.  The  committee  gave 
much  of  its  attention  to  the  colored  population,  a  class  among  whom 
the  late  John  Holt  Rice,  D.D.,  one  of  the  most  able  ministers  that 

*  "History  of  the  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  by  the  late  Ashbol 
Green,  D.D. 

19 


290  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  has  ever  possessed, 
labored  as  a  missionary  during  seven  years. 

In  1816,  the  General  Assembly  enlarged  the  powers  of  the  stand- 
ing committee,  and  gave  it  the  title  of  "  the  Board  of  Missions,  act- 
ing under  the  authority  of  the  General  Assembly."  Many  mission- 
aries went  forth  under  its  auspices,  to  labor  among  the  destitute 
Presbyterian  congregations  that  were  continually  forming  in  the 
Southern  and  Western  States.  Meanwhile,  many  local  societies,  under 
the  direction  of  synods,  presbyteries,  and  other  bodies,  had  sprung 
up,  and  were  separately  prosecuting  the  same  objects  to  a  considera- 
ble extent. 

The  General  Assembly  again  took  up  the  subject  of  missions  in 
1828,  and  further  enlarged  the  powers  of  the  Board,  fully  authorizing 
it  to  establish  missions,  not  only  in  destitute  parts  of  the  United 
States,  but  among  the  heathen  abroad.  Such,  however,  was  the  de- 
mand for  laborers  at  home,  especially  in  the  Western  States  and  Ter- 
ritories, that  nothing  of  importance  could  be  done  for  foreign  lands. 
It  was  found,  besides,  that  home  and  foreign  missions  could  not  well 
be  united  under  one  board,  so  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the 
latter  were  committed  to  the  charge  of  another  board,  appointed  for 
that  purpose  by  the  Assembly.  Of  its  operations  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to. speak  elsewhere. 

The  cause  of  domestic  missions  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  now 
went  on  with  fresh  vigor,  and  the  synodical  and  presbyterial  societies 
becoming  either  merged  in  the  Assembly's  Board,  or  affiliated  with  it, 
the  whole  assumed  a  more  consolidated  form  and  greater  consistency. 
From  1828  to  1855,  the  missionaries  increased  from  thirty-one  to 
five  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The  Report  for  the  latter  year  presents 
a  summary  of  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  missionaries  employed ; 
three  hundred  and  five  Sunday-schools,  attended  by  fourteen  thousand 
five  hundred  and  forty- eight  scholars,  connected  with  the  churches  under 
their  care ;  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty-six  members  added 
to  the  churches,  of  whom  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  were  received  upon  examination  of  then-  faith,  and  one  thousand 
five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  upon  letters  of  recommendation  from 
other  churches;  the  receipts  were  $71,834,  and  the  expenditures 
$78,944.  The  average  expense  of  each  missionary  is  about  $150. 
The  Board  pursues  the  wise  course  of  simply  helping  congregations 
that  as  yet  are  unable  to  maintain  pastors,  by  granting  them  so  much 
on  their  undertaking  to  make  up  the  deficiency.* 

*  Since  1844  this  Board  has  been  charged  with  the  work  of  "Church  Extension," 
or  assisting  in  building  of  church  edifices,  where  help  is  needed.  This  branch  of 
their  labors  is  wholly  distinct  from  that  which  is  missionary,  and  of  which  we  have 


CHAP.  VIII.]      EPISCOPAL,    BAPTIST,    AND    OTHER   HOME   MISSIONS.       291 

Such  is  a  brief  notice  of  the  operations  of  the  Home  Missions  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  that  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
commonly  called  the  Old  School,  to  distinguish  it  from  another  branch 
called  the  New  School.  The  Board  has  been  instrumental,  under 
God,  in  giving  a  permanent  existence  to  hundreds  of  churches.  The 
Divine  blessing  has  been  remarkably  vouchsafed  to  its  efforts.  Its 
affairs  are  managed  with  great  wisdom  and  energy,  and  the  Church  is 
much  indebted  to  the  late  Ashbel  Green,  D.D.,  for  the  deep  interest 
which,  during  a  long  life,  he  felt  in  this  cause,  and  for  the  devotedness 
with  which  he  labored  to  promote  it.  Nor  could  it  fail  to  be  a  great 
consolation  to  him,  in  his  declining  days,  to  see  his  love  and  zeal  for 
this  enterprise  crowned  with  abundant  success. 

In  this  connection,  we  may  say  that  the  Associate  Presbyterian 
Church  had,  in  1855,  forty-one  missionaries  in  the  home  fields,  and 
the  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  sixty-five. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

HOME    MISSIONS    OF  THE   EPISCOPAL,   BAPTIST,   AND    REFORMED    DUTCH 
CHURCHES,  AND   AMERICAN  AND   FOREIGN   CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

A  society  was  formed  in  the  year  1822,  in  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  of  the  United  States,  for  the  promotion  of  Home  and  For- 
eign Missions.  During  the  first  thirteen  years  of  its  existence,  that 
is,  up  to  1835,  it  had  employed  fifty-nine  laborers  in  its  home  missions, 
occupying  stations  in  various  parts  of  the  Union,  but  chiefly  in  the 
West.  This  society  was  re-organized  in  1835,  and,  as  now  consti- 
tuted, is  under  the  direction  of  a  Board  of  thirty  members,  appointed 
by  the  General  Convention  of  that  Church.  The  bishops,  together 
with  such  persons  as  had  become  patrons  of  the  society  previously  to 
the  meeting  of  the  Convention  in  1829,  are  members  of  the  Board, 
and  to  it  is  committed  the  whole  subject  of  missions.  But  the  better 
to  expedite  the  business  intrusted  to  it,  the  Home  an4  Foreign  de- 
partments are  directed,  respectively,  by  two  committees,  each  con- 
sisting of  four  clergymen  and  four  laymen,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese  in  which  the  committee  resides,  and  the 
members  of  both  committees  are  ex  officio  members  of  the  Board. 

spoken  of  above.  The  receipts  for  the  "  Church  Extension"  Fund  from  1844  to  1855 
were  $68,544;  from  which  fund  aid  was  extended,  during  that  period,  to  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  churches.  In  the  year  ending  April  1,  1855.  forty-nine  church 
edifices  were  completed,  to  whose  construction  aid  was  given. 


292  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

It  is  only  since  1835  that  the  home  missions  of  the  society  have 
been  prosecuted  with  much  vigor,  but  every  year  now  bears  witness 
to  the  increasing  interest  felt  by  the  Episcopal  churches  of  the  United 
States  in  the  work  of  building  up  churches  in  the  new  settlements, 
and  other  places  where  no  congregation  of  that  communion  had 
before  existed. 

During  the  year  ending  June,  1855,  the  Board  had  employed 
ninety-eight  missionaries ;  and  that  they  did  not  labor  without  effect- 
ing much  good,  is  apparent  even  from  the  imperfect  statements  of  the 
Report.  The  income  for  the  home  missions  was  $42,107.  From  1822 
to  1841,  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  stations  were  adopted  as  fields 
of  special,  permanent,  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  regular  labor.  During 
the  same  period  eighty  church  edifices  had  been  erected  in  those  sta- 
tions, and  the  number  of  these  once  aided,  but  no  longer  requiring 
assistance,  was  forty-four. 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  this  society,  like  those  already  men- 
tioned, is  an  instrument  by  which  churches  that  have  long  been 
favored  with  the  Gospel,  and  that  highly  prize  it,  are  enabled  to  assist 
others,  until  they,  too,  have  grown  up  into  a  vigorous  independence 
of  foreign  aid.  "Freely  ye  have  received;  freely  give;"  this  ad- 
monition and  command  should  never  be  forgotten.  It  is  the  true 
basis  of  the  whole  Voluntary  System. 

We  shall  only  add,  that  the  missionaries  employed  by  the  Board 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  are  chiefly  stationed  in  the  Western  States 
and  Territories,  California,  and  Oregon. 

The  American  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  was  instituted  in 
1832,  and  has  been  eminently  useful  in  building  up  churches  of 
that  denomination,  both  in  the  West  and  in  many  of  the  Atlantic 
States,  where  the  assistance  of  such  an  institution  was  required ;  as 
well  as  in  establishing  Sunday-schools  and  Bible-classes.  Its  great 
field  of  labor,  however,  like  that  of  all  the  other  Societies  and  Boards 
for  domestic  missions,  has  been  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
Within  a  few  years,  it  has  extended  its  operations  to  California  and 
Oregon,  in  which  countries  it  has  several  missionaries.  It  has  nume- 
rous branches  and  auxiliaries  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  During 
the  year  ending  in  May,  1855,  it  had  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
agents  and  missionaries  in  its  own  immediate  service,  while  its  aux- 
iliaries employed  many  more,  all  of  whom  were  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  believed  to  be  faithful  and  capable  laborers.  The  receipts  of 
the  society  amounted  to  $60,043.  The  Southern  Baptist  Convention 
had  eighty-eight  missionaries. 

In  addition  to  what  the  regular  Baptists  are  doing  for  home  mis- 
sions, it   ought  to  be  stated  that  the  Free- Will  Baptists  have  a 


CHAP.  X.]    HOME  MISSIONS  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.      293 

Home  Missionary  Society,  which   employs  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
laborers. 

The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  has  a  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions,  which  is  now  prosecuting,  with  zeal  and  wisdom, 
the  work  of  gathering  together  new  congregations,  and  fostering 
them  during  their  infancy,  wherever  it  can  find  openings  for  so  doing. 
For  several  years  past  it  has  been  extending  its  operations,  and  dur- 
ing the  year  ending  in  June,  1855,  it  had  fifty  missionaries. 

The  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  composed  of  good 
men  of  nearly  all  the  Evangelical  churches,  had,  in  1855,  sixty-two 
missionaries  in  the  home  field. 

If  the  truth  is  to  be  carried  into  every  hamlet  and  neighborhood 
of  the  United  States,  it  can  only  be  by  the  energetic  efforts  of  all  de- 
nominations of  evangelical  Christians ;  and  it  is  delightful  to  trace 
the  proofs  that  this  conviction  is  wide  and  deep.  All  those  denom- 
inations are  actually  engaged  in  the  good  work,  and  send  forth  and 
support  missionaries  in  some  portion  or  other  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HOME  MISSIONS    OF   THE   METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHUECH. 

It  has  been  said,  with  truth,  that  the  Methodist  Church  is  in  its  very 
structure  emphatically  a  missionary  Church ;  and  how  inestimable  its 
office  in  this  respect,  the  religious  history  of  the  United  States  will 
strikingly  prove.  The  General  Conferences  are  divided  into  Annual 
Conferences,  each  including  a  large  extent  of  country,  and  divided 
into  districts.  Each  district  comprehends  several  circuits,  and  within 
each  circuit  there  are  from  five  to  twenty  preaching  places  or  more. 

Ordinarily  as  often  as  once  in  the  fortnight  a  circuit-preacher  conducts 
a  regular  service  at  each  of  these  preaching  places,  whether  it  be  a 
church,  school-room,  or  a  dwelling-house.  In  the  largest  towns  and 
villages  such  services  are  held  on  the  Sabbath,  and  on  a  week-day  or 
evening  in  other  places,  and  thus  the  Gospel  is  carried  into  thousands 
of  remote  spots  in  which  it  never  would  be  preached  upon  the  plan  of 
having  a  permanent  clergy,  planted  in  particular  districts  and  parishes. 

It  was  a  remark,  I  believe,  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Witherspoon,  that 
"  he  needed  no  other  evidence  that  the  Rev.  John  Weslev  was  a 
great  man,  than  the  system  of  itinerating  preaching  of  which  that 
wonderful  man  was  the  author."     The  observation  was  a  just  one. 


294  THE  VOLUNTAEY  PEINCIPLE   IN  AMEEICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

It  is  a  system  of  vast  importance  in  every  point  of  view ;  but  that 
from  which  we  are  at  present  to  contemplate  it  is  its  filling  up  a  void 
which  must  else  remain  empty.  Of  its  other  advantages  we  shall 
have  to  speak  hereafaer. 

Yet,  capable  as  the  system  is  of  being  made  to  send  its  ramifica- 
tions into  almost  every  corner  of  the  country,  and  to  carry  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  into  the  most  remote  and  secluded  settlements,  as 
well  as  to  the  more  accessible  and  populous  towns  and  neighbor- 
hoods, many  places  were  found,  particularly  in  the  South  and  West, 
so  situated  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  adequate  supply  from  itin- 
erant laborers  :  a  fact  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1816. 

This  society,  like  that  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  was 
formed  for  the  double  object  of  promoting  missions  at  home  and 
abroad.  In  1843,  twenty-four  years  after  its  formation,  this  society 
employed  two  hundred  and  ten  missionaries  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  exclusive  of  those  laboring  among  the  Indians,  whether 
within  or  immediately  beyond  those  limits.  The  churches  enjoying 
the  services  of  these  missionaries  comprised  above  thirty  thousand 
members,  and  many  of  them  had  flourishing  Bible-classes  and  Sun- 
day-schools. The  report  also  stated,  that  among  the  members  of  the 
Society's  missionary  churches,  there  were  not  fewer  than  thirteen 
thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty  colored  people. 

In  the  year  1 855  the  various  branches  of  the  Methodist  family  of 
churches  employed  nearly  twelve  hundred  missionaries  in  the  home 
field. 

Perhaps  of  all  the  fields  cultivated  by  this  society,  the  two  most  in- 
teresting, and,  in  some  respects,  most  important,  are  those  presented 
by  the  slaves  in  the  extreme  Southern  States,  and  by  the  German 
emigrants  found  in  great  numbers  in  our  chief  cities.  The  missions 
among  the  former  were  commenced  in  1828,*  and  originated  in  a 
proposal  made  by  the  Hon.  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  a  distinguished 
Christian  layman  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  South  Carolina,  and 
which  has  been  carried  into  effect  with  much  success :  the  slaveholders 
themselves,  in  many  places,  if  not  in  all,  being  pleased  to  have  the 
missionaries  preach  the  Gospel  to  their  people. 

The  following  paragraph  from  a  report,  will  give  the  reader  some 
idea  of  the  hazardous  nature  of  this  work.     "  In  the  Southern  and 

*  I  speak  here  of  missions  technically  so  called,  for,  in  their  ordinary  labors,  the 
Methodists,  from  the  first,  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  slaves  in  the  South,  as  well 
as  with  the  free  negroes  of  the  North.  In  fact,  no  other  body  of  Christians,  perhaps, 
has  done  so  much  good  to  the  unfortunate  children  of  Africa  in  the  United  States  as 
the  followers  of  John  Wesley. 


CHAP.  X.J    HOME  MISSIONS  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.      295 

South-western  Conferences,  it  will  be  seen,  under  the  head  of  domes- 
tic missions,  that,  with  commendable  zeal  and  devotion,  our  missiona- 
ries are  still  laboring  in  the  service  of  the  slaves  upon  the  rice-fields, 
sugar  and  cotton  plantations,  multitudes  of  whom,  though  destined 
to  toil  and  bondage  during  their  earthly  pilgrimage,  have  by  their 
instrumentality  been  brought  to  enjoy  the  liberty  of  the  Gospel,  and 
are  happily  rejoicing  in  the  blessings  of  God's  salvation.  In  no  por- 
tion of  our  work  are  our  missionaries  called  to  endure  greater  priva- 
tions, or  make  greater  sacrifices  of  health  and  life,  than  in  these 
missions  among  the  slaves,  many  of  which  are  located  in  sections  of 
the  Southern  country  which  are  proverbially  sickly,  and  under  the 
fatal  influence  of ,  a  climate  which  few  white  men  are  capable  of  en- 
during, even  for  a  single  year.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  so  many 
valuable  missionaries  have  fallen  martyrs  to  their  toils  in  these  mis- 
sions, year  after  year  there  are  found  others  to  take  their  places,  who 
fall  likewise  in  their  work,  '  ceasing  at  once  to  work  and  to  live.' 
Nor  have  our  superintendents  any  difficulty  in  finding  missionaries 
ready  to  fill  up  the  ranks  which  death  has  thinned  in  these  sections 
of  the  work :  for  the  love  of  Christ,  and  the  love  of  the  souls  of  these 
poor  Africans  in  bonds,  constrain  our  brethren  in  the  itinerant  work 
of  the  Southern  conferences  to  exclaim,  'Here  are  we,  send  us !'  The 
Lord  be  praised  for  the  zeal  and  success  of  our  brethren  in  this  self- 
denying  and  self-sacrificing  work." 

Not  less  interesting  are  the  missions  among  the  Germans  resident 
in  the  chief  towns  and  cities  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Begin- 
ning at  Pittsburg  and  Alleghany  city,  this  Society  has  missionaries 
among  these  foreigners  in  many  of  the  chief  towns  on  the  Ohio,  such 
as  Wheeling,  Marietta,  Portsmouth,  Maysville,  Cincinnati,  Lawrence- 
burg,  New  Albany,  etc.,  as  well  as  in  towns  remote  from  the  river, 
such  as  Dayton  and  Chillicothe.  It  has  missions  also,  at  St.  Louis, 
and  other  points  on  the  Upper  Mississippi.  Nor  are  they  confined 
to  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  they  exist  also  in  the  principal  towns 
in  the  East. 

These  brief  notices  of  the  home  missions  of  the  chief  Evangelical 
Churches  in  the  United  States,  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of 
the  mode  in  which  new  and  feeble  congregations  are  aided  by  the 
older  and  stronger,  until  able  to  maintain  the  institutions  of  religion 
themselves.    The  societies*  which  we  have  passed  under  review  in 

*  Namely,  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  which  aided  1,032  missionaries; 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  (Old  School) 
Church,  525;  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church,  41;  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  98 ;  Baptist  Home  Mission  So- 
ciety (North),  179 ;  Southern  Baptist  Convention,  88 ;  American  and  Foreign  Chris- 


296  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

these  four  chapters,  supported,  in  all,  in  the  year  1855,  three  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and 
at  an  expense  of  $728,539,  in  new,  and,  as  yet,  feeble  churches 
and  flocks.  Year  after  year  many  of  these  cease  to  require  assist- 
ance, and  then  others  are  taken  up  in  their  turn.  Be  it  remem- 
bered, that  the  work  has  been  systematically  prosecuted  for  no  long 
course  of  time.  Thirty-five  years  ago,  in  fact,  the  most  powerful  of 
these  societies  did  not  exist ;  others  were  but  commencing  their  ope- 
rations. It  is  an  enterprise  with  respect  to  which  the  Churches  have 
as  yet  but  partially  developed  their  energies  and  resources  ;  still,  they 
have  accomplished  enough  to  demonstrate  how  much  may  be  done  by 
"the  voluntary  principle,  toward  calling  into  existence  churches  and 
congregations  in  the  settlements  rapidly  forming,  whether  in  the  new 
or  the  old  States. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  DEVELOPED. — INFLUENCE  OF  THE  VOLUN- 
TARY PRINCIPLE  ON  EDUCATION. OF  PRIMARY  SCHOOLS. 

We  have  seen  how  the  voluntary  principle  operates  in  America  in 
relation  to  the  building  of  churches,  and  the  support  of  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  new  settlements  that  are  forming  every  year. 
We  now  come  to  consider  its  influence  on  education.  Hundreds 
of  ministers,  it  will  be  perceived,  are  required,  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  rapidly-augmenting  population.  Where  are  these  to 
come  from?  Besides,  in  a  country  where  the  right  of  suffrage 
is  almost  universal,  and  where  so  much  of  the  order,  peace,  and 
happiness,  that  are  the  true  objects  of  all  good  government,  depend 
on  officers  chosen  in  the  most  direct  manner  from  among  themselves, 
these  must  be  instructed  before  they  can  become  intelligent,  virtuous, 
and  capable  citizens. ,  Ignorance  is  incompatible  with  the  acquisition 
or  preservation  of  any  freedom  worth  possessing  ;  and,  above  all,  such 
a  republic  as  that  of  the  United  States  must  depend  for  its  very  ex- 
istence on  the  wide  diffusion  of  sound  knowledge  and  religious  prin- 
ciples among  all  classes  of  the  people.  Let  us,  therefore,  trace  the 
bearings  of  the  voluntary  principle  upon  education,  hi  all  its  forms, 

tian  Union,  62 ;  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  50 ;  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  several  branches  of  the  Methodist  Church,  1,197  ;  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Chunch,  (about)  65.  This  list,  though  not  complete,  is  very 
nearly  so. 


CHAP.  XI.l      INFLUENCE   ON  EDUCATION. PRIMARY   SCHOOLS.  297 

among  the  various  ranks  of  society  in  the  United  States.     We  shall 
begin  with  primary  schools. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  emigrants  to  the  New  World,  who 
fled  from  the  Old  with  the  hope  of  enjoying  that  religious  freedom 
which  they  so  much  desired,  would  not  be  indifferent  to  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children.  Especially  might  we  expect  to  find  that  the 
Protestant  colonists,  who  had  forsaken  all  for  this  boon,  would  not 
fail  to  make  early  provision  for  the  instruction  of  their  children,  in 
order  that  they  might  be  able  to  read  that  Book  which  is  the  "  Re- 
ligion of  Protestants."  And  such  we  find  to  have  been  the  fact. 
Scarcely  had  the  Puritans  been  settled  half-a-dozen  years  in  the  col- 
ony of  Massachusetts,  before  they  began  to  make  provision  for  public 
primary  schools,  to  be  supported  by  a  tax  assessed  upon  all  the  in- 
habitants* And  such  provision  was  actually  made,  not  only  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, but  in  every  New  England  colony.  And  such  provision 
exists  to  this  day  in  all  the  six  New  England  States.  Schools  are 
by  law  maintained  in  every  school  district,  during  the  whole  or  a  part 
of  every  year. 

With  the  exception  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  where  all  the  pub- 
lic schools  are  maintained  upon  the  interest  of  a  large  school  fund, 
primary  instruction  is  provided  for  by  an  annual  assessment — a  school 
being  taught,  in  every  school  district,  by  a  master  for  the  older  youth 
during  winter,  and  often  by  a  mistress  for  the  little  children  during 
summer.  Wherever  we  find  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  in 
America,  we  find  a  people  who  value  education  as  the  first  of  all 
earthly  blessings ;  and  when  a  colony  from  New  England  plants  itself, 
whether  amid  the  forests  of  Ohio,  or  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  or  on 
the  plains  of  California,  two  things  are  ever  considered  indispensable 
alike  to  their  temporal  and  to  their  spiritual  and  their  eternal  wel- 
fare— a  church  and  a  school-house. 

Nor  was  this  thirst  for  education  confined  to  the  New  England 
Puritans :  it  prevailed  to  no  small  degree  among  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
Presbyterians,  the  Huguenots,  the  early  German  emigrants ;  among 

*  The  small  colony  of  Plymouth,  as  soon  as  it  was  in  some  measure  settled,  set 
about  providing  schools  for  the  children,  and  this  was  several  years  before  the  colony 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  was  planted. 

But  if  the  New  England  Puritans  were  zealous  in  the  cause  of  education  and  learn- 
ing, the  Virginia  colonists  seem  not  to  have  had  any  such  spirit,  for  one  of  their  gov- 
ernors, Sir  "William  Berkeley,  in  1670,  in  replying  to  the  inquiries  addressed  to  him 
by  the  Lords  of  Plantations,  says,  "I  thank  God,  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing, 
and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them  these  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has  brought 
disobedience,  and  heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and 
libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from  both  I" — Hening's  Laws  of 
Virginia,  Appendix. 


298  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

all,  in  fact,  who  had  fled  from  Europe  for  the  sake  of  their  religion. 
It  is  owing  to  this  that  primary  education  has  been  diffused  so  widely 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  that  no  less  effective  legal  provi- 
sion has  been  made  at  length  for  the  support  of  common  schools  in 
New  York,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  than  in  the 
New  England  States,  and  to  a  considerable  extent,  also,  in  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Kentucky :  while  in  all  the  others  it  has  led  to  the 
adoption  of  measures  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor, 
and  to  the  creation  of  school  funds,  which,  taken  together  with  other 
means,  promise  one  day  to  be  available  for  the  education  of  all 
classes. 

The  white  and  free  colored  population  of  the  United  States 
amounted,  in  1850,  to  nearly  twenty  millions,  of  which  number  it  was 
ascertained  that  one  million  fifty-three  thousand  four  hundred  and 
twenty  persons,  above  twenty  years  of  age,  could  neither  read  nor 
write.  A  large  proportion  of  these,  in  fact  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  thousand  one  hundred  and  fourteen,  were  foreigners — Irish,  Ger- 
mans, Swiss,  and  French. 

By  the  census  of  1850,  it  appears  that  the  number  of  schools,  in- 
cluding public  and  private  academies,  amounted  to  eighty-seven  thou- 
sand and  sixty-seven,  attended  by  four  million  eighty-nine  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seven  scholars ;  of  whom  three  million  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  thousand  and  eleven  were  taught  at  the  public 
charge  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  the  remainder  at  that  of  their  parents 
and  friends.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  education  in  America  de- 
pends very  much  on  the  aid  of  the  State.  So  that  although  primary 
schools  were  in  all  parts  of  the  country  originated  and  sustained  at 
first,  as  in  most  of  the  States  they  continue  to  be,  by  the  people 
themselves,  or,  rather,  by  the  friends  of  education,  State  after  State 
is  beginning  to  be  induced  by  the  efforts  of  these  to  make  a  legal  pro- 
vision, to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  for  the  instruction  of  all  who  may 
choose  to  avail  themselves  of  it ;  for  in  this  they  do  not  see  that  they 
violate  any  rights  of  conscience. 

The  right  of  giving  instruction  is,  in  the  United  States,  universal. 
Even  where  there  is  an  all-pervading  system  of  public  schools,  any 
number  of  families  may  join  together,  and  employ  any  teacher  for 
their  children  whom  they  may  prefer.  Nor  has  that  teacher  to  pro- 
cure any  license  or  "  brevet  of  instruction"  before  entering  on  the 
duties  of  his  office.  His  employers  are  the  sole  judges  of  his  capacity, 
and  should  he  prove  incapable  or  inefficient,  the  remedy  is  in  their 
own  hands.  The  teachers  employed  by  the  State  pass  an  examina- 
tion before  a  proper  committee.  In  all  the  States  where  there  is  a 
legal  provision  for  primary  schools,  there  is  a  yearly  report  from  each 


CHAP.  XI.]      INFLUENCE  ON   EDUCATION. PElMARY   SCHOOLS.  299 

to  a  committee  of  the  township,  from  which,  again,  there  is  a  report 
to  a  county  committee,  and  that,  in  its  turn,  sends  a  report  to  the 
Secretary  or  School  Commissioner  of  the  State. 

In  most  cases,  a  pious  and  judicious  teacher,  if  he  will  only  confine 
himself  to  the  great  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  in  which 
all  who  hold  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Bible  are  agreed,  can 
easily  give  as  much  religious  instruction  as  he  chooses.  "Where  the 
teacher  himself  is  not  decidedly  religious,  much  religious  instruction 
can  not  be  expected ;  nor  indeed  should  any  but  religious  teachers 
attempt  to  give  more  than  general  moral  instruction,  and  make  the 
scholars  read  portions  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  other  good  books. 

The  Bible  is  very  generally  used  as  a  reading-book  in  our  primary 
schools,  though  in  some  places  the  Roman  Catholics  have  succeeded 
in  excluding  it,  and  they  have  been  striving  to  do  the  same  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  In  so  far  as  relates  to  public  schools,  I  see  no 
other  course  but  that  of  leaving  the  question  to  the  people  them- 
selves ;  the  majority  deciding,  and  leaving  the  minority  the  alterna- 
tive of  supporting  a  school  of  their  own.  This  will  generally  be  done 
by  Protestants  rather  than  give  up  the  Bible. 

In  most  parts  of  the  United  States,  it  has  been  found  extremely 
difficult  to  procure  good  teachers,  few  men  being  willing  to  devote 
their  lives  to  that  occupation  in  a  country  so  full  of  openings  in  more 
lucrative  and  inviting  professions  and  employments.  Hence  very 
incompetent  teachers — not  a  few  from  Ireland  and  other  parts  of  the 
British  dominions— are  all  that  can  be  found.  This  is  particularly  the 
case  in  the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States.  But  it  is  an  evil 
which  diminishes  with  the  increase  of  population.  Much  attention 
has  of  late  been  paid  to  the  training  of  teachers,  and  many  Normal 
Schools  have  been  established.  A  very  laudable  effort  is  making 
in  New  England,  in  New  York,  and  in  some  other  States,  to  attach 
a  library  of  suitable  books  to  each  school.  The  plan  is  excellent, 
and  promises  much  good. 

Primary  instruction  in  the  United  States  owes  almost  every  thing 
to  religion,  as  the  most  efiicient  of  all  the  principles  that  prompt  to 
its  promotion.  Not  that  the  Protestants  of  that  country  interest 
themselves  in  the  primary  schools  for  the  purpose  of  proselytizing 
children  to  their  views,  but  rather  that  at  these  schools  the  youth  of 
the  nation  may  be  qualified  for  receiving  religious  instruction  effect- 
ually elsewhere,  and  for  the  due  discharge  of  their  future  duties  as 
citizens.  And,  however  much  they  may  wish  to  see  religious  instruc- 
tion given  at  the  common  schools,  they  will  not  for  a  moment  give 
in  to  the  opinion  that  all  is  lost  where  this  can  not  be  accomplished. 
Primary  instruction,  even  when  not  accompanied  with  any  religious 


300  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 


instruction,  is  better  than  none ;  and  in  such  cases,  they  that  love  the 
Gospel  have  other  resources — in  the  pulpit,  the  family  altar,  the 
Bible-class,  and  the  Sabbath-school. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

GRAMMAR-SCHOOLS   AND   ACADEMIES. 

But  if  primary  schools  in  the  United  States  owe  much  to  religion, 
Grammar-schools  and  Academies,  which  may  be  called  secondary 
institutions,  owe  still  more. 

In  1647,  only  twenty-seven  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  Puri- 
tans in  New  England,  we  find  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
making  a  legal  provision,  not  only  for  primary,  but  for  secondary 
schools  also.  "  It  being  one  chief  project  of  Satan,"  says  the  statute, 
"  to  keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  by  dissuading 
from  the  use  of  tongues ;  and  to  the  end  that  learning  may  not  be 
buried  in  the  graves  of  our  forefathers  in  Church  and  commonwealth, 
the  Lord  assisting  our  endeavors :  therefore  be  it  enacted,  that  every 
township,  after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of  fifty 
householders,  shall  appoint  one  to  teach  all  children  to  write  and 
read ;  and  where  any  town  shall  increase  to  the  number  of  one  hun- 
dred families,  they  shall  set  up  a  grammar-school,  the  masters  thereof 
being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  uni- 
versity." Such  was  the  origin  of  the  grammar-schools  of  New  En- 
gland, and  now  they  are-so  numerous  that  not  only  has  almost  every 
county  one,  but  many  of  the  more  populous  and  wealthy  possess 
several. 

Not  only  so :  all  the  other  States  have  incorporated  academies  and 
grammar-schools  in  very  considerable  numbers.  Some,  by  a  single 
act,  have  made  an  appropriation  for  the  establishment  of  one  such 
institution  in  every  county  within  their  jurisdiction.  Thus,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, many  years  ago,  $2,000  were  granted  for  the  erection  of  a 
building  for  a  grammar-school  at  the  seat  of  justice  for  each  county, 
and  a  board  of  trustees,  with  power  to  fill  up  vacancies  as  they  might 
occur  in  their  numbers,  was  appointed  for  each.  These  buildings  are 
now  occupied  by  masters  who  teach  the  higher  branches  of  an  En- 
glish education,  and,  in  most  cases,  also,  the  Latin  and  Greek  lan- 
guages, besides  such  instruction  in  the  mathematics  and  other  studies 
as  may  qualify  the  pupils  for  entering  college.  Like  provisions  have 
been  made  by  other  States,  and  even  the  newest  of  them  in  the  West 
are  continually  encouraging  learning  by  passing  such  acts.     In  no 


CHAP.  Xn.]  GRAMMAR-SCHOOLS   AND   ACADEMIES.  301 

case,  however,  does  a  State  endow  such  an  institution.     A  grant  is 
made  at  the  outset  for  the'  edifice  that  may  be  required ;  in  most 
cases  that  is  all  that  is  done  by  the  State,  after  which  the  institution 
has  to  depend  upon  the  fees  paid  by  the  scholars  for  the  support  of 
the  master  or  masters  employed.     In  some  instances,  as  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  the  grammar-school  has  a  yearly  subsidy  from  the 
State  ;  in  which  case,  there  is  usually  some  condition  attached  to  the 
grant,  such  as  the  giving  of  instruction  gratis  to  a  certain  number  of 
poor  lads,   or  of  youths  intended  to  become  teachers  of  primary 
schools.     But  in  most,  even  of  the  cases  in  which  they  have  been 
aided  by  the  State,  these  institutions  have  not  only  been  privately 
commenced  and  carried  to  a  certain  point  previously  to  such  assist- 
ance, but  owe  much  more  afterward  to  the  spontaneous  support  of 
their  friends.    Indeed,  in  all  parts  of  the  country  may  be  found  gram- 
mar-schools, and  some  of  these  the  very  best,  which  owe  their  ex- 
istence purely  to  individual  or  associated  efforts.     Such  is  the  "  Burr 
Seminary,"  in  the  town  of  Manchester,  in  the  State  of  Vermont, 
which  originated  in  a  legacy  of  $10,000,  left  by  a  gentleman  of  the 
name  of  Joseph  Burr,*  for  the  education  of  poor  and  pious  young 
men  for  the  ministry.     By  the  terms  of  his  will,  in  case  that  an  equal 
sum  should  be  raised  by  the  citizens  of  the  place  for  the  erection  of  a 
suitable  building,  the  purchase  of  apparatus,  library,  etc.,  then  his 
legacy  of  $10,000  might  be  invested  as  a  permanent  fund,  the  interest 
of  which  was  to  be  applied  to  paying  for  the  education  of  such  young 
men  as  he  should  designate.     This  was  done  even  beyond  the  extent 
required  by  the  testator.      A  large  and  commodious  edifice  was 
erected,  contaiDing  rooms  for  the  recitation  of  lessons,  lectures,  li- 
brary, philosophical  apparatus,  etc.     The  school  was  opened  on  the 
15th  of  May,  1833,  and  the  number  of  scholars  for  the  first  term  was 
one  hundred  and  forty-six  ;  many  of  whom  were  pious  youths,  devot- 
ing themselves  to  study  with  a  view  to  the  ministry.     The  institution 
still  flourishes  under  the  instructions  of  excellent  men ;  and  being 
situated  in  a  secluded  and  moral  village  in  the  midst  of  the  Green 
Mountains,  where  living  is  cheap,  it  is  attended  by  choice  youths, 
some  thirty  or  forty  of  whom  are  educated  gratuitously.      Such, 

*  Mr.  Burr  had  been  for  many  years  a  resident  at  Manchester,  in  Vermont.  By 
patient  industry  and  upright  dealings,  he  acquired  a  fortune  estimated  at  $150,000 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  A  large  part  of  this  sum  he  bequeathed  to  the  American 
Bible  Society,  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  American 
Home  Missionary  Society,  and  American  Education  Society,  besides  endowing  a  pro- 
fessorship in  one  college,  and  contributing  largely  to  the  same  object  in  another. 
And  in  addition  to  all  this,  by  the  above  bequest  of  $10,000  he  founded  the  seminary 
that  bears  his  name. 


302  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

again,  is  "  Philips's  Academy,"  at  Andover,  in  Massachusetts,  about 
twenty  miles  north  of  Boston.  Founded  in  IV 78,  by  the  joint  liber- 
ality of  two  brothers,  the  Hon.  Samuel  Philips,  of  Andover,  and  the 
Hon.  John  Philips,  of  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  it  received,  two  years 
afterward,  a  charter  of  incorporation  from  the  State.  The  fund 
supplied  by  these  two  brothers  was  afterward  augmented  by  the  be- 
quest of  a  third,  the  Hon.  William  Philips,  of  Boston. 

This  Academy,  which  is  one  of  the  best  endowed  in  the  United 
States,  has  been  truly  a  blessing  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  learning. 
By  the  terms  prescribed  by  its  pious  founders,  it  is  open  to  all  youth 
of  good  character,  but  they  have  placed  it  under  the  control  of  Prot- 
estants, and  the  religious  instruction  given  must  be  orthodox  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word.  Instruction  is  required  to  be  given  in  the 
English,  Latin,  and  Greek  languages;  in  writing,  arithmetic,  and 
music ;  in  the  art  of  speaking  ;  also  in  practical  geometry,  logic,  and 
any  other  of  the  liberal  arts,  sciences,  or  languages,  as  opportunity 
and  ability  may  from  time  to  time  admit,  and  the  trustees  shall  direct. 
As  the  education  of  suitable  young  men  for  the  ministry  was  a  lead- 
ing consideration  with  the  founders,  so  has  the  institution  been,  in 
this  respect,  abundantly  blessed.  Many  such  youths  have  here  pur- 
sued their  preparatory  studies  ;  and  in  1808,  availing  themselves  of  a 
provision  contained  in  the  plan  marked  out  by  the  founder,  the  trus- 
tees ingrafted  on  the  institution,  or,  rather,  established  in  the  same 
village,  and  under  the  same  direction,  a  Theological  Seminary,  which 
has  become  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  kind  in  the  United 
States,  and  will  call  for  more  ample  notice  hereafter. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  grammar-schools  and  academies  in  the 
United  States,  whether  incorporated  or  not,  are  under  the  direction 
and  instruction  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  different  evangelical 
denominations.  These  ministers,  in  some  cases,  devote  their  whole 
time  to  the  work  of  academical  instruction ;  in  other  cases,  they 
have  also  the  charge  of  a  church  or  congregation,  and  as  they  per- 
form the  double  duties  of  pastor  and  head  of  a  grammar-school,  they 
have  usually  an  assistant  teacher  in  the  latter.  The  teachers  in  these 
academies  are  often  pious  young  men,  of  small  pecuniary  resources, 
who,  after  completing  their  studies  at  college,  betake  themselves  to 
this  employment  for  a  few  years,  in  order  to  find  the  means  of 
supporting  themselves  while  attending  a  theological  school.  But 
whether  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  or  graduates  fresh  from  college, 
such  teachers  generally  communicate  instruction  of  a  character  de- 
cidedly religious.  The  Scriptures  are  daily  read ;  the  school  is  usually 
opened  and  closed  with  prayer ;  and  in  many  cases,  a  Bible-class, 
comprising  all  the  pupils,  meets  on  the  Sabbath  afternoon,  or  morn- 


CHAP.  XIII.]  COLLEGES   AND   UNIVERSITIES.     m  303 

ing,  for  the  study  of  the  Sacred  Volume.  Thus,  by  the  favor  of  God 
resting  on  these  institutions,  and  making  them  effectual  to  the  con- 
verting of  many  of  the  youths  that  attend  them,  they  prove  blessings 
to  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  well  as  to  the  State. 

I  may  add  that,  within  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years,  a  great  many 
excellent  institutions  for  the  education  of  young  ladies  have  sprung 
up  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  through  associated  or  indi- 
vidual efforts.  The  course  of  instruction  at  these  is  excellent  and 
extensive,  embracing  all  branches  of  valuable  knowledge  proper  for 
the  sex.  Upon  many  of  them,  also,  God  has  caused  His  blessing  to 
descend,  and  has  brought  not  a  few  of  the  young  persons  attending 
them  to  the  knowledge  of  Himself.  They  are  generally  conducted 
by  ladies  ;  but  the  teachers,  in  some  cases,  are  gentlemen,  clergymen 
especially,  assisted  by  pious  ladies.  In  no  other  country,  probably, 
has  the  higher  education  of  females  made  greater  progress  than  in 
the  United  States,  during  the  last  few  years.  The  Christian  commu- 
nity begins  to  feel  that  mothers  have,  in  a  great  measure,  the  forma- 
tion of  the  national  character  in  their  hands. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 


COLLEGES   AND   UNIVERSITIES. 


In  the  census  of  the  United  States  for  1850,  the  number  of  univer- 
sities and  colleges  is  put  down  at  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine,  and 
that  of  students  at  twenty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
one.  This,  however,  includes  not  only  the  Theological,  Medical,  and 
Law  schools,  but  several  other  institutions  improperly  called  col- 
leges. A  more  accurate  list  makes  the  colleges  amount  to  one  hun- 
dred and  nineteen,  and  the  students  to  eleven  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  three.  But  even  tins  estimate  includes  several  institutions 
which,  though  incorporated  as  colleges,  are  scarcely  so  far  organized 
as  to  be  entitled  to  the  name.  In  some  cases,  too,  the  students  in 
the  preparatory  departments  are  counted,  as  well  as  the  under- 
graduates, properly  so  called,  that  is,  the  students  in  the  four  regular 
classes  of  seniors,  juniors,  sophomores,  and  freshmen,  into  which  the 
students  of  our  colleges  are  divided. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  compare  the  colleges  of  America  with  the 
great  universities  of  Europe.  The  course  of  studies  is  widely  differ- 
ent. For  while  sufficiently  comprehensive  in  almost  all  the  colleges 
that  deserve  that  name,  it  is  not  to  be  compared,  in  general,  as  re- 


304  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IY. 

spects  depth  and  extent  of  investigation  in  particular  branches,  with 
that  of  the  older  universities  of  Europe.  But,  upon  the  whole,  if 
one  may  be  allowed  to  judge  from  experience,  the  education  to  be 
had  at  one  of  our  colleges  better  capacitates  a  man  for  the  work  that 
is  likely  to  await  him  in  America,  than  would  that  which  the  univer- 
sities of  Europe  could  give  him. 

In  almost  all  instances,  the  colleges  in  the  United  States  have  been 
founded  by  religious  men.  The  common  course  in  establishing  them 
is  as  follows  :  A  company  is  organized,  a  subscription  list  opened,  and 
certain  men  of  influence  in  the  neighborhood  consent  to  act  as  trus- 
tees. A  charter  is  then  asked  from  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
within  which  the  projected  institution  is  to  be  placed,  and  a  grant  in 
aid  of  the  funds  at  the  same  time  solicited.  The  charter  is  obtained, 
and  with  it  a  few  thousand  dollars,  perhaps,  by  way  of  assistance. 
"What  else  is  required  for  the  purchase  of  a  site,  erecting  buildings, 
providing  a  library,  apparatus,  etc.,  etc.,  must  be  made  up  by  those 
interested  in  the  project.  Thus  have  vast  sums  been  raised,  particu- 
larly during  the  last  twenty  years,  for  founding  colleges  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  especially  in  the  West.  A  great  portion  of  these 
sums  have  been  subscribed  by  persons  in  the  neighborhood,  and  more 
directly  interested  in  the  success  of  the  undertakings  subscribed  for; 
but  in  many  cases,  money  to  a  large  amount  has  been  obtained  from 
the  churches  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

More  than  one  half  of  the  one  hundred  and  nineteen  colleges  in 
the  United  States  have  been  opened  within  the  last  thirty  or  forty 
years.  Many  of  these  are,  of  course,  in  their  infancy,  and  not  very 
well  organized.  Without  reckoning  grants  made  by  the  States, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  one  that  has  not  cost  its  founders 
above  $10,000,  and  many  twice  that  sum.  Several*  have  cost  even 
$50,000,  if  not  more,  while,  at  the  same  time,  several  of  the 
older  colleges,  such  as  Yale,  New  Jersey,  Rutgers,  Williams,  Hamil- 
ton, etc.,  have  raised  large  sums  by  voluntary  effort  among  their 
respective  friends,  for  the  purpose  of  augmenting  the  advantages 
they  offer  to  the  students  that  attend  them.  Upon  the  whole,  I  con- 
sider that  it  were  not  too  much  to  say  that  from  three  to  four  mil- 
lion dollars  have  been  raised  by  voluntary  subscriptions  and  dona- 
tions, for  the  erection  and  endowment  of  colleges,  since  the  year  1816. 

* 

*  For  instance,  Pennsylvania  College,  at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania ;  Centre  Col- 
lege, at  Danville,  Kentucky ;  Illinois  College,  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois ;  "Western 
Reserve  College,  Ohio ;  to  say  nothing  of  some  of  the  Roman  Catholic  colleges,  which 
have  not  cost  much  less,  from  first  to  last,  than  $50,000  ;  Amherst  College,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, has  cost  more  than  that  sum,  probably ;  while  the  University  of  New 
York  has  cost  three  or  four  times  that  amount. 


CHAP.  XIII. j  COLLEGES   AND   UNIVERSITIES.  305 

I  have  said  that  the  State  gives  some  aid  to  many  such  enterprises. 
But,  excepting  the  Universities  of  Virginia,  Alabama,  Michigan,  and 
those  of  Ohio  and  Miami,  both  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  Jefferson 
College  in  Louisiana,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  in  the  country  that  can 
be  said  to  have  been  wholly  endowed  by  the  government  of  any  State. 
The  Universities  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  Columbia  Col- 
lege in  South  Carolina,  may  possibly  be  so  far  aided  by  the  States  in 
which  they  are  respectively  situated,  as  to  have  something  like  an 
endowment,  but  the  aid  so  rendered,  I  apprehend,  is  far  from  suffi- 
cient. So,  also,  Congress  has  aided  from  time  to  time  "  Columbian 
College,"  situated  near  Washington  City,  and  within  the  District  of 
Columbia,*  but  the  aid  so  received  has  never  been  at  all  adequate  to 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  required. 

There  are  not  above  six  or  seven  colleges  or  universities  in  the  United 
States  over  which  the  civil  or  political  governments  can  exercise  any 
direct  control.  It  is  well  that  it  should  be  so.  A  State  Legislature, 
or  Congress  itself,  would  be  found  very  unfit  to  direct  the  affairs  of  a 
college  or  university.  Wherever,  in  fact,  they  have  reserved  such 
power  to  themselves  in  the  charters  they  have  granted,  they  have 
sooner  or  later  nearly,  if  not  altogether,  ruined  the  institutions  on 
which  they  have  laid  their  unhallowed  hands.  A  college  or  univer- 
sity is  no  place  for  party  politics :  and  so  well  is  this  understood,  that 
the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States  hesitate  not  to  grant  a  college 
charter  to  a  body  of  respectable  citizens,  and  to  appoint  at  once  the 
persons  recommended  as  trustees  or  directors,  with  power  to  fill  up 
the  vacancies  that  may  occur ;  after  which,  these  office-bearers,  having 
sworn  to  do  nothing  in  that  capacity  contrary  to  the  laws  and  Con- 
stitution of  the  country,  are  empowered  to  manage  and  govern  the 
proposed  college  according  to  their  own  best  judgment,  and  the  reg- 
ulations they  may  lay  down  to  that  effect.  While  acting  within  the 
limits  prescribed  by  the  charter  and  their  oath,  that  charter  must  re- 
main inviolate.  So  it  has  been  determined  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States. 

I  have  said  that  almost  every  college  existing  in  the  country  may 
be  traced  to  religious  motives ;  and  how  true  this  is,  will  appear  from 
the  fact,  that  of  the  one  hundred  and  nineteen  colleges  now  in  opera- 
tion, eight  are  under  the  influence  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
twenty-four  under  that  of  the  Methodists,  twenty-five  under  that  of 
the  Baptists,  forty-five  under  that  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Congre- 
gationalists ;  two  are  Lutheran,  twelve  are  Roman  Catholic,  one  Uni- 

*  This  college  comes  properly  within  the  sphere  of  the  legislation  of  Congress,  and 
is  the  only  one  that  does  so.  All  the  others  come  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  sev- 
eral States  within  whose  territories  they  stand. 

20 


306  THE  VOLUNTAS Y   PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IY. 

versalist,  two  Unitarian.  In  this  calculation,  I  place  each  institution 
under  the  Church  to  which  its  president  belongs.  This  rule  is  the 
best  that  I  know,  and  although  it  does  not  hold  in  every  case,  the 
exceptions  are  few ;  and,  without  any  exception,  it  indicates  the  gen- 
eral faith  by  which  the  institution  is  influenced.* 

Thus  we  see  that  of  these  one  hundred  and  nineteen  universities 
and  colleges,  one  hundred  and  four  are  under  decided  evangelical  and 
orthodox  influence.     Their  presidents,  and,  I  may  add,  many  of  their 
professors,  are  known  to  be  religious  men,  and  sound  in  the  faith ;  all 
of  the  former,  with  three  or  four  exceptions,  are  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  many  of  them  men  of  great  eminence  in  the  Church.   I  need 
not  say  how  much  cause  for  gratitude  to  God  we  have,  that  so  many 
young  men  of  the  first  families,  and  possessing  fine  talents,  should  be 
educated  in  colleges  that  are  under  the  influence  of  evangelical  prin- 
ciples.    In  many  of  them  the  Bible  is  studied  by  the  students  every 
Sabbath,  under  the  guidance  of  their  teachers.     In  all  they  receive  a 
great  deal  of  religious  instruction,  and  are  daily  assembled  for  prayers. 
God  has  often  visited  some  of  them  with  the  outpourings  of  His 
Spirit.     Not  that  this  religious  instruction  is  intended  to  proselytize 
from  one  Protestant  and  evangelical  church  to  another.     In  that  re- 
spect, a  Presbyterian  father  might  with  all  safety  commit  his  son  to 
an  Episcopalian,  Methodist,  or  Lutheran  college.     Here  I  speak  from 
facts  that  I  myself  have  known.     Several  of  the  most  distinguished 
dignitaries  of  the  Episcopal  Church  were  educated  at  Princeton  Col- 
lege, New  Jersey :  a  Presbyterian  institution,  and  founded  by  Presby- 
terians.    Some  of  them  received  their  first  religious  convictions  there, 
and  yet,  I  believe,  they  can  testify  that  no  office-bearer  of  that  college 
ever  attempted  to  bring  them  over  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.   Any 
advice  given,  on  the  contrary,  would  have  been  that  they  should  join 
the  church  of  then-  parentage  and  birth.f 

As  none  of  the  universities  but  that  of  Harvard,  situated  in  the 
town  of  Cambridge,  not  far  from  Boston,  have  all  the  four  faculties 
of  literature,  law,  medicine,  and  theology,  with  that  exception  they 
ought  rather  to  be  called  colleges.  The  theology  at  Harvard  is  Uni- 
tarian. Several  of  the  other  universities  have  faculties  of  medicine 
attached  to  them.    On  the  other  hand,  Yale  College,  at  New  Haven, 

*  The  reader  will  remember  that  the  statements  given  above  refer  to  the  year 
1850.  At  present,  the  number  of  colleges  and  universities  in  the  United  States  is 
not  far  from  one  hundred  and  thirty-five.  The  Roman  Catholics  claim  to  have  twenty- 
four,  many  of  which  are  little  better  than  academies  or  grammar-schools. 

f  The  Rev.  Dr.  M'llvaine,  the  distinguished  Bishop  of  Ohio,  and  the  no  less  excel- 
lent Assistant  Bishop  of  Virginia,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johns,  were  both  educated  and  con- 
verted at  Princeton  College.  The  late  Bishop  Hobart,  of  New  York,  was  educated  in 
that  institution,  and  was  for  some  time  a  tutor  there. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  COLLEGES   A2TC)   UNIVERSITIES.  307 

in  Connecticut,  ought  rather  to  be  called  a  university,  for  it  has  all  the 
four  faculties,  and  is  attended  by  far  more  students  than  Harvard. 

I  may  add,  that  Harvard  University  was  the  first  literary  institution 
established  in  the  United  States.  It  was  founded  in  1638,  eight  years 
after  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  eighteen  after  Plymouth  was  first  col- 
onized ;  when  there  were  not  many  more  than  five  thousand  settlers 
at  the  time  in  all  New  England.  Hardly  had  the  forest  been  cleared 
away  for  the  streets  of  their  settlements,  when  they  began  to  project 
a  college  or  university.  And  yet  these  were  the  Puritans  now  so 
much  vilified  and  slandered !  Great  were  the  efforts  made  by  those 
exiles  to  attain  their  object.  The  General  Court  granted  for  the 
erection  of  a  proper  edifice  a  sum  equal  to  a  year's  rate  of  the  whole 
colony.  John  Harvard,  who  had  come  to  the  New  World  only  to 
die,  bequeathed  to  the  college  half  his  estate,  and  all  his  library. 
Plymouth  and  Connecticut  often  sent  their  little  offerings,  as 
did  the  eastern  towns  within  the  boundaries  of  the  present  State 
of  Maine.  The  rent  of  a  ferry  was  made  over  to  it.  All  the 
families  in  the  Puritan  settlements  once  gave,  each,  a  donation  of  at 
least  twelve  pence,  or  a  peck  of  corn,  while  larger  gifts  were  made 
by  the  magistrates  and  wealthier  citizens.  It  was  for  a  long  time  the 
only  college  in  New  England,  and  in  its  halls  the  great  men  of  the 
country  were  educated.  For  a  century  and  a  half  it  was  a  precious 
fountain  of  living  waters  for  the  Church  of  God.  But,  alas!  for  the 
last  half  century,  or  nearly  so,  it  has  been  in  the  hands  of  men  who 
hold  "  another  gospel"  than  that  held  by  its  pious  founders.* 

The  second  college  founded  in  the  United  States  was  that  of 
William  and  Mary,  at  Williamsburg,  in  Virginia,  in  1693.  The  third 
was  Yale  College,  above  mentioned,  founded  in  1700.  The  fourth  was 
Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  founded  in  1746.  The  University  of 
Pennsylvania  dates  from  1755;  Columbia  College,  in  New  York, 
from  1754;  Brown  University,  from  1764;  Rutgers  and  Dartmouth 
Colleges,  from  1770.  These  were  all  that  were  founded  previously 
to  the  Revolution. 

*  A  voluminous  and  interesting  history  of  this  University,  by  its  late  president, 
Josiah  Quincy,  LL.D.,  has  recently  been  published. 


308  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  TV. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION    AND    OTHER 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   SOCIETIES. 

One  of  the  most  efficient,  as  well  as  the  simplest  instruments  of 
doing  good,  is  the  Sunday-school ;  an  institution,  the  history  of  which 
is  too  well  known  to  require  any  detail  in  this  work.  Mr.  Robert 
Raikes,  of  Gloucester,  in  England,  toward  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, established  the  first  that  was  ever  conducted  upon  anything  like 
the  plan  now  generally  pursued,  and  its  excellence  has  been  proved 
by  long  experience. 

The  first  attempt  to  introduce  Sabbath-schools  into  the  United 
States  was  made  by  the  Methodists  in  1790,  but  from  some  cause  or 
other  it  failed.  A  society  was  soon  after  formed  at  Philadelphia,  with 
the  late  Bishop  White  at  its  head,  and  a  few  schools  were  established 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  taught  by  persons  who  received  a  certain 
compensation  for  their  trouble.  Early  in  the  present  century,  schools 
began  to  be  established  in  various  places  under  voluntary  and  gra- 
tuitous teaching,  and  gradually  becoming  better  known  and  appreci- 
ated, the  number  was  found  very  considerable  in  1816.  Associations 
for  promoting  them  more  extensively  began  then  to  be  formed  in 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  cities,  and  the  publication  of 
spelling  and  hymn  books,  scriptural  catechisms,  etc.,  for  the  children 
was  commenced.  Some  persons  also  did  much  to  advance  this  good 
work  by  their  individual  efforts.* 

Measures  were  taken  in  1823  for  the  forming  of  a  national  society 
which  should  extend  the  benefit  of  Sunday-schools  to  all  parts  of  the 
country ;  and,  accordingly,  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  was 
instituted :  an  association  composed  of  excellent  men  of  all  evangeli- 
cal denominations,  but  in  which  no  particular  denomination  is  repre- 
sented as  such.  It  has  now  been  diffusing  its  blessings  for  more  than 
thirty-one  years.  The  board  of  managers  is  composed  of  intelligent 
and  zealous  laymen  of  the  various  evangelical  denominations,  the 
greater  part  residing  in  Philadelphia  and  its  vicinity,  as  that  is  the 
centre  of  the  society's  operations. 

Its  grand  object  is  twofold:  to  promote  the  establishment  of  Sun- 
day-schools where  required,  and  to  prepare  and  publish  suitable 
books,  some  to  be  employed  as  manuals  in  the  schools,  and  others  for 

*  Among  -whom  may  be  mentioned  the  late  Divie  Bethune,  Esq.,  who  published  at 
his  own  expense  a  number  of  little  books  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  Sunday- 
schools. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  309 

libraries,  intended  to  furnish  the  children  with  suitable  reading  at 
home.  In  both  departments  much  good  has  been  done.  In  the 
former,  Sunday-school  missionaries,  commonly  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  sometimes  capable  laymen,  have  been  employed  in  visiting 
almost  all  parts  of  the  country.  They  hold  public  meetings  in  every 
district  or  neighborhood  where  they  have  any  prospect  of  success, 
and  endeavor  to  interest  the  people  in  the  subject,  and  to  establish  a 
school.  Time  and  care  are  required  for  such  a  work.  The  nature 
of  a  Sunday-school  must  be  well  explained ;  fit  persons  must  be  en- 
gaged as  teachers ;  these  must  have  their  duties  pointed  out  to  them, 
and  the  motives  that  ought  to  prompt  them  to  undertake  the  office 
presented  and  enforced ;  and  money  must  be  collected  for  the  pur- 
chase of  books. 

In  1830,  the  society  resolved  to  establish  a  Sunday-school  in  every 
neighborhood  that  was  without  one,  throughout  the  Western  States 
or  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  wherever  practicable.  Three  years 
after  it  adopted  a  like  resolution  with  respect  to  the  Southern 
States.  Both,  but  particularly  the  former  of  these  resolutions,  called 
forth  much  effort.  Large  sums  were  collected,  and  a  great  many 
schools  were  established.  Every  year,  since  its  commencement,  the 
society  has  employed  a  number  of  agents  and  missionaries ;  in  some 
years  as  many  as  thirty,  forty,  and  even  sixty  or  seventy*  These 
traverse  the  country  throughout  its  vast  extent,  resuscitate  decaying 
schools,  establish  new  ones,  and  encourage  all. 

In  its  other  department  the  society  has  rendered  great  service  to 
the  cause  of  religion,  and,  I  may  add,  to  that  of  literature  also.  Ex- 
clusive of  the  Scriptures,  spelling-books,  primers,  catechisms,  maps, 
cards  for  infant-schools,  etc.,  it  has  published  eight  hundred  and 
thirteen  volumes  of  books  for  libraries,  a  complete  set  of  which,  well 
bound,  costs  $145.  It  has  published,  likewise,  selections  from  these 
as  libraries  for  families  and  common  schools.  Among  its  publications 
may  be  mentioned  its  admirable  manuals  or  aids  for  studying  the 
Bible :  namely,  a  Geography  of  the  Bible,  Natural  History  of  the 
Bible,  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Antiquities  of  the  Bible,  Scriptural 
Biographies,  Maps  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  Books  of  Questions;  in 
several  volumes,  on  almost  all  parts  of  the  Bible,  for  the  use  of  chil- 
dren and  teachers.  While  all  these  publications  are  thoroughly  Pro- 
testant in  their  character,  they  contain  nothing  repugnant  to  the 
doctrines  of  any  of  the  evangelical  denominations,  so  that  there  is 

*  Including  the  students  of  the  theological  seminaries  and  colleges  whom  it  often 
employs,  the  number  of  the  society's  missionaries  frequently  far  exceeds  the  highest 
figure  above  given.  Last  year  (1855),  it  was  three  hundred  and  twenty-four,  of  whom 
two  hundred  and  fifty-six  were  students. 


310  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

nothing  to  forbid  their  being  used  in  the  Sunday-schools  of  any  of  the 
Protestant  churches.  This  is  a  great  advantage,  and  enables  the  so- 
ciety to  establish  hundreds  of  schools  in  places  where  various  reli- 
gious bodies  intermingle,  and  where  none  of  them  is  strong  enough 
to  support  a  school  by  itself.  The  society  publishes  also  a  very  valu- 
able journal,  which  appears  once  in  a  fortnight.  It  is  replete  with 
interesting  and  instructive  matter,  and  adapted  alike  to  scholars, 
teachers,  and  parents.  It  also  publishes  small  monthly  magazines  and 
gazettes  for  children.* 

But  besides  this  great  society,  which  stands  ready  to  promote  the 
cause  any  where,  and  on  the  most  catholic  principles,  there  are  other 
Sunday-school  societies,  not  less  efficient  in  their  respective  spheres. 
The  Episcopalians  have  theirs,  the  Baptists  theirs,  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  theirs,  the  Lutherans  theirs,  and  so  forth.  The  Presby- 
terians, strictly  speaking,  have  no  Sunday-school  society  of  their  own, 
but  by  their  Publication  Board  they  publish  books  for  Sunday-school 
libraries.  Indeed,  all  the  denominational  Sunday-school  societies  pub- 
lish books  for  their  own  schools,  and  in  these  they  set  forth  and  de- 
fend the  peculiar  views  they  hold  respectively,  on  points  of  doctrine 
or  discipline,  to  such  an  extent  as  they  deem  proper.  This  is  not 
unnatural,  for  each  school  is  mainly  attended  by  the  children  of  pa- 
rents attached  to  churches  of  the  same  denomination  with  that  of  the 
society  that  supports  the  school.  Not  that  all  the  publications  of  a 
denominational  Sunday-school  society  are  of  what  may  be  termed  a 
sectarian  character.  This  is  by  no  means  the  case,  and,  besides,  these 
more  limited  societies  buy  from  the  American  Sunday-school  Union 
whatever  books  upon  its  list  they  may  think  proper  to  add  to  their 
own. 

It  is  impossible  to  calculate  the  extent  to  which  the  Sunday-school 
libraries,  composed  as  they  are  of  most  interesting  books  on  almost 
all  subjects  of  a  moral  and  religious  character,  are  fostering  a  taste 
for  reading  among  the  rising  youth,  and  the  adult  population,  also, 
of  the  country.  The  scholars  receive  from  them  one  or  two  volumes 
each,  according  to  the  size,  every  Sabbath,  to  read  in  the  course  of 
the  week,  and  return  on  the  Sabbath  following,  and  these  volumes 
thus  pass  into  the  hands  of  older  brothers  and  sisters,  parents,  and 
other  members  of  the  household.  The  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  books 
by  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  amounted  last  year  (1855)  to 
$184,227.  If  we  add  to  this  the  value  of  those  sold  by  the  denomi- 
national Sunday-school  societies,  we  shall  find  it  rise  to  at  least 
8350,000.     And  if  we  further  add  the  cost  of  Sunday-school  books 

*  The  receipts  of  the  society  in  1855,  from  donations  and  sales,  were  $241,664, 
and  its  expenditure  $251,699. 


CHAP.  XXV.]  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  311 

purchased  from  the  booksellers,  we  shall  have  a  total  far  exceeding 
the  last  amount,  as  the  value  of  books  bought  in  one  year  for  the  use 
of  Sunday-schools,  and  mainly  for  the  libraries  attached  to  them. 

Besides  the  series  of  eight  hundred  and  thirteen  volumes  published 
by  the  American  Sunday-school  Union,  a  far  greater  number  have 
been  published  by  the  denominational  societies.*  Neither  pains  nor 
money  have  been  spared  in  the  preparation,  improvement,  and  pub- 
lication of  these  volumes,  and  in  this  respect,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  has  outstripped  every  similar 
institution  in  other  countries.  Much,  notwithstanding,  remains  to  be 
done  in  order  to  render  these  Sunday-school  books  all  that  they  ought 
to  be.  It  is  no  easy  task  to  write  books  for  children  well.  Much  talent 
has  been  bestowed  upon  this  work  of  late  years  in  the  United  States, 
and  such  has  been  the  demand  for  children's  books,  created  by  the 
Sunday-schools,  that  the  booksellers  have  found  it  for  their  advantage 
to  publish  such  books  for  those  schools.  Many  of  these  are  good,  but 
many,  too,  are  worthless  enough,  as  may  readily  be  supposed  where 
there  is  no  intelligent  committee  rigorously  to  examine  them  previous 
to  publication,  and  to  determine  what  should  go  forth  to  the  public 
and  what  should  not. 

Sunday-schools  are  held  in  various  places :  sometimes  in  churches, 
or  in  the  lecture-rooms  attached  to  many  of  our  large  churches,  or  in 
rooms  fitted  up  expressly  for  the  purpose  in  the  basement  story  of 
many  of  them ;  sometimes  in  the  school-houses,  which  are  very  nume- 
rous ;  and,  especially  in  the  new  settlements,  in  private  houses.  In 
summer  they  sometimes  meet  in  barns;  and  I  once  superintended 
a  Sunday-school  which  met  for  many  months  in  a  large  kitchen  at- 
tached to  a  farm-house  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 

The  hours  of  meeting  are  very  various.  In  the  cities  and  large 
towns  they  commonly  meet  twice  in  the  day ;  at  eight  or  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  according  to  the  season,  and  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half  each  time.  In  the  villages 
and  country  churches  they  usually  meet  for  two  hours,  once  a  day, 
immediately  before,  or  immediately  after,  the  public  services.  In 
some  cases  I  have  known  a  pastor,  with  a  parish  extending  many 
miles  in  all  directions  from  the  church,  meet,  during  an  hour  before 
his  public  service,  with  nearly  all  the  adult  part  of  his  flock  in  a  Bible- 
class,  and  go  over  with  them  the  portion  of  Scripture  given  out  to 

*  The  series  published  by  the  Methodist  "Book  Concern"  nearly  equals  that  of  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union ;  the  American  Baptist  Publication  and  Sunday-school 
Society  has  issued  a  large  number ;  so  has  the  Massachusetts  Sunday-school  Society  ; 
while  the  publications  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  the  Protestant  Methodist,  the  Lu- 
theran, the  Free-Will  Baptist,  and  several  local  societies,  are  considerable. 


312  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

his  Sunday-schools  for  that  day ;  and  then,  instead  of  having  service 
in  the  afternoon,  he  would  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day  visit  one  or 
other,  in  their  order,  of  the  ten  or  twelve  schools  held  by  his  people 
in  as  many  different  neighborhoods.  On  these  occasions  he  would 
address,  not  only  the  children  and  teachers,  but  also  the  parents  and 
others  who  crowded  to  hear  him.  And  how  could  a  pastor  instruct 
his  people  more  effectually  ?* 

A  word  or  two  may  not  be  amiss  on  the  manner  of  conducting  our 
Sunday-schools.  Each  is  under  a  superintendent — a  gentleman  where 
there  are  scholars  of  both  sexes,  but  usually  a  lady  where  there  are 
only  girls.  The  scholars  are  divided  into  classes,  according  to  their 
age  and  capacity.  All  the  reading  classes  learn  the  same  part  of 
Scripture,  going  through  a  certain  book  in  order.  Suppose,  for  in- 
stance, the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke,  from  the  eleventh  verse  to  the 
end.  It  is  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son.  As  soon  as  the  school  is 
opened  the  scholars  take  their  places.  The  service  begins  with  prayer 
by  the  superintendent  or  some  other  person.  Each  class — composed 
usually  of  six  or  eight  persons — has  its  teacher,  to  whom  the  scholars 
repeat  the  lesson  in  the  Scriptures  for  the  day.  When  that  is  done 
the  teacher  takes  the  book  of  Bible  Questions  (a  copy  of  which  each 
scholar  should  have),  and  asks  the  questions  in  it  relating  to  the  pas- 
sage which  the  class,  in  common  with  the  others,  have  learned.  The 
answers  to  these  questions  the  pupils  must  find  out  through  their  own 
efforts,  or  with  help  from  their  parents,  during  the  week.  The 
teacher  asks,  also,  such  other  questions  as  he  may  think  useful,  and 
calculated  to  lead  to  a  more  perfect  understanding  of  the  subject. 
An  hour,  perhaps,  is  spent  in  this  exercise.  After  that  the  scholars 
return  the  books  which  they  had  received  from  the  librarian  on  the 
preceding  Sabbath,  and  obtain  others.  Then  the  superintendent,  or 
pastor,  if  he  be  present,  addresses  a  few  words  to  the  whole  school 
on  the  passage  which  they  have  learned,  and  endeavors  to  impress 
upon  their  minds  the  importance  of  the  truths  which  it  teaches.  A 
hymn  is  sung,  and  a  prayer  offered  up,  and  the  school  closes. 

If  there  be  any  children  that  can  not  read,  they  are  arrranged  in 
classes  by  themselves,  and  taught  that  important  acquirement.  In 
many  of  the  schools  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  such ;  and 
sometimes  persons  beyond  the  years  of  childhood,  who  have  had  no 
opportunities  of  learning  to  read  before,  make  the  attainment  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  at  a  Sunday-school. 

In  all  the  free  States,  and  in  such  of  the  slaveholding  ones  as  per- 
mit the  slaves  to  be  publicly  taught,  there  are  Sunday-schools  for  the 

*  In  some  of  the  large  cities  Sunday-schools  are  held  at  night,  especially  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colored  people. 


CHAP.  XIY.]  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  313 

colored  people.*  In  these  schools  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  them  have  learned  to  read  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  have  made 
much  progress  hi  Divine  knowledge. 

The  superintendents  of  the  Sunday-schools  are  sometimes  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  churches ;  sometimes  they  are  pious  lawyers,  and 
other  intelligent  gentlemen ;  and  in  the  vicinity  of  our  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries  they  are  often  students  of  religious  character, 
who  may  be  prosecuting  their  studies  with  a  view  to  the  ministry. 
The  teachers  are,  for  the  most  part,  young  people  of  both  sexes  be- 
longing to  the  churches  and  congregations.  Wherever  truly  pious 
persons  can  be  found  willing  to  be  thus  employed,  they  are  preferred ; 
but  where  this  is  not  the  case,  seriously-disposed  and  moral  persons, 
who  desire  to  be  engaged  in  this  benevolent  work,  are  taken,  and  al- 
most invariably  it  happens  that,  in  teaching  others,  they  themselves 
become  instructed  out  of  the  "  law  of  God."  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  most  of  the  ladies,  after  they  become  wives  and  mothers,  have 
too  many  domestic  cares  and  duties  to  allow  them  to  continue  as 
teachers  in  the  Sabbath-school.  Some,  however,  there  are  who  per- 
severe in  this  blessed  employment,  their  zeal  triumphing  over  every 
obstacle. 

As  to  gentlemen,  many  more  of  them  may  continue  in  the  work 
after  they  have  become  heads  of  families.  Hence  we  often  find  men 
of  age  and  experience  among  Sunday-school  teachers,  encouraging 
and  aiding  them  in  their  toils.  And  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  some 
of  those  who  hold  the  very  highest  offices  in  the  State  or  General 
Government,  spending  a  portion  of  their  Sabbaths  in  giving  instruc- 
tion to  a  class  of  young  persons  hi  a  Sunday-school.  I  have  known 
several  governors  and  their  wives,  members  of  Congress,  and  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States,  judges,  eminent  lawyers,  mayors  of  cities, 
etc.,  who  were,  and  who  are  at  the  present  time^  Sabbath-school 
teachers,  and  who  have  felt  it  no  degradation  to  be  thus  employed. 
The  present  distinguished  President  of  Rutgers  College,  in  !New 
Jersey,  was  the  superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school,  even  when  he 
held  the  office  of  attorney-general  of  his  native  State,  and  afterward, 
when  he  was  a  senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ;  he  is  a 
Sabbath-school  teacher  still,  and  delights  to  associate  himself  with  the 
youngest  teachers  engaged  in  that  heavenly  employment. 

*  There  are  Sunday-schools  held  by  some  pious  slaveholders  in  Georgia,  South 
Carolina,  and  perhaps  some  other  States,  in  which  portions  of  Scripture  are  often  re- 
peated to  the  assembled  slaves,  and  remarked  upon  until  they  have  committed  much 
of  them  to  memory.  Prayer  and  singing  are  added  to  these  exercises.  Such  schools 
no  laws  can  well  hinder,  any  more  than  they  can  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
slaves.  These  schools  have  only  been  commenced  within  a  few  years,  and  are 
spreading  in  several  places. 


314  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

The  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  a  Sabbath-school  teacher,  even 
while  holding  the  prominent  office  of  attorney-general  of  the 
United  States.  The  late  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  and  the  late  Judge 
"Washington,  both  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  former  of  whom,  it  is  admitted,  was  the  most  distinguished  jurist 
the  country  has  ever  produced,  were  warm  friends  and  patrons  of 
Sunday-schools.  Both  were,  in  their  day,  vice-presidents  of  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union.  Within  five  years  of  his  death,  I 
saw  Chief  Justice  Marshall  walk  through  the  city  of  Richmond,  in 
Virginia,  where  he  resided,  at  the  head  of  the  Sunday-schools  on  the 
occasion  of  a  celebration.  And,  finally,  the  late  President  Harrison, 
who  in  his  youth  had  been  a  rough  and  far-from-religious  soldier,  but 
toward  the  close  of  his  life  became  interested  in  the  things  that  con- 
cerned his  everlasting  peace,  taught  for  several  years  a  class  of  young 
persons  in  an  humble  Sunday-school  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  ;  and 
the  Sabbath  before  he  left  his  home  for  Washington,  there  to  become 
his  country's  Chief  Magistrate — and,  alas  !  within  a  month  thereafter 
to  die — he  met,  as  usual,  his  Bible-class. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this  subject  because  of  its  great  im- 
portance. A  Sabbath-school  is  so  simple  an  enterprise  that  it  may  be 
begun  wherever  two  or  three  persons  are  found  disposed  to  under- 
take it.  I  have  known  even  a  single  individual  keep  one  himself,  and 
spend  several  hours  every  Sabbath  in  instructing  some  dozen  or 
twenty  poor  youth,  who  came  around  him  to  learn  to  read  and  un- 
derstand the  Word  of  God.  I  have  known  a  lady  who,  as  her  health 
did  not  permit  her  to  go  to  a  Sunday-school,  received  a  class  of  young 
ladies  in  her  parlor  every  Sabbath  for  years.  Why,  then,  should  not 
Sabbath-schools  be  established  in  every  city,  town,  hamlet,  and  neigh- 
borhood, where  there  are  only  two  or  three  persons  with  hearts  to 
love  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  hands  to  promote  it  ?  Were  such  a 
spirit  to  prevail  in  all  lands  professedly  Christian,  how  soon  would 
they  show  a  very  different  aspect  from  the  present  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  state  with  accuracy  the  present  number  of  Sun- 
day-schools in  the  United  States.  They  were  reckoned,  in  1835,  at 
sixteen  thousand ;  the  teachers  at  one  hundred  and  thirty  or  one 
hundred  and  forty  thousand ;  and  the  scholars,  comprising,  it 
was  supposed,  one  hundred  thousand  adults,  at  one  million !  These 
numbers  must  be  far  greater  now.  It  is  probable  that  there  are  two 
million  or  two  million  five  hundred  thousand  pupils  in  the  Sunday- 
schools  in  the  United  States  at  present.  Who  can  estimate  the 
amount  of  good  resulting  from  two  millions  of  minds  being  brought 
into  contact  every  Sabbath  with  the  Word  of  Him  who  hath  said 
that  it  "  shall  not  return  unto  Him  void  ?"    Thousands  and  tens 


CHAP.  XV.]  BIBLE-CLASSES.  315 

of  thousands,  both  teachers  and  scholars,  are  known  to  have  be- 
come enlightened  and  saved,  by  means  of  the  lessons  given  and 
received  at  Sunday-schools.  But  a  whole  volume  would  not  suffice 
to  unfold  all  the  benefits  conferred  by  this  blessed  institution,  to 
which  may  be  emphatically  applied  the  words  of  the  celebrated  Adam 
Smith,  in  speaking  of  popular  education  in  general,  that  it  is  "  the 
cheap  defence  of  nations." 


CHAPTER  XV. 


BIBLE-CLASSES. 


Akin  to  Sunday-schools  are  Bible-classes.  Indeed,  the  former, 
conducted  as  at  present  in  America,  are  little  more  than  an  assem- 
blage of  the  latter. 

What  are  commonly  called  Bible-classes  are  composed  of  a  com- 
paratively large  number  of  persons,  all  taught  by  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  or  some  other  individual  whom  he  engages  to  act  for  him. 
To  preside  over  a  Bible-class  of  twenty  to  some  hundreds  of  per- 
sons, the  greater  number,  if  not  all,  of  whom  are  adults,  and  some 
of  them,  perhaps,  remarkably  intelligent  and  well-informed,  requires 
far  higher  qualifications  than  simply  to  teach  a  small  class  in  a  Sun- 
day-school. 

These  Bible-classes  are  generally  conducted  by  the  pastors,  and  so 
highly  are  they  valued  as  a  means  and  occasion  of  good,  that  few 
settled  ministers  have  not  one  or  more  among  their  flocks.  In  some 
cases,  one  for  each  sex  is  held  once  in  the  week — that  for  gentlemen 
in  the  evening,  that  for  ladies  during  the  day.  They  meet,  according 
to  circumstances,  in  the  church,  lecture-room,  vestry-room,  school- 
room, or  in  some  private  house.  The  pastor  sometimes  devotes  his 
Sabbath  nights  to  a  Biblical  service,  for  the  benefit  of  all  who  can 
attend  ;  a  practice  feasible  only  where  the  population  is  compact,  and 
the  flock  within  an  easy  distance  of  the  place  of  meeting.  In  country 
churches,  these  classes  often  hold  their  meetings  in  church  before  the 
regular  service  commences,  or  in  the  interval  between  the  morning 
and  afternoon  services.  This  is  convenient,  but  is  apt  to  produce 
fatigue. 

I  have  known  pastors  in  country  churches  who  had  no  fewer  than 
five  hundred  persons  in  one  Bible-class,  if  I  can  call  it  so,  which  met 
in  the  afternoon  instead  of  the  regular  service ;  and  others,  whose 
Bible-classes  included  the  whole  adult  part  of  their  flocks,  and  met 


316  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

previous  to  the  forenoon  service,  or  in  the  interval  between  that  and 
the  afternoon  service. 

In  conducting  these  classes,  the  common  method  is  to  go  through 
some  particular  book  of  the  sacred  volume  in  course,  and  some  sys- 
tem of  Bible  questions  is  generally  pursued.  Upon  this  plan,  all  who 
have  time  and  inclination  for  the  task,  prepare  themselves,  by  reading 
and  study,  for  answering  the  questions  to  be  found  in  the  book  of 
questions  that  is  used.*  But  it  is  not  the  practice  of  any  well- 
informed  pastor  to  confine  himself  to  the  questions  contained  in  the 
book.  These  he  employs  as  he  sees  fit ;  by  the  questions  he  puts  he 
assists  in  sustaining  the  attention  of  the  people  ;  and  he  takes  occa- 
sion to  give  a  great  amount  of  scriptural  instruction. 

To  conduct  a  Bible-class  in  a  manner  at  once  interesting  and  profit- 
able requires  no  little  preparation ;  and,  when  well  done,  few  methods 
of  instruction  are  more  edifying,  either  to  the  people  or  to  the  minis- 
ter himself.  The  Divine  blessing  has  rested  most  remarkably  upon 
it.  ISTor  could  we  expect  that  it  should  be  otherwise.  What  more 
likely  to  secure  the  Divine  benediction  than  to  bring  the  mind  to  the 
study  of  that  which  God  himself  hath  spoken  ?  "  The  entrance  of 
Thy  words  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding  to  the  simple." 
"  Sanctify  them  by  Thy  truth ;  Thy  word  is  truth." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


MATERNAL     SOCIETIES. 


I  must  not  omit,  among  the  means  which  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  God  has  greatly  blessed  to  the, advancing  of  His  kingdom  in  the 
United  States,  the  Maternal  Societies — institutions  that  have  not 
been  of  very  many  years'  standing  among  us,  but  which  have  existed 
long  enough  to  produce  much  good. 

These  societies  are  composed  of  pious  mothers,  who  meet  in  par- 
ties, not  inconveniently  numerous,  once  in  the  week,  fortnight,  or 
month,  for  the  purpose  of  conversing  on  the  subject  of  bringing  up 
their  children  for  the  Lord,  listening  to  the  reading  of  valuable  re- 
marks and  hints  on  the  best  means  of  discharging  this  great  duty, 

*  Several  excellent  clergymen  of  the  United  States  have  written  systems  of  Bible 
Question,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  the  Rev.  Drs.  M'Dowell,  Tyng,  Barnes, 
Jacobus,  Professor  Holdich,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Covel,  J.  Lonking,  and  Newcomb. 
The  Bible  Questions  published  by  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  are  good,  as 
are,  also,  several  of  these  printed  by  the  denominational  Sunday-school  societies. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  MATERNAL   SOCIETIES.  317 

and  mingling  their  prayers  before  the  throne  of  grace  in  behalf  of 
themselves  and  their  beloved  offspring.  These  little  meetings  prove 
very  precious  seasons  to  many  an  anxious,  perplexed,  and  disheartened 
mother,  by  communicating  grace,  and  strength,  and  support,  and 
light,  for  enabling  her  to  fulfill  her  fearfully  responsible  part.  God 
has  greatly  blessed  them.  For  the  benefit  of  mothers,  some  excellent 
periodicals  have  been  published  in  the  United  States  during  several 
years  past.  Among  these  let  me  mention  "  The  Mother's  Magazine," 
issued  in  New  York,  and  re-published  in  London.  It  appears  once  a 
month,  is  neatly  printed,  and  costs  only  a  dollar  a  year.  It  has  a  very 
extensive  circulation,  and  furnishes  much  admirable  matter  for  read- 
ing at  the  Maternal  Societies'  meetings,  as  well  as  in  the  family  circle. 
Another  valuable  periodical  is  published  at  Utica,  in  the  central  part 
of  the  State  of  ISTew  York,  and  is  read  in  several  thousands  of  fam- 
ilies. It  is  conducted  by  a  talented  lady  of  the  Baptist  Church.  A 
similar  journal  has  been  commenced  at  Boston ;  while  all  our  religious 
newspapers  contain  many  articles  on  the  same  subject.     . 

On  the  other  hand,  several  publications  have  for  a  time  appeared 
for  the  benefit  of  fathers  and  of  entire  families.  One  such  was  pub- 
lished in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  entitled  "  The  Christian 
Family  Magazine,  or  Parents'  and  Children's  Journal."  It  is  said  to 
have  had  an  extensive  circulation.  Other  journals  of  like  character, 
and  having  the  same  object,  have  been  published  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  Moreover,  almost  all  the  religious  newspapers,  now  very 
numerous,  and  some  one  or  more  of  which  are  read  in  almost  every 
Christian  family,  contain  much  that  bears  upon  the  religious  educa- 
tion of  children,  and  the  whole  economy  of  a  Christian  household. 

The  subject  is  one  of  vast  moment.  The  world  has  never  yet  seen 
the  full  results  of  the  Christian  education  of  children.  Parents  have 
much  to  learn  in  this  respect,  and  need  all  the  helps  and  appliances 
possible  to  enable  them  rightly  to  discharge  their  important  duties. 
Were  all  fathers  and  mothers  in  a  nation  such  as  they  ought  to  be, 
how  mighty  would  be  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  upon  it !  Were 
the  fathers  and  mothers  in  the  Church  of  Christ  such  as  they  ought 
to  be,  how  different  would  it  soon  become  from  what  we  see  it  now ! 
A  praying,  devoted,  holy  mother !  What  an  interesting  being !  Such 
was  the  mother  of  Samuel,  of  Timothy,  and  of  thousands  besides,  who 
have  been  eminently  useful  in  the  world. 

I  have  known  Christian  fathers  who  met  once  a  week  for  years  to 
pray  together  for  their  children,  and  their  meetings  have  been  emi- 
nently useful  and  happy.  I  have  seen  another  kind  of  meeting  which 
I  wish  were  more  common — a  quarterly  prayer-meeting  specially  for 
parents  and  children.   It  was  affecting  to  see  parents,  the  unconverted 


318  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

as  well  as  the  converted,  bringing  with  them  their  children,  dear  to 
them  as  life  itself,  into  the  sanctuary  on  such  occasions,  that  they 
might  share  in  the  earnestly-sought  blessing. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

EDUCATION    SOCIETIES. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  developments  of  the  voluntary  prin- 
ciple in  promoting  religion  in  the  United  States,  is  seen  in  the  Educa- 
tion Societies :  institutions  of  comparatively  recent  date,  and  having 
for  their  object  the  granting  of  assistance  to  pious  youths  of  promis- 
ing talents,  but  small  means,  in  preparing  for  the  ministry. 

One  of  the  first  of  these  was  the  American  Education  Society, 
formed  at  Boston  in  1816.  Hence  it  has  been  in  existence  for 
forty  years,  and  rarely  has  any  society  been  the  instrument  of  more 
good.* 

In  all  denominations  of  evangelical  Christians  in  the  United  States, 
there  are  to  be  found  among  those  classes  of  society  whose  means  are 
too  limited  to  give  their  sons  a  college  education,  young  men  of 
talent,  to  whom  God  has  been  pleased  to  impart  the  knowledge  of 
His  grace,  and  in  whose  hearts  he  implants  a  strong  desire  to  preach 
the  Gospel.  Now,  before  the  Education  Societies  appeared  upon  the 
field,  such  youths  used  to  find  it  very  difficult,  and  sometimes  even 
impossible,  to  obtain  such  an  education  as  was  required  by  the  rules 
of  the  church  in  whose  ministry  they  wished  to  place  themselves. 
Some,  indeed,  might  succeed  by  their  own  exertions ;  by  dint  of  in- 
dustry and  economy  they  might  lay  up  enough  to  enable  them  to 
commence  a  course  of  study  at  college.  By  interrupting  their  college 
studies  occasionally,  in  order  to  recruit  their  finances  by  teaching  a 
school,  they  might,  after  long  delays,  be  able  to  complete  the  requisite 
course  at  last ;  and  then,  by  similar  efforts,  carry  themselves  through 
the  required  theological  course  at  a  seminary.  Others,  more  fortunate, 
might  be  so  far  assisted  by  a  church  or  some  wealthy  and  benevolent 

*  This  Society  published  from  the  year  1827  to  1843  a  valuable  periodical,  entitled 
"  The  American  Quarterly  Register."  It  was  originated  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Cor- 
nelius and  the  late  Rev.  B.  B.  Edwards,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Society  at  the  first- 
named  epoch,  and  continued  by  the  latter  gentleman  to  1843,  aided  for  several  years 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell,  successor  of  Dr.  Cornelius ;  and  afterward  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Riddel,  who  took  the  place  of  Dr.  Cogswell. 


CHAP.  XVH.]  EDUCATION   SOCIETIES.  319 

patron  or  friend.*  But  the  greater  number,  in  despair  of  success, 
were  likely  to  renounce  all  expectation  of  being  able  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  and  to  resign  themselves  to  the  necessity  of  spending  their 
lives  in  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  business,  not  in  making  known  the 
"  unsearchable  riches"  of  Christ  to  their  fellow-men. 

These  remarks,  it  will  be  perceived,  apply  to  such  youths  as  con- 
scientiously cleave  to  those  churches  which  require  a  college  educa- 
tion, as  preliminary  to  a  theological  one,  in  all  aspirants  to  the  sacred 
ministry.  This  is  the  rule,  except  in  very  extraordinary  cases,  with 
the  whole  of  the  Presbyterian  churches,  excepting  the  "  Cumberland 
Presbyterians ;"  with  the  Episcopalians,  and  with  the  Congregational- 
ists.  The  Baptists  and  the  Methodists,  as  we  have  seen,  are  less 
strict,  and  are  satisfied  with  a  common  English  education,  and  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  theology.  But  even  among  these,  great  and 
laudable  efforts  are  now  put  forth  in  order  to  give  a  higher  education 
to  as  many  of  their  candidates  for  the  ministry  as  possible ;  and  it  is 
on  this  account,  as  well  as  for  more  general  objects,  that  they  have 
established  so  many  colleges  within  the  last  few  years.  God  is  grant- 
ing His  rich  blessing  to  their  efforts  in  this  great  cause ;  of  this  every 
year  furnishes  cheering  evidence. 

To  meet  the  demands  of  the  churches  for  a  vastly-augmented  num- 
ber of  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  help  those  young  men  who 
desire  to  respond  to  this  demand,  the  American  Education  Society  was 
formed  on  the  broad  basis  of  rendering  its  aid  to  all  pious  young  men, 
of  suitable  talents,  who  appear  to  be  called  to  preach  Christ,  and  who 
belong  to  any  of  the  evangelical  denominations.  The  only  conditions 
imposed  upon  the  recipients  of  its  bounty  are  an  engagement,  1.  To 
go  through  a  full  course  of  collegiate  and  theological  education  in 
some  approved  college  or  seminary ;  and  2.  To  refund  the  sums  ad- 
vanced to  aid  them,  should  the  providence  of  God,  in  after  life,  give 
them  the  means  of  doing  so. 

Such  are,  in  few  words,  its  principles.  A  rigid  supervision  is  main- 
tained over  those  who  accept  its  patronage.  And  setting  out  in  its 
admirable  career  with  a  few  young  men,  it  has  gone  on,  under  the 

*  Several  of  the  colleges  possess  funds  bequeathed  to  them  for  the  express  purpose 
of  educating  poor  and  pious  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Green,  in 
his  historical  notices  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  relates  that,  nearly  three  quarters 
of  a  century  since,  a  pious  young  man  of  the  name  of  Leslie  was  educated  at  that 
institution  for  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel ;  but,  fearing  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  that  office,  he  devoted  himself  to  teaching  a  school  of  a  high  order,  in  which  em- 
ployment he  was  eminently  successful.  At  his  death  he  bequeathed  to  the  College 
the  sum  of  $15,000,  the  interest  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  to  the  education  of 
poor  young  men  for  the  ministry.  This  fund  has  already  educated  a  large  number 
of  excellent  ministers. 


320  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

favor  of  God,  diffusing  its  blessings  far  and  wide.  It  has  rendered 
aid  to  young  men  belonging  to  eight  different  Evangelical  Churches. 
At  one  period,  some  twenty  years  ago,  the  number  of  persons  whom 
it  was  aiding  exceeded  eleven  hundred !  During  the  year  ending 
May  1st,  1855,  the  number  aided  was  six  hundred  and  ten.  These 
were  pursuing  their  education  at  institutions  in  different  parts  of  the 
country ;  some  in  academies  and  grammar-schools,  some  in  colleges, 
and  the  rest  in  theological  schools.  And  the  whole  number  of  those 
who  had  been  aided,  up  to  that  time,  was  three  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two.  The  receipts  for  that  year  were  $33,789,  and 
the  expenditures  $29,290.  The  amount  refunded  that  year  by  bene- 
ficiaries who  had  completed  their  course  of  education  was  $2,157. 
The  earnings  of  the  young  men  under  the  patronage  of  the  society, 
chiefly  from  teaching  schools  during  their  vacations,  have  some  years 
amounted  to  no  less  a  sum  than  $20,000.* 

The  sums  granted  by  this  society  to  those  who  are  admitted  to  its 
benefits  vary  from  $48  to  $75  a  year,  the  latter  sum  being  rarely  ex- 
ceeded. Its  funds  have  been  liberally  augmented  by  bequests  from 
devoted  Christian  friends  who  loved  it  during  life,  and  remembered 
it  in  death.  Its  first  president  gave  it  $1,000  during  his  life-time,  and 
left  it  a  legacy  of  $5,000.  Mr.  Burr,  whom  we  have  already  had  oc- 
casion to  speak  of,  also  left  it  a  handsome  legacy.  The  late  Dr.  Porter, 
for  many  years  a  distinguished  professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Andover,  though  far  from  being  a  man  of  much  wealth,  bequeathed 
to  it  $15,000.  Many  of  its  friends  have  given  proof  of  large  and  en- 
lightened views  by  the  patronage  they  have  given  it.  It  has  assisted 
a  great  number  of  most  valuable  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  course 
of  their  education,  and  to  these  we  have  to  add  no  fewer  than  one  hun- 
dred of  the  missionaries  who  have  been  supported  in  foreign  lands  by 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  one  of  the 
largest  and  oldest  foreign  missionary  societies  in  the  United  States. 

Of  late  years,  however,  the  number  of  young  men  assisted  by  this 
society  has  greatly  diminished :  partly  owing  to  the  very  difficult 
times  through  which  the  country  has  passed ;  partly  because  of  higher 
requirements  in  the  department  of  preliminary  studies ;  and  partly  from 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  evangelical  communions  have  now  education 
societies  of  their  own.  Thus  the  "  Old  School"  Presbyterians  have  a 
Board  of  Education  under  the  direction  of  their  General  Assembly, 
which  prosecutes  its  work  most  wisely  and  efficiently.  It  had  three 
hundred  and  sixty-four  beneficiaries  during  the  year  ending  1st  May, 
1855.     Its  receipts  for  that  year  amounted  to  $46, 201. f 

*  This  society  has  permanent  funds  to  the  amount  of  $73,000. 

f  The  American  churches  have  long  been  impressed  with  the  importance  of  having 


CHAP.  XVII.]  EDUCATION   SOCIETIES.  321 

A  number  of  devoted  clergymen  and  laymen  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  having  met  at  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, for  the  purpose  of  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  an  Episcopal 
church,  were  providentially  led  to  talk  of  the  importance  of  a 
plan  for  aiding  pious  but  indigent  youths,  of  suitable  talents,  in  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry.  The  result  was  the  formation,  in  1818,  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Education  Society.  It  has  proved  a  great 
blessing  to  the  Church  and  to  the  world.  It  may  be  said  to  have 
originated  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  near  Alexandria,  in  the 
District  of  Columbia ;  and  nearly  a  tenth  part  of  the  clergy  of  the 
church  to  which  it  belongs  have  been  more  or  less  assisted  by  it.  A 
sixth  part  of  the  present  clergy  in  Ohio,  an  eighth  of  those  in  Penn- 
sylvania, a  fifth  of  those  in  Maryland,  and  a  large  proportion  of  those 
in  Virginia,  have  been  aided  from  its  funds ;  and  it  is  now  assisting  a 
seventh  of  all  the  students  in  the  several  theological  schools  of  that 
Church  in  the  United  States.*  I  do  not  know  the  precise  number 
of  its  present  beneficiaries,  but  believe  it  exceeds  one  hundred. 

There  are  also  several  Education  Societies  among  the  Baptists, 
which  have  aided  a  large  number  of  young  men.f  That  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church  supported  fifty  last  year.  A  Methodist  Edu- 
cation Society  has  also  been  formed  at  Boston. 

These  statements  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  our  Education 
Societies.  Though  of  recent  origin,  they  are  exercising  an  immense 
influence  in  training  up  a  more  thoroughly-educated  ministry.  In 
the  absence  of  precise  information,  the  young  men  now  receiving  as- 
sistance from  them  may  be  moderately  estimated  at  two  thousand  in 
all,  and  of  these  at  least  three  hundred  and  fifty  annually  finish  their 
studies,  and  enter  on  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel. 

a  competent  and  sufficiently  numerous  ministry.  The  friends  of  the  American  Edu- 
cation Society  observe  the  last  Thursday  of  February  yearly  as  a  day  of  special  prayer 
for  colleges,  academies,  and  other  institutions  of  learning,  that  God  may  be  pleased  to 
pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  them,  bring  many  of  the  students  to  a  saving  knowledge 
of  His  Gospel,  and  incline  their  hearts  to  preach  it.  The  General  Assembly  of  the 
"  Old  School"  Presbyterian  Church  recommended  last  year,  to  all  the  churches  under 
their  care,  to  observe  the  same  day  as  a  day  of  special  prayer  to  the  Lord  of  the  har- 
vest, "  that  He  would  send  more  laborers  into  His  harvest."  They  recommended  the 
subject  also  to  the  daily  intercessions  of  Christians,  in  view  of  the  vast  demand  for 
ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

*  Dr.  Hawks's  "History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,"  p.  261. 

f  In  particular,  "The  Northern  Baptist  Education  Society,"  and  "The  Baptist 
Education  Society  of  New  York."  The  former  of  these  was  instituted  in  1814,  and 
has  the  seat  of  its  operations  in  Boston.  It  was  mainly  owing  to  its  efforts  that  the 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Newton  was  founded  in  1827.  The  latter  society 
was  founded  in  1817,  and  has  maintained  many  students  at  the  Hamilton  Literary 
and  Theological  Institution,  founded  in  1820. 

21 


322  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN    AMERICA.  [ROOK  IV. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THEOLOGICAL     SEMINARIES. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  various  Literary  Institutions,  in  their  several 
gradations,  through  which  our  youth  may  pass  in  preparing  for  the 
professional  course  with  which  they  usually  close  their  studies.  I 
have  noticed  also  the  Education  Societies  for  assisting  poor  but  pious 
young  men,  of  suitable  capacity,  in  their  preparations  for  the  minis- 
try. And  I  now  come  to  speak  of  the  theological  schools,  in  which  a 
very  large  number  of  our  candidates  for  the  ministry  complete  their 
studies  for  the  sacred  office. 

Formerly  the  young  men  who  sought  to  enter  the  ministry  among 
the  denominations  which  require,  in  those  who  occupy  their  pulpits, 
a  collegiate  and  theological  education,  were  compelled  to  study  theol- 
ogy, more  or  less  immediately  under  some  individual  pastor,  and  it 
was  common  for  six  or  eight  of  them  to  place  themselves  under  this, 
or  that  other,  distinguished  divine.  They  often  resided  in  the  house 
of  their  spiritual  teacher  ;  sometimes  they  boarded  in  families  near 
his  house ;  they  availed  themselves  of  his  library,  and  were  directed 
by  him  in  their  studies. 

But  this  was  obviously  a  very  imperfect  method.  Few  pastors 
could  afford  time  to  do  their  pupils  justice ;  fewer  still  possessed  such 
a  range  of  learning  as  to  fit  them  for  conducting  others  to  the  acqui- 
sitions, in  various  branches  of  knowledge,  required  in  order  to  a  com- 
petent preparation  for  the  ministry. 

To  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  of  New  York,  one  of  the 
most  eminent  divines  that  America  has  ever  produced,  we  owe  the 
first  attempt  to  establish  any  thing  that  could  be  called  a  theological 
school.  He  collected  in  Europe  an  extensive  and  valuable*  theolog- 
ical library,  and  commenced  a  course  of  instruction  in  various 
branches  of  theological  study  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. For  years  he  carried  it  on  almost  single-handed,  and  many 
young  men  heard  at  his  feet  the  masterly  instructions  that  he  was  so 
capable  of  giving  them. 

The  theological  seminary  at  Andover  was  founded  in  1808,  and 
being  the  first,  on  a  complete  plan,  founded  in  the  United  States, 
and  one  of  the  most  celebrated,  I  shall  notice  it  more  amply  than  the 
rest. 

The  college  buildings  are  beautifully  situated  on  elevated  ground 
near  the  village  of  Andover,  about  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  323 

Boston.  They  consist  of  two  large  edifices  for  the  residence  of  the 
students,  and  a  central  building,  in  which  are  the  chapel,  the  library, 
lecture-rooms,  etc.  At  a  due  distance  behind  these  stand  the  refec- 
tory and  steward's  house.  The  grounds  in  front  are  tastefully  laid 
out,  and  their  walks  and  avenues  adorned  with  various  sorts  of 
forest  trees.  Facing  the  seminary  buildings,  and  forming  one  side  of 
a  street  which  borders  the  grounds  in  front,  stands  a  row  of  houses 
where  most  of  the  professors  reside.  The  grounds  are  very  ample, 
the  situation  salubrious,  and  the  buildings  remarkably  convenient. 

This  seminary  forms  a  branch,  as  we  have  elsewhere  stated,  of 
Phillips'  Academy,  which  stands  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  though 
the  two  institutions  are  no  further  connected  than  by  being  both 
under  the  same  board  of  trustees. 

The  history  of  the  Andover  Seminary  may  be  given  in  a  few 
words.  It  originated  in  a  growing  conviction  of  the  need  for  a 
higher  standard  of  qualification  in  the  clergy,  and  in  the  obvious  ne- 
cessity of  having  something  to  take  the  place  of  the  University  of 
Harvard,  on  its  defection  from  the  faith.  Further,  the  good  provi- 
dence of  God  was  manifested  in  the  undertaking,  by  His  giving  both 
the  necessary  means  and  the  heart  to  four  or  five  enterprising  mer- 
chants to  lay  the  foundation. 

One  of  these  was  the  aged  Samuel  Abbot,  of  Andover,  who  had 
already  executed  a  will  bequeathing  funds  to  a  large  amount  for  the 
support  of  professors  and  indigent  students  of  theology  in  Harvard 
University.  But  having  lived  to  witness  the  new  movements  there, 
and  to  be  convinced  of  the  danger  of  trusting  a  legacy  to  an  institu- 
tion which,  in  his  view,  had  perverted  the  funds  left  by  Mr.  Hollis* 
for  the  support  of  an  orthodox  professorship  of  divinity,  he  was  led 
to  unite  with  Mrs.  Phillips,  widow  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Phillips, 
one  of  the  founders  of  Phillips'  Academy,  and  her  son,  in  a  plan  for 
connecting  with  that  academy  the  erection  of  buildings,  and  the  ap- 
propriation of  certain  funds  for  the  support  of  a  theological  professor, 
and  of  indigent  students  of  theology. 

Meanwhile,  a  similar  plan  for  another  seminary  was  formed  by  the 
late  Rev.  Samuel  Spring,  D.D.,  of  Newburyport,  and  the  Rev. 
Leonard  Woods,  D.D.,  of  West  Newbury,  afterward  and  for  many 
years  a  professor  in  the  Seminary  at  Andover,  and  funds  were 
pledged  for  its  endowment  by  Mr.  Bartlett  and  Mr.  Brown,  two 
parishioners  of  Dr.  Spring,  and  by  Mr.  Norris,  of  Salem — all  at  the 

*  Thomas  Hollis,  Esq.,  a  highly-esteemed  Christian  merchant,  was  bora  in  En- 
gland in  1659,  and  died  in  1731.  He  founded  the  professorships  of  theology  and 
mathematics  in  Harvard  University,  and  presented  to  it  a  philosophical  apparatus 
and  many  books. 


324  THE  VOLTJNTAEY   PEINCIPLE   IN   AMEEICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

solicitation  of  Dr.  Spring,  who  was  the  author  of  this  scheme.  Dr. 
Woods,  in  whose  parish  the  institution  was  to  be  placed,  was  to  he 
professor,  and  a  colleague  was  to  be  appointed  to  assist  him  in  his 
pastoral  duties. 

Thus  far  had  the  parties  proceeded,  not  only  without  concert,  but, 
although  living  within  the  compass  of  twenty  miles,  and  several  of 
them  having  friendly  intercourse  with  each  other,  without  being 
cognizant  of  one  another's  plans.  This  seems  to  indicate  the  inter- 
vention of  a  kind  omniscient  Providence,  and  may  have  been  a  link 
in  the  chain  of  causes  which  cordially  united,  in  the  end,  the  two 
parties  into  which  the  orthodox  Congregationalists  of  New  England 
were  then  divided,  and  to  the  adoption  of  a  better  creed  for  the  sem- 
inary than  it  might  otherwise  have  had. 

These  parties  were,  on  the  one  hand,  the  so-called  moderate  Cal- 
vinists,  moderate  both  in  action  and  speculation,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Hopkinsian,  the  keen-sighted,  active,  fervid,  pungent,  and 
perhaps  rather  ultra  men  of  their  time.     Now,  to  have  continued 
and  widened  the  separation  of  these  parties  by  means  of  contigu- 
ous and  rival  seminaries,  would  have  been  no  less  disastrous  than 
their  union  was  desirable,  both  for  the  nearer  approximation  of  both 
to  exact  truth,  and  for  its  common  defence  against  the  advance  of 
Unitarianism ;  and  nothing  could  well  have  been  imagined  more  likely 
to  produce  prompt  and  effectual  union,  than  their  being  led  to  co- 
operate in   establishing  a   common   seminary.     But   it  seems  very 
doubtful  how  far  they  would  ever  have  thus  combined  their  efforts, 
had  not  certain  members  of  each  been  led,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
by  ways  that  they  knew  not,  and  for  a  high  end  which  they  never 
contemplated,  each  to  advance  thus  far  in  their  projects.     The  evil 
sure  to  result  from  the  forming  of  two  such  seminaries  was  obvious ; 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  their  being  united  in  one  were  appre- 
ciated, at  least  to  a  certain  extent ;  yet  this  union  of  the  two  institu- 
tions, and  the  adjustment  of  principles  common  to  both,  cost  nearly 
two  years  of  anxious  and  incessant  labor,  during  which  the  negotia- 
tions were  more  than  once  well-nigh  broken  off,  and  at  one  time  quite 
abandoned.     "  No  one,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  "  who  did  not 
himself  act  a  leading  part  in  these  interesting  transactions,  can  ever 
have  an  adequate  conception  of  the  unnumbered  difficulties  which 
the  principal  agents  had  to  encounter,  or  of  the  amount  of  solicitude, 
and  of  effort,  which  fell  to  their  lot,  or  of  the  variety  of  dangers  to 
which  the  great  object  was  from  time  to  time  exposed."* 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  union  was  the  adjustment 

*  Manuscript  History  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  from  which  much 
of  the  information  here  given  was  derived. 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  325 

of  a  common  creed,  to  be  subscribed  by  the  professors  of  the  semi- 
nary. The  founders  of  Phillips's  Academy  had  already  adopted  the 
Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism.  To  this  Dr.  Spring, 
with  the  advice  and  support  of  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Emmons, 
strenuously  objected,  because  some  parts  of  it  were  widely  understood 
to  imply  what  he  did  not  believe,  and,  partly,  because  he  thought 
that  more  definite  and  extended  statements  on  several  points  of  doc- 
trine, were  desirable.  He  and  his  friends,  also,  wished  for  additional 
barriers  against  heresy,  and  particularly  for  a  Board  of  Visitors,  pro- 
fessing the  same  creed,  and  with  ample  powers  for  the  correction  of 
errors.  These  difficulties  were  adjusted  at  last  by  the  institution  of 
such  a  board,  and  by  the  adoption  of  a  new  creed,  drawn  up  by  a 
committee  from  both  parties,  and  couched  very  much  in  the  language 
of  the  catechism,  but  with  some  omissions  and  some  additions.  And 
this  creed  is  to  be  solemnly  repeated  and  subscribed  in  the  presence 
of  the  trustees  of  the  academy,  by  every  professor  and  every  visitor, 
on  his  induction  into  office  ;  and  the  same  is  to  be  repeated,  in  like 
manner,  by  each  of  them,  once  every  five  years,  during  his  continu- 
ance in  office. 

In  this  adjustment  the  Hopkinsians  gained  their  main  object,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  sacrificed  some  favorite  points  which  they  would 
gladly  have  introduced  into  a  seminary  of  a  more  sectarian  character. 
Some,  indeed,  a  few  of  whom  are  still  to  be  found,  persisted  in  their 
objections  to  the  seminary  on.  this  account ;  but  nearly  the  whole 
orthodox  community  of  New  England  have  cordially  acquiesced  in 
it,  so  that  the  arrangement  has  most  happily,  though  silently,  become 
a  virtual  bond  of  union  among  them.  Foreign  missions,  and  other 
great  benevolent  enterprises  to  which  the  seminary  soon  gave  birth, 
hastened  and  confirmed  this  coalescence  by  bringing  the  two  parties 
more  frequently  to  pray,  sympathize,  and  act  together.  These  results 
are  matters  of  devout  astonishment  to  many  a  beholder  of  what  God 
has  wrought  amid  the  movements  of  our  times. 

The  opposition  to  orthodoxy,  in  various  forms,  was  considerable, 
but  of  little  avail  in  retarding  its  progress.  Fears  were  at  one 
time  entertained  lest  a  majority  of  the  trustees  of  Phillips's  Academy, 
under  whose  guardianship  the  seminary  is  placed,  should  ultimately 
be  found  men  of  lax  opinions ;  but,  as  most  of  the  suspected  parties 
died  or  resigned  their  seats  within  a  few  years,  those  fears  gradually 
subsided  on  the  vacancies  being  filled  up  by  others  who  were  unques- 
tionably sound  in  the  faith.*    Anxiety  on  this  head  led  to  greater 

*  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  Phillips's  Academy  was  founded  in  1TT8,  when  Uni- 
tarianism  had  not  yet  developed  itself  in  the  United  States,  though  the  errors  which 
led  to  it  were  to  he  found  in  Boston  and  its  neighborhood.     When  it  did  develop 


326  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

solicitude  relative  to  the  creation  of  a  Board  of  Visitors,  and  the 
quinquennial  renewal  of  subscription  by  the  professors  and  visitors, 
though  this  could  not  be  extended  to  the  trustees,  no  provision  to 
that  effect  having  been  made  at  the  institution  of  that  board. 

With  all  these  guards,  and  looking  to  the  present  character  of  the 
boards,  the  friends  of  the  institution  consider  that  there  is  none  in  the 
country  more  completely  guarded  against  perversion.  At  the  same 
time,  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  inquiry  is  allowed,  and  even  en- 
couraged among  the  students,  in  order  that  their  faith  may  rest  on 
conviction,  not  on  human  authority  or  constraint.  No  subscription 
to  a  creed  is  required  of  them,  nor  can  any  one  who  gives  to  the 
Professors  satisfactory  evidence  of  Christian  character  be  debarred 
from  entering  the  seminary,  or  dismissed  from  it  on  the  ground  of 
his  belief.  This  condition  was  required  by  the  State  Legislature  on 
their  enlarging  the  powers  of  the  trustees,  so  as  to  enable  them  to 
hold  the  additional  funds  required  for  the  establishment  of  the  sem- 
inary. And  although  its  expediency  has  by  some  been  doubted,  it 
seems  as  yet  to  have  had  no  bad  consequences..  It  has  been  thought 
unreasonable  to  require  a  minute  profession  of  faith  from  students 
who  go  to  the  institution  for  the  very  purpose  of  learning  what  is 
truth,  as  well  as  how  to  teach  it. 

The  seminary  was  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1808.  For  several 
years  there  were  only  three  Professors,  but  now  there  are  five,  one 
of  whom  acts  as  president  of  the  institution.  Each  member  of  the 
faculty  has,  in  addition  to  his  salary,  the  use  of  a  family  dwelling- 
house,  and  is  debarred  from  receiving  any  compensation  for  preach- 
ing abroad. 

The  departments  of  the  Professors  are,  Sacred  Literature,  including 
the  Greek  and  Hebrew  Scriptures,  chiefly  during  the  first  year ; 
Christian  Theology,  chiefly  during  the  second  year ;  and  Sacred 
Rhetoric,  Ecclesiastical  History,  and  Pastoral  Theology  during  the 
third  year.  The  instruction  is  given  partly  by  written  lectures  and 
partly  by  the  use  of  text-books,  which  are  recited  in  substance  by 
the  students,  and  accompanied  with  remarks  by  the  Professors. 

The  students  are  not  allowed  to  preach,  nor  are  they  required  to 
write  sermons  till  their  senior  or  last  year.  Each  may  then  be  called 
on  to  preach  in  the  chapel,  and  is  also  allowed  to  preach  abroad  for 
six  Sabbaths  in  his  last  term,  within  certain  limits  as  to  distance,  so 
as  to  avoid  being  absent  from  any  of  the  lectures.  The  remainder 
of  the  preaching  in  the  chapel  is  chiefly  performed  by  the  Professors 
in  rotation. 

itself,  it  was  not  strange  that  the  Board  of  Phillips's  Academy  should  be  infected 
•with  it. 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  327 

Most  of  the  students  are  graduates  of  colleges,  and  all  are  admitted 
on  examination  in  regard  to  their  attainments,  evidence  of  piety,  etc. 
During  the  first  year  they  attend  two  lectures  a  day ;  afterward, 
usually  but  one. 

Great  attention  is  required  of  the  Professors  in  the  cultivation  of 
piety  among  the  students,  which  has  ever  been  regarded  by  them,  as 
well  as  by  the  founders  and  guardians,  a  grand  object  of  the  insti- 
tution. For  this  purpose  they  meet  the  students  in  a  devotional 
exercise  every  Wednesday  evening.  The  students  also  hold  many 
conferences  and  prayer-meetings  by  themselves. 

Indigent  students,  of  whom  there  are  many,  receive  half  the  price 
of  their  board  in  commons  gratuitously.  No  charge  is  in  any  case 
made  for  tuition,  and  but  a  small  one  for  the  use  of  the  library,  and 
for  rooms  and  furniture. 

As  the  design  of  the  seminary  is  to  furnish  an  able  as  well  as  a  pious 
ministry,  and  as  its  privileges  are,  to  a  great  extent,  gratuitous,  each 
student  is  required,  at  his  matriculation,  to  promise  to  complete  a 
regular  three  years'  course  of  study,  "  unless  prevented  by  some  un- 
foreseen and  unavoidable  necessity,"  which  is  to  be  judged  of  by  the 
faculty.  This  is  a  much  longer  course  than  had  commonly  been  pur- 
sued under  the  guidance  of  private  pastors,  and  it  has  been  found 
very  difficult  thus  far  to  elevate  the  views  of  the  community,  and 
fully  to  reconcile  the  feelings  of  the  students,  to  this  requisition.  In- 
deed, the  rule  itself  was  not  made  for  a  considerable  number  of  years 
after  the  first. 

As  this  is  the  oldest  theological  seminary  in  the  country,  it  has  had 
to  make  its  own  way,  unaided  by  previous  experience;  and  very 
many  are  the  changes,  mostly  for  the  better,  it  is  believed,  which 
have  been  made  from  time  to  time  in  its  arrangements. 

At  first,  and  for  some  years,  there  were  not  many  students ;  but 
they  gradually  increased  from  about  thirty  to  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty ;  for  the  last  few  years  the  number  has  been  about  one  hundred. 
The  diminution  has  been  occasioned  by  the  multiplication  of  kindred 
seminaries  since  its  reaching  that  number.  The  whole  that  have  been 
admitted  from  the  first  amount  to  nearly  two  thousand,  though, 
partly  from  deaths,  partly  from  many  having  failed  to  complete  their 
course,  or  gone  to  other  institutions,  not  more  than  one  thousand  one 
hundred  or  one  thousand  two  hundred  of  these  have  graduated. 
More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  have  devoted  themselves  to  foreign, 
and  many  more  to  domestic  missions.  The  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions  were  for  the  first  ten  years  indebted 
to  this  seminary  for  all  their  missionaries  but  one  ;  and  many  of  its 
students  have  lived  to  become  presidents  and  professors  of  colleges 


328  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

and  theological  schools,  and  secretaries  and  agents  of  benevolent  so- 
cieties. 

It  possesses  peculiar  advantages  for  the  training  of  missionaries. 
The  "  Society  of  Inquiry  on  Missions,"  of  which  almost  all  the  stu- 
dents are  members,  is  nearly  coeval  with  it.  It  has  a  valuable  library 
and  museum,  and  exerts  a  very  salutary  influence  on  the  spirit  and 
piety  of  the  institution.  The  doctrine  is  taught  at  this,  as  at  most 
of  the  other  theological  seminaries  in  the  United  States,  that  every 
pastor  should  be  a  missionary  at  heart,  and  that  every  student  should 
be  willing  to  go  whithersoever  God  may  call  him.  There  are  great 
facilities  at  Andover  for  having  early  intelligence  from  the  American 
missionaries,  by  constant  correspondence,  the  visits  of  returned  mem- 
bers, and  intercourse  with  the  secretaries  and  other  officers  of  the 
American  Board. 

The  "  Porter  Rhetorical  Society,"  so  named  from  its  founder,  the 
late  Rev.  Dr.  Porter,  first  president  of  the  seminary,  has  an  excel- 
lent library,  and  exercises  much  influence. 

The  library  of  the  seminary  itself  is  thought  to  be  one  of  the  best 
in  the  country.  It  was  selected  for  the  purpose,  contains  more  than 
fifteen  thousand  volumes,  and  has  a  fund  to  provide  for  its  constant 
augmentation.  Some  of  the  large  number  of  German  books  con- 
tained in  it  being  of  a  neological  character,  it  was  at  one  time 
feared  by  many  that  these  might  do  mischief;  but  such  appre- 
hensions have  now  yielded,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  felt  them, 
to  the  consideration  of  the  importance  of  having  such  books  in  an 
institution  where  men  are  to  be  trained  to  face  an  enemy,  not  to  flee 
from  him. 

The  institution  is  under  strict  discipline.  Monitors'  bills  are  kept ; 
all  are  required  to  attend  to  their  studies  and  to  be  present  at  the  lec- 
tures of  the  Professors,  at  the  morning  and  evening  chapel  prayers, 
and  at  Divine  service  on  the  Sabbath. 

The  total  sums  that  have  been  given  for  the  erection  of  the  semi- 
nary buildings,  the  endowing  of  professorships,  the  support  of  indi- 
gent students,  the  library,  etc.,  can  not  be  precisely  ascertained,  but 
they  probably  exceed  $400,000.  Mr.  Bartlett,  the  most  munificent 
of  the  donors,  is  supposed  to  have  given  $100,000,  besides  a  legacy 
of  $50,000.  He  is  said  never  to  have  told  any  one  how  much  some 
of  the  buildings  that  were  erected  at  his  instance  cost  him.  Mr. 
Abbot  gave  about  $120,000.  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Norris  also  gave 
large  sums.  No  general  solicitation  has  ever  been  made  in  behalf  of 
the  institution,  though  it  has  received  from  individuals  many  benefac- 
tions of  amounts  from  $500  to  $5,000. 

-Connected  with  the  seminary  is  a  printing  establishment,  known  as 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  329 

the  Codman  press,  from  having  a  fount  of  Oriental  types  presented 
to  it  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Codman,  of  Dorchester. 

Few  institutions  have  ever  been  more  blessed  than  the  Andover 
Theological  Seminary.  It  has  been  intimately  associated  with  the 
origin  and  progress  of  foreign  missions,  and  has  had  much  influence  in 
originating  the  Bible,  Colonization,  Tract,  and  Temperance  Societies, 
through  the  exertions  of  the  lamented  Mills*  and  his  coadjutors,  who 
were  students  there.  I  have  spoken  of  it  more  hi  detail,  not  only  be- 
cause of  its  being  the  oldest,  the  most  richly  endowed,  and  one  of  the 
most  frequented  of  our  theological  schools,  but  also  because  it  has 
been,  in  some  sense,  a  model  for  the  rest.f 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  established  a 
theological  seminary  at  Princeton,  in  New  Jersey,  in  1812,  being  the 
second  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States.  Although  it  is  far  from 
being  richly  endowed  like  that  of  Andover,  and  has  often  been 
greatly  embarrassed  for  want  of  adequate  pecuniary  support,  it  has 
attained  a  great  and  well-merited  celebrity  by  the  distinguished  tal- 
ents of  its  professors,  as  well  as  the  excellent  course  of  its  studies.  It 
has  for  several  years  had  an  annual  attendance  of  one  hundred 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  students,  and  has  educated,  hi  all, 
more  than  sixteen  hundred  young  men.  The  missionary  spirit  has 
prevailed  in  it  to  a  gratifying  degree,  almost  from  its  first  establish- 
ment, and  a  large  number  of  its  alumni  have  gone  to  carry  the  Gos- 
pel to  heathen  lands.  There  is  a  flourishing  "  Society  of  Inquiry 
on  Missions,"  with  a  valuable  collection  of  books  relating  to  that 

subject. 

The  Princeton  course  comprises  for  the  first  year,  Hebrew,  the 
Exegesis  of  the  Original  Language  of  the  New  Testament,  Sacred 
Geography,  Sacred  Chronology,  Jewish  Antiquities,  and  the  Con- 
nection of  Sacred  and  Profane  History ;  for  the  second  year,  Biblical 
Criticism,  Church  History,  and  Didactic  Theology;  for  the  third 
year,  Polemic  Theology,  Church  History,  Church  Government,  Pas- 
toral Theology,  the  Composition  and  Delivery  of  Sermons. 

Instruction  is  given  both  by  lectures  and  text-books,  and  the  entire 

*  The  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  a  very  zealous  and  able  young  man,  who  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  the  formation  of  several  of  the  great  benevolent  societies  of  America,  and 
died  on  the  coast  of  Africa  when  looking  for  a  place  where  a  colony  of  negroes  might 
be  founded. 

f  The  Faculty  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover  consists  at  present  of  Pro- 
fessors Park,  Stowe,  Barrows,  and  Phelps.  Several  of  its  former  professors  were  men 
of  distinguished  abilities.  Drs.  "Wood,  Porter,  Griffin,  Stuart,  Justin  Edwards,  Bela 
B.  Edwards,  Emerson,  and  Murdock,  are  widely  known — most  of  them  as  authors 
as  well  as  -professors.  Abroad,  Professor  Stuart's  reputation  as  a  Biblical  scholar  is 
both  extensive  and  well-founded. 


330  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

course  requires  the  study  of  many  authors.  The  students  must  read 
essays  of  their  own  composition  at  least  once  every  four  weeks,  and  are 
expected,  also,  to  deliver  short  addresses  before  the  professors  and 
their  fellow-students  at  least  once  in  the  month.  One  evening  in  the 
week  is  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  important  theological  questions. 
Every  Sabbath  forenoon  a  sermon  is  delivered  in  the  chapel  by  one 
of  the  professors.  In  the  afternoon,  the  students  assemble  for  a  "  con- 
ference" on  some  subject  in  casuistical  divinity,  their  professors  pre- 
siding and  conducting  the  discussion,  and  the  services  commencing 
and  concluding  with  singing  and  prayer.  Questions  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing are  discussed :  What  constitutes  a  call  to  the  ministry  and  the 
evidences  of  it  ?  What  is  proper  preparation  for  the  Lord's  Supper  ? 
What  is  repentance  ?  What  is  faith  ?  What  is  true  preparation  for 
death  ? 

These,  and  many  such  subjects,  are  seriously  and  faithfully  dis- 
cussed, and  none  of  the  other  exercises,  probably,  are  so  instructive 
or  so  important  to  the  students.  It  is  there  that  the  deep  knowledge 
of  their  venerated  and  excellent  professors  in  spiritual  things  most 
fully  manifests  itself.  God  has  greatly  blessed  these  heart-searching 
services  to  the  students,  and  much  is  it  to  be  wished  that  such  exer- 
cises, and  such  fidelity  on  the  part  of  the  professors  who  conduct 
them,  were  to  be  found  in  every  theological  seminary  and  theological 
department  of  a  university  in  the  world. 

It  is  matter  for  devout  thanksgiving  that  the  excellent  professors* 
appointed  to  the  Princeton  Seminary  in  its  earliest  years,  were  so 
long  spared  to  labor  for  its  good.  Both  they  and  their  successors 
rank  high  among  the  American  divines,  and  have  had  great  weight 
in  the  Church  to  which  they  belonged. 

The  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
opened  a  theological  institution  at  New  York  in  181V,  which,  though 
removed  next  year  to  New  Haven,  was  soon  after  re-established  at 
New  York.  It  originated  in  the  efforts  of  the  late  Dr.  John  Henry 
Hobart,  long  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  and  has  five  pro- 
fessors, who  are  eminent  and  influential  men,  both  in  their  own 
church  and  in  the  community  at  large.  Its  prosperity  has  been 
almost  uninterrupted.  The  number  of  students  is  usually  about 
seventy-five  or  eighty.     In  1822,  the  dioceses  of  Virginia  and  Mary- 

*  The  Rev.  Drs.  Archibald  Alexander  and  Samuel  Miller,  both  of  whom  have 
earned  an  extensive  reputation  by  their  public  lectures  as  well  as  by  their  writings. 
The  present  professors  are  the  Rev.  Drs.  Hodge,  J.  A.  Alexander,  Green,  and  McGill. 
Dr.  Hodge  is  well  known  in  Europe  as  well  as  America  for  his  admirable  Comment- 
ary on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  Dr.  Alexander  for  his  Commentaries  on  Isaiah 
and  the  Psalms. 


CHAP.  XYIII.]  THEOLOGICAL   SEMTN ABIES.  331 

land  established  another  Episcopal  seminary  in  Fairfax  county,  Vir- 
ginia, a  few  miles  from  the  city  of  Alexandria.  This  seminary  has 
four  excellent  professors,  and  from  forty  to  fifty  students.  It  has  been 
a  great  blessing  to  the  Episcopal  Church  and  to  the  country. 

A  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  established  in  1825,  at  Newton, 
a  town  about  six  miles  from  Boston,  has  been  a  source  of  much 
good,  and  has  sent  forth  a  considerable  number  of  excellent  preach- 
ers. It  has  three  able  professors,  and  usually  from  thirty  to  forty 
students.  The  Baptists  also  established  a  Literary  and  Theological 
Institute  at  Hamilton,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  1820.  It  has 
above  one  hundred  and  fifty  students  in  all,  and  in  the  theological 
department  upward  of  thirty,  under  four  professors,  who  give  instruc- 
tions in  the  other  department  also. 

A  Lutheran  Theological  Seminary  was  established  in  1826  at 
Gettysburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  very  much  through  the  exertions  of 
the  Rev.  S.  S.  Schmucker,  D.D.,  who  is  its  professor  of  theology.  It 
has  three  professors,  with  from  thirty  to  forty  students  in  all,  and 
has  proved  a  rich  blessing  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  Dr.  Schmucker 
is  well  known  in  the  Churches  of  the  United  States  by  his  various 
writings,  and  his  praiseworthy  endeavors  to  bring  about  a  union  of 
feeling  and  action  among  the  several  branches  of  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations. 

The  Reformed  Dutch  Church  has  an  able  theological  faculty  in 
its  seminary  at  New  Brunswick,  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  The 
foundation  dates  from  1784,  but  it  was  for  a  long  time  unoccupied. 
It  now  has  four  professors  and  about  forty  students. 

Such  are  the  utmost  details  that  the  limits  of  this  work  will  permit. 
Let  me  simply  add,  that,  since  the  opening  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mason's 
theological  school,  about  the  beginning  of  the  century,  these  institu- 
tions have  wonderfully  increased.  Most  of  them,  like  those  at  Andover 
and  Princeton,  are  quite  distinct  from  any  college  or  university; 
some,  under  the  title  of  Theological  Departments,  are  connected 
with  literary  institutions,  but  have  their  own  professors,  and,  in  re- 
ality, are  very  distinct.  The  following  table,  presenting  a  summary 
of  the  whole,  will  probably  be  found  interesting. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterians  (Covenanters)  have  a  theological 
school  at  Allegheny  city,  and  another  at  Philadelphia :  the  former 
has  two  professors  and  fourteen  or  fifteen  students,  the  latter  two 
professors  and  five  or  six  students.  The  Moravians  have  a  theo- 
logical school  at  Nazareth,  Pennsylvania,  one  professor  and  a  few 
students. 

The  reader  will  remark  that  the  number  of  students  in  the  theo- 
logical seminaries  contained  in  the  following  table  is  that  for  the 


332 


THE  VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA  [BOOK  IV. 


year  1855.     The  whole  number  of  students  in  these  seminaries  may 
fairly  be  put  down  at  thirteen  hundred,  at  least. 


*  «* 


Denominations. 


Congrega- 
tionalists. 


Old 
School 
Presbyte- * 
rians. 


New- 
School 
Presbyte- 
rians. 


Episcopa-   i 
lians.       j  o' 


Name  and  locality  of  the  institution. 


State  in  which  it  is 

situated. 


Baptists.  - 


Ref.  Dutch. 

Luther- 
ans. 

Ger.  Ref. 

Assoc.  Ch. 

Assoc. 
Eef.  Ch. 

Method. 


fl. 
U 

3. 


Andover 

Bangor        

Gilmanton 

Theological  Department  of  Yale  College  . 
Theological  Institute  of  Connecticut,  at  EastWindsor 
Theological  Department  of  the  Oberlin  Institute 

Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton  .... 
Western  Theological   Seminary  at  Allegheny  city, 

near  Pittsburg 

Union  Theological  Seminary 

Southern  Theological  Seminary  at  Columbia  . 
Indiana  Theological  Seminary  at  New  Albany  . 
Danville  Theological  Seminary  at  Danville 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  in  New  York  city 
Theological  Seminary  at  Auburn       .... 
Theological  Department  of  Western  Reserve  College 

Lane  Seminary  at  Cincinnati 

Southwestern  Theological  Seminary  at  Maryville    . 

General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  New  York         .... 

Theological  Seminary,  Fairfax  county 

Theological  Seminary  of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio,  at 
Gambier 

Thomaston  Theological  Institute  .... 
Theological  Institution  at  Newton  .... 
Hamilton    Literary   and    Theological   Institute,    at 

Hamilton 

Virginia  Baptist  Seminary  at  Richmond  . 
Furman  Theological  Seminary  at  High  Hills  . 
Literary  and  Theological  Seminary  at  Eaton  . 
Theological  Department  in  Granville  College  . 
Howard  Theological  Institution  at  Marion 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary  at  Rochester . 
).  Western  Baptist  Theological  Institution  at  Covington 

Theological  Seminary,  New  Brunswick 

Hartwick  Seminary  .... 
Theological  Seminary  at  Gettysburg 
Theological  Seminary  at  Lexington  . 
Theological  Seminary  at  Columbus  . 

Theological  Seminary  at  Mercersburg 

Theological  Seminary,  Xenia    . 

Theological  Seminary  at  Newburg  . 
Theological  Seminary  at  Allegheny  city 

Methodist  Biblical  Institute  at  Concord 


Massachusetts. 

Maine. 

New  Hampshire. 

Connecticut. 

Connecticut. 

Ohio. 

New  Jersey. 

>•  Pennsylvania. 

Virginia. 
South  Carolina. 
Indiana. 
Kentucky. 

New  York. 
New  York. 
Ohio. 
Ohio. 
Tennessee. 

>  New  York. 
Virginia. 
Ohio. 


180S  5 

1820 

1835 

1S22 

1833 


;- 


Maine. 

Massachusetts. 


} 


New  York. 


1812 

1828  3 

1821  3 
1832  4 

1829  3 
1852  2 


1836 
1821 

1S32 


1817  5 
4 

1828  4 

1837  2 
1825  4 


c 
■«*  ^ 

C  *^  o 

i.  2  3 

ill 

«5CG  -S 

101 
37 
23 
24 
17 
23 

153 

48 

20 
40 
15 
45 

106 
8 

14 
105 

25 

75 

43 
10 

23 
35 


1820  2      20 


Virginia. 

South  Carolina. 

Georgia. 

Ohio. 

Alabama. 

New  York. 

Kentucky. 

N  ew  Jersey. 

New  York. 
Pennsylvania. 
South  Carolina. 
Ohio. 

Pennsylvania. 

Ohio. 

New  York. 
Pennsylvania. 

New  Hampshire, 


1S32 
1826 
1834 
1832 

1850 
1S40 


1826 
1835 

1825 

1855 

1S36 
1828 

1S4T 


67 
30 
10 
8 
13 
30 
20 

36 

5 

20 
10 
10 

20 

40 

11 
45 

40 


The  above  enumeration  comprises  the  orthodox  evangelical  denom- 
inations of  Protestants  only.  The  Unitarians  have  a  theological  de- 
partment at  Harvard  University,  which  had  two  professors  and  four- 
teen students  in  1855  ;  and  a  theological  school  at  Meadville,  Penn- 
sylvania, which  had  last  year  four  professors  and  twenty-five  or  thirty 
students. 

The  Roman  Catholic  theological  seminaries,  according  to  the  Cath- 
olic Almanac,  stood  as  follows  in  1855  : 


*  I  give  the  number  of  students  for  1855  from  the  American  Almanac  for  that 
year.  The  list  is  understated,  the  number  being  that  at  a  given  epoch  in  the  year, 
not  that  of  all  who  attended  during  the  course  of  it. 


CHAP.  XVIII.] 


THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES. 


333 


Location. 
At  Baltimore,     Md. 
"    Frederick,        " 
Near  Emmitsburg,  " 
At  Cumberland,    " 


Students. 

27 

16 

24 

23 


"    Philadelphia,  Pa 19 

"    Villa  Nova,       "   - 

u 


"    Latrobe, 

Near  Cincinnati,    Ohio . 

"    Somerset,         "   . 

"    Springfield,     Ky. . 

"    Bardstown,      "   . 

At  Cleveland,     Ohio. 

"    Thompson,       "    . 

Near  Vincennes,     Ind. 

At  Notre-Dame,    "   . 

"    Wheeling,       Va. 

La.. 


"    Lafourche, 


31 
14 
17 
10 

5 
14 

7 
15 
10 

7 
12 


Students. 

28 

21 

82 


Location. 
At  Carondelet,    Mo 

Near  Florissant,       "    

At  Barrens,  Perry  Co.,  O 

"    St.  Paul,  Minnesota 4 

"    Buffalo,  N.  Y 8 

"    Springhill,  Ala 5 

"    Fordham,N.Y 40 

"    Mihvaukie,  "Wis 12 

"    Dubuque,  Iowa 10 

"    Sinsinawa  Mound,  Wis 1 

u    San  Francisco,  Cal 10 

"    Benicia,  "   4 

"    Santa  Ynes,         "   12 

"    Santa  Barbara,    "   8 

"    Chicago,  111 — 

Near  Pittsburg,  Pa. 7 


In  all,  thirty-three  institutions  and  four  hundred  and  fifty-three 
students. 

I  shall  conclude  by  stating  that  the  entire  number  of  theological 
schools  and  faculties  belonging  to  the  orthodox  Protestant  Churches 
is  forty-five,*  with  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  professors,  and 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  students  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  greater  number  of  these  institutions  are  in  their  in- 
fancy. Where  they  are  connected  with  colleges,  the  theological 
professor  generally  gives  lectures  in  the  literary  department  also,  on 
moral  philosophy,  metaphysics,  logic,  etc.  Many  of  the  professors  in 
the  new  and  smaller  seminaries  are  pastors  of  churches  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  all  that  are  not,  preach  much  in  vacant  churches,  or  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  such  as  before  benevolent  or  literary  societies 
and  bodies,  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  etc.  Many  of  them,  too,  are  ex- 
pected to  employ  their  leisure  moments  in  giving  instruction  through 
the  press.  Though  the  number  of  professors  seems  large  when  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  students,  few  men  have  more  to  do,  or,  in  point 
of  fact,  achieve  more  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  There  are  to  be  found 
among  them  many  of  the  first  ministers  of  the  Churches  to  which 
they  respectively  belong.  If  not  quite  equal  in  point  of  science  to 
some  of  the  great  professors  in  the  Old  World,  they  are  all,  God  be 
praised,  believed  to  be  converted,  and  are  devoted,  faithful  men. 
Their  grand  object  is  to  train  up  a  pious,  as  well  as  a  learned  ministry. 
I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  one  of  them  that  does  not  open  every 
meeting  of  his  class  with  earnest  prayer,  in  which  he  is  joined  by  his 
pupils — a  striking  contrast  to  what  one  sees,  alas !  at  too  many  of  the 
theological  lectures  in  the  universities  of  Europe. 

*  At  the  "Wesleyan  University  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  theological  lectures  are 
given  to  a  class  in  divinity,  and  possibly  this  is  done  also  in  some  of  the  other  Meth- 
odist colleges. 


334  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  TV. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

EFFORTS   TO   DIFFUSE  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  United  States  to  place  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures in  the  hands  of  all  who  can  read  them,  and  in  this  endeavor 
there  is  a  delightful  co-operation  of  good  men  of  every  name.  Even 
statesmen,  though  they  may  not  be  decidedly  religious,  or,  by  out- 
ward profession,  members  of  any  church,  lend  their  aid  in  this  enter- 
prise ;  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  men  of  the  first  rank  in  the 
political  circles,  some  occupying  high  places  in  the  council  of  the  na- 
tion, advocate  at  Bible  Society  anniversaries  the  claims  of  the  Word 
of  God.  The  impression  prevails  among  our  statesmen  that  the  Bible 
is  emphatically  the  foundation  of  our  hopes  as  a  people.  Nothing 
but  the  Bible  can  make  men  the  willing  subjects  of  law ;  they  must 
first  acquiesce  with  submission  in  the  government  of  God  before  they 
can  yield  a  willing  obedience  to  the  requirements  of  human  govern- 
ments, however  just  these  may  be.  It  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible 
only  that  can  render  the  population  of  any  country  honest,  industrious, 
peaceable,  quiet,  contented,  happy. 

It  is  forty  years  since  the  American  Bible  Society  was  instituted, 
and  it  now  has  branches  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  has  sent  out, 
in  all,  ten  million  six  hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-seven  copies  of  the  Bible,  or  of  the  New  Testament,  from 
its  depository.*  Last  year  alone  seven  hundred  and  forty-nine  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  ninety-six  copies  went  forth  to  bless  the  na- 
tion. In  the  years  1829  and  1830,  great  and  systematic  efforts  were 
made  to  place  a  Bible  in  every  family  that  was  without  one  through- 
out the  whole  land.  Much  was  accomplished,  yet  so  rapid  is  the  in- 
crease of  the  population,  that  these  effort  must  be  repeated  from  year 
to  year ;  and  the  work  can  only  be  done  by  dividing  the  country  into 
small  districts,  and  engaging  active  and  zealous  persons  to  visit  every 
house  from  time  to  time,  ascertain  what  families  are  destitute  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  supply  them  by  selling  or  giving  away  copies,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  Great  efforts  are  also  made  at  New  York,  and 
other  sea-ports,  to  supply  foreign  emigrants  as  they  arrive  on  our 

shores. 

i 

*  More  than  eleven  and  a  half  million  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in 

part,  had  been  issued  by  the  Bible  Societies  in  the  United  States  at  the  commence- 
ment of  May,  1855.  The  receipts  of  these  societies  in  the  year  1854  exceeded  half  a 
million  of  dollars. 


CHAP.  XIX.]      EFFORTS   TO    DIFFUSE  THE   SACKED   SCRIPTURES.  335 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  what  has  been  done  by  Bible  societies 
seems  not  to  have  interfered  with  the  business  of  the  booksellers ; 
for  these  sell  more  copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  than  they  did 
before  the  Bible  societies  existed.  The  more  the  Bible  is  known,  the 
more  it  is  appreciated ;  in  many  a  family  the  entrance  of  a  single 
copy  begets  a  desire  to  possess  several ;  besides  which,  the  Bible  So- 
ciety's distributions  greatly  augment  the  demand  for  Biblical  com- 
mentaries and  expositions,  and  thus  augment  the  trade  of  the  book- 
sellers, who  publish  and  put  into  circulation  immense  editions  of  such 
works.  There  is  a  great  demand  for  the  Scriptures,  also,  both  in 
week-day  and  Sabbath-schools,  and  great  numbers  of  these  are  fur- 
nished by  the  book-trade. 

Nor  does  the  American  Bible  Society  confine  its  efforts  to  the 
United  States.  It  has  for  many  years  associated  itself  with  those 
societies  which,  by  prosecuting  the  same  work  in  foreign  lands,  are 
laboring  to  hasten  the  coming  of  that  day  when  "  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord  shall  fill  the  earth."  The  receipts  of  the  society  for  the 
last  year  amounted  to  $346,811. 

The  society  has  published  the  Bible  in  "  raised  characters"  for  the 
use  of  the  blind. 

In  the  year  1837,  a  Bible  society  was  formed  among  the  members 
of  the  Baptist  churches,  entitled  the  "  American  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society."  It  was  formed  with  special  reference  to  the  circulation  of 
translations  in  the  course  of  being  made  by  that  body  of  Christians. 
Some,  at  least,  of  these  translations  the  American  Bible  Society  thought 
it  could  not,  consistently  with  its  constitution,  aid  in  publishing,  be- 
cause the  original  words  baptize  and  baptism  have  been  translated  into 
words  equivalent  to  immerse  and  immersion.  However  much  it  may 
be  regretted  that  these  words,  about  the  meaning  of  which  there  has 
been  so  much  philological  disputation,  are  not  permitted  to  remain 
untranslated,  so  that  all  denominations  might  be  put  upon  the  same 
footing,  and  be  enabled  to  continue  united  in  the  work  of  Bible  cir- 
culation, the  issue  will,  it  is  likely,  prove  that  in  this,  as  in  many  sim- 
ilar cases,  God  is  about  to  make  an  apparent  obstacle  mightily  sub- 
serve the  advancement  of  His  kingdom.  The  new  society  has  taken 
up  the  work  of  foreign  publication  with  great  zeal,  and  doubtless  it 
will  serve  to  develop  the  energies  of  the  large  and  powerful  body  of 
Christians  who  sustain  it,  to  an  extent  to  which  they  never  would 
have  gone  but  for  its  formation.  The  receipts  last  year,  being  the 
eighteenth  of  its  existence,  were  $40,034  ;  the  expenditure,  $39,939.* 

*  In  this  statement  of  receipts,  we  do  not  include  $19,000  given  for  the  new 
Bible  House. 


336  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

In  eighteen  years  the  society  has  received  $700,000,  and  sent  forth 
more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  copies,  of  the  Word  of  God. 

In  1850  the  "American  Bible  Union"  was  formed,  and  is  sustained 
by  ministers  and  members  of  the  Baptist  churches  who  are  in  favor 
of  issuing  a  new  version  of  the  Bible  in  English,  as  well  as  of  aiding 
the  work  abroad.  Its  receipts  during  the  fifth  year  of  its  existence 
were  $36,050.  A  few  portions  only  of  the  "new  version"  have  yet 
been  issued,  and  those  only  as  specimens,  we  believe. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

ASSOCIATIONS   FOR  THE  PUBLICATION  AND   CIRCULATION  OP   RELIGIOUS 

TRACTS   AND    BOOKS. 

~No  branch  of  religious  enterprise  has  been  more  vigorously  prose- 
cuted in  the  United  States  than  that  of  preparing,  publishing,  and 
circulating  moral  and  religious  writings  in  various  forms.  The  wide 
diffusion  of  education,  at  least  among  the  white  part  of  the  popula- 
tion, makes  it  obvious  that  powerful  advantage  may  be  taken  of  the 
instrumentality  of  the  press  in  promoting  the  truth. 

Associations  of  various  kinds  are  engaged  in  this  good  work.  We 
have  seen  that  the  Sunday-school  societies  are  doing  much  for  sup- 
plying the  youth  of  the  country  with  moral  and  religious  reading ;  we 
have  now  to  speak  of  other  societies  which  aim  at  benefiting  adults, 
not,  however,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  young. 

First  among  these  associations  may  be  ranked  the  American  Tract 
Society,  which,  like  most  others  of  a  general  and  national  character, 
has  its  seat  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  instituted  in  1825,  and 
hence  has  been  thirty  years  in  existence.  It  is  founded  on  the  broad 
principle  of  uniting  in  its  support  Christians  of  all  evangelical  denom- 
inations of  Protestants,  so  far  as  they  may  be  disposed  to  co-operate 
in  its  objects;  its  Committee  of  Publication  is  composed  of  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  different  orthodox  communions ;  and  its  publica- 
tions themselves  convey  those  great  truths  and  doctrines  in  which  all 
of  these  communions  can  agree. 

The  operations  of  no  society  in  America  seem  to  have  been  prose- 
cuted with  greater  vigor  or  more  wisdom.  Its  Report  for  1855 
states  that,  since  its  commencement,  it  has  sent  forth  1,948  different 
publications,  of  which  about  150  form  volumes  •  of  various  sizes  by 
themselves,  and  the  remainder  are,  with  few  exceptions,  what  are 
called  tracts,  each  consisting  of  four  pages  and  upward. 


CHAP.  XX.]  PUBLICATION  OF  RELIGIOUS  TRACTS  AND  BOOKS.  337 

And  besides  these  1,948  publications  issued  at  home,  it  has  aided  in 
the  publication  of  2,972  in  foreign  lands.  The  copies  of  its  publica- 
tions issued  last  year  amounted  to  10,091,214,  of  which  961,363  were 
volumes.  Anions:  the  volumes  were  several  thousand  sets  of  the 
Evangelical  Family  Library,  of  fifteen  volumes  each,  of  the  Religious 
Library,  of  twenty-five  volumes  each,  and  of  the  Youths'  Library, 
of  seventy  volumes  each.  Many  thousands  of  separate  volumes,  also, 
of  these  sets  were  sold.  From  100,000  to  150,000  of  some  of  the 
smaller  tracts  were  distributed ;  and  the  total  sent  into  circulation 
during  thirty  years  has  been  158,319,412  publications,  of  which 
10,424,737  were  volumes.  The  receipts  for  the  year  1855  amounted 
to  $147,298  from  donations,  and  $265,875  from  sales ;  in  all,  $413,173. 
$16,000  were  sent  to  foreign  countries  in  aid  of  the  tract  cause  abroad. 

The  society  is  assisted  by  auxiliary  associations  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  both  in  the  collection  of  funds,  and  in  disseminating 
1  its  publications.  Some  of  these  local  societies,  such  as  those  at  New 
York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  are  large  and  efficient. 

The  society  is  zealously  prosecuting  two  grand  measures,  into 
which  I  shall  enter  the  more  fully,  inasmuch  as  they  are  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  religious  well-being  of  the  country,  and 
also  more  or  less  practicable  in  other  lands.  The  first  of  these  is 
the  publication  of  volumes  of  approved  excellence,  such  as  Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion 
in  the  Soul,  and  their  distribution  throughout  the  country.  It  pro- 
poses to  place  not  only  one  volume  at  least,  as  was  resolved  some 
years  ago,  but  even  a  whole  set  of  its  Evangelical  Family  Library, 
of  fifteen  volumes,  or  its  Religious  Library,  of  twenty-five  volumes, 
in  as  many  households  as  are  willing  to  buy  them ;  and  in  seeking  to 
accomplish  this  end,  it  employs  able  men,  ministers  of  the  Gospel  and 
laymen,  as  agents.  These  visit  towns  and  cities,  preach  in  the 
churches,  raise  funds  to  supply  the  poor  with  books,  organize  com- 
mittees who  are  to  visit  all  the  families  in  their  respective  districts, 
and  engage  all  who  are  able  to  buy  one  book  or  more,  and  sup- 
ply such  as  are  too  poor  to  purchase.  Another  set  of  agents  consists 
of  plain,  but  sensible,  pious,  and  zealous  colporteurs,  or  hawkers, 
generally  laymen,  who  are  sent  into  the  "  Far  West"  to  carry  books 
and  tracts  to  the  frontier  people,  engaged  in  felling  the  forests  on  their 
ever-onward  course  toward  the  setting  sun,  as  well  as  into  the  mount- 
ainous districts,  and  the  thinly-settled  belt  of  sandy  country  which 
stretches  along  the  ocean  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  The 
number  of  these  colporteurs  was  last  year  six  hundred  and  fifty-nine.* 

*  Of  these  659  colporteurs  126  labored  among  Germans  and  emigrants,  and  104 
were  students  from  Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries.    They  visited  639,193  fam- 

22 


338  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

"Who  can  calculate  the  amount  of  good  which  such  a  work  must, 
with  God's  blessing,  accomplish  ? 

I  ought  to  add,  that  not  only  is  care  taken  that  both  books  and 
tracts  shall  be  printed  with  good  type,  and  on  excellent  paper,  but 
that  the  books  are  substantially  bound,  and  the  tracts  covered,  for 
the  most  part,  with  handsome  paper  coverings.  In  these  respects 
they  form  a  marked  contrast  with  the  publications  of  some  societies 
of  the  same  kind  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  It  is  rightly  thought 
to  be  a  false  economy  which,  for  the  sake  of  saving  a  few  hundred 
dollars,  would  fail  to  render  attractive  in  appearance,  as  well  as  read- 
able and  durable,  publications  which  are  intended  to  be  the  means 
of  interesting,  instructing,  and  saving  men,  of  whom  multitudes  are 
wholly  indifferent  to  religion,  and  might  be  repelled  from  reading 
them  were  they  to  appear  in  a  mean  and  shabby  dress. 

The  Society's  "American  Messenger,"  had  during  the  year  ending 
May  1,  1855,  a  circulation  of  two  hundred  thousand,  the  "German 
Messenger"  twenty-seven  thousand,  and  the  "  Child's  Paper"  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand !  All  these  were  published  monthly,  in  the 
newspaper  form. 

Besides  its  publications  in  English,  the  society  has  sent  out  a  con- 
siderable number  of  tracts  in  French,  German,  Spanish,  and  other  lan- 
guages, for  the  various  emigrants  that  arrive  in  the  United  States. 

The  other  measure  referred  to  is  the  systematic  periodical  distribu- 
tion of  tracts  in  cities,  towns,  villages,  and  even  rural  districts, 
though  this  work  can  not  be  done  directly  by  the  society,  so  much  as 
the  numerous  auxiliaries  which  it  endeavors  heartily  to  engage  in 
carrying  it  through.  The  object  is  to  place  a  tract,  at  least  once  in 
the  month,  in  every  family  willing  to  receive  one,  and,  where  practi- 
cable, to  accompany  it  with  religious  conversation,  especially  where 
ignorance  of  the  Gospel  or  family  affliction  renders  it  peculiarly 
called  for.  In  pursuing  this  design,  the  city,  town,  or  village  is  divid- 
ed into  small  geographical  districts,  each  containing  a  certain  num- 
ber of  families,  and  each  assigned  to  the  care  of  zealous,  intelli- 
gent, and  prudent  Christians  to  make  monthly  visits  to  every  family, 
and  leave  the  tract  selected  for  the  month.  Some  will  require  more 
than  one  visit,  particularly  the  sick  and  the  destitute ;  but  houses 
where  the  inmates  persist  in  refusing  tracts,  in  spite  of  every  effort 
to  overcome  their  reluctance,  are  passed  by. 

ilies,  with  281. 09*7  of  whom  they  conversed  on  personal  religion,  or  prayed.  Of  the 
families  visited,  83,126  habitually  neglected  evangelical  preaching,  64,686  families 
were  Roman  Catholics,  51,302  families  were  destitute  of  all  religious  books  but  the 
Bible,  and  36,259  households  destitute  of  the  Bible ;  and  they  held  or  addressed 
12,763  religious  meetings.     Six  colporteur  conventions  were  held. 


CHAP.  XX.]      PUBLICATION   OF   RELIGIOUS   TRACTS   AND   BOOKS.  339 

This  plan,  whenever  justice  has  been  done  to  it  in  practice,  has 
been  found  eminently  beneficial.  Cases  of  poverty  and  disease  are 
discovered  and  made  known  to  associations  and  individuals  likely  to 
attend  to  them.  Many  persons,  living  in  the  constant  neglect  of 
public  worship,  are  induced  to  attend  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
The  churches  in  the  neighborhood  are  pointed  out  to  them,  and  they 
are  exhorted  to  go  to  such  as  they  may  prefer. 

Such  is  the  procedure  in  many  places  throughout  the  United 
States.  In  the  city  of  New  York  it  has  been  in  operation  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  and  with  abundance  of  blessed  results.  According  to 
municipal  regulations,  the'  city,  which  now  has  above  six  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  is  divided  into  wards,  and  to  each  of 
these,  when  practicable,  there  is  appointed  what  is  called  a  superin- 
tendent, generally  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  a  young  man,  who  de- 
votes himself  wholly  to  the  work.  The  superintendents  divide  their 
wards  into  districts,  find  a  distributor  of  either  sex  for  each,  hold 
frequent  meetings  with  their  distributors,  provide  them  with  tracts 
for  distribution,  receive  their  reports,  draw  up  a  general  one  for  the 
monthly  meeting  of  the  City  Tract  Society,  under  whose  auspices  the 
work  proceeds,  and  read  their  reports  at  those  meetings.  "Withal, 
they  hold  prayer-meetings  in  their  respective  wards  almost  every 
night  in  the  week,  and  engage  competent  persons  to  hold  others 
which  they  can  not  themselves  attend.  The  distributors  labor  gratu- 
itously. The  superintendents  receive  usually  $600  each  as  his  salary. 
For  many  years  sixteen  superintendents  have  been  supported  by  the 
same  number  of  liberal  Christian  merchants  and  mechanics  in  that 
city,  who  rejoice  to  be  instrumental  in  maintaining  this  good  work. 

I  shall  conclude  by  giving  the  summary  of  what  was  accomplished 
in  New  York  during  one  year,  as  presented  at  the  regular  annual 
public  meeting,  held  in  one  of  the  churches  of  that  city  : 

1,050  average  number  of  visitors  (or  distributors). 
132,155  tracts  distributed,  containing  3,425,781  pages. 

936  Bibles  and  558  Testaments  received  from  the  New  York  Bible  Society,  and 
supplied  to  the  destitute. 
4,496  volumes  lent  from  the  ward  libraries. 
2,200  children  gathered  into  Sabbath-schools. 
315  children  gathered  into  public  schools. 
131  persons  gathered  into  Bible-classes. 
904  persons  induced  to  attend  church. 
105  temperance  pledges  obtained. 
1,433  district  prayer-meetings  held. 
43  backsliders  reclaimed. 
396  persons  hopefully  converted. 
342  converts  united  with  evangelical  churches. 


340  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

Such  is  the  tabular  view  presented  by  a  single  year's  labor  in  the 
field  of  tract  distribution  in  one  city. 

Besides  the  American  Tract  Society,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a 
vast  reservoir  of  common  truth — of  doctrines  about  which  all  Evan- 
gelical Protestants  are  agreed — there  are  other  societies  that  publish 
religious  tracts  and  books ;  and  among  these  I  may  mention,  as  dis- 
tinguished for  the  energy  of  their  management  and  the  extent  of  their 
operations,  the  "  Book  Concerns"  of  the  two  great  branches  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  These  institutions  are  situated  in  New 
York  and  Nashville,  under  the  control  of  the  General  Conferences, 
which,  every  four  years,  appoint  a  committee  to  direct  their  opera- 
tions. Two  able  agents  are  intrusted  with  the  management  of  each, 
and  are  required  to  make  full  returns  to  the  Bishops  and  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conferences.  It  must  not  be  thought  that  all  their  numerous 
publications  are  stamped  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  Methodist  doc- 
trines ;  not  a  few  of  them  are  the  same  in  character  with  those  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Tract  Society — such,  for  instance,  as  the 
"  Saint's  Rest."  The  sales  are  not  confined  to  the  main  depositories 
at  New  York  and  Nashville,  and  the  branches  established  at  some 
other  great  centres  of  trade :  their  publications  are  retailed  by  all  the 
traveling  ministers  of  that  extensive  body,  and  thus  find  their  way 
into  the  most  remote  log-cabins  of  the  West.  And  who  can  calcu- 
late the  good  that  may  result  from  reading  the  biographical  and 
didactic  volumes  thus  put  into  circulation?  Who  can  tell  what 
triumphs  over  sin,  what  penitential  tears,  what  hopes  made  to  spring 
up  in  despairing  hearts,  what  holy  resolutions,  owe  their  existence, 
under  God,  to  these  books  ?  The  amount  of  sales  of  these  institu- 
tions and  their  branches  was,  in  1852,  $199,687. 

The  Old  School  Presbyterians  have  also  a  Board  of  Publication, 
which  has  put  forth  not  only  a  considerable  number  of  doctrinal 
tracts  in  which  the  distinctive  views  of  that  body  are  ably  maintained, 
but  many  books,  also,  of  solid  worth,  which  are  gaining  an  extensive 
circulation  among  its  own  members,  and  the  professors  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  system  generally.  The  receipts  of  this  board  were,  last  year, 
$87,599,  and  its  expenditures  $91,319.* 

The  Regular  Baptists,  too,  have  their  American  Baptist  Publica- 
tion Society  earnestly  engaged  in  the  good  work  of  supplying  their 
people  with  publications  addressed  both  to  the  converted  and  the 
unconverted.  The  receipts  of  that  society  were,  last  year,  $52,705, 
and  its  expenditures  $52,660.    The  Episcopalians,  Free-Will  Baptists, 

*  This  board  has  issued  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  volumes  of  various  sizes, 
besides  hymn-books,  question-books,  catechisms,  tracts,  etc.  It  employed  last  year 
one  hundred  and  seventy-three  colporteurs. 


CHAP.  XXI.]      THE  EELIGIOUS  LITERATURE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      341 

the  Quakers  or  Friends,  the  Lutherans,  and  the  Protestant  Metho- 
dists, have  all  their  own  Tract  Societies ;  the  last  two  have  their 
"Publication  Committees"  and  their  Book  Establishments.  Other 
denominations  have  theirs.  The  amount  of  evangelical  tracts  and 
books  every  year  put  into  circulation  by  all  these  "  societies," 
"boards,"  and  "committees,"  together,  can  not  be  exactly  ascer- 
tained. Their  value  in  money,  I  mean  for  what  they  are  sold,  can 
hardly  be  less  than  $600,000.  They  air  help  to  swell  the  great  stream 
of  Truth,  as  it  rolls  its  health-giving  waters  through  the  land.  May 
God  grant  that  these  efforts  may  go  on  continually  increasing  from 
year  to  year,  until  every  family  shall  be  blessed  with  a  well-stored 
library  of  sound  religious  books. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE    OF   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

While  it  would  be  very  foreign  to  the  object  of  this  work  to  enter 
upon  any  discussion  as  to  the  value  and  extent  of  the  general  litera- 
ture of  the  United  States,  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  say  something 
respecting  that  part  of  it  which  falls  under  the  head  of  Religion. 

And  first,  let  me  advert,  without  reference  to  its  origin,  to  the 
entire  mass  of  the  literature  of  a  religious  kind  now  circulating 
through  the  country.  In  this  sense,  our  religious  literature  is  by  far 
the  most  extensive  in  the  world,  with  the  single  exception  of  that  of 
Great  Britain.  We  have  a  population  of  twenty-seven  millions,  if 
not  twenty-seven  millions  five  hundred  thousand ;  and,  even  includ- 
ing the  African  race  among  us,  and  regarding  the  country  as  a  whole, 
we  have  a  larger  proportion  of  readers  than  can  be  found  in  most 
other  nations.  Indeed,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  whole  kingdom  or  na- 
tion that  has  more.  Deducting  the  colored  population,  we  have 
twenty-three  millions  of  people  who,  whatever  may  have  been  their 
origin,  are  Anglo-American  in  character,  and  to  a  great  extent  speak 
and  read  the  English  language.  Not  only  so,  but  of  these  a  very 
large  proportion  are  religious  in  their  character  and  habits,  as  we 
shall  show  in  another  place  ;  and,  among  the  rest,  there  is  a  widely 
prevalent  respect  for  Christianity,  and  a  disposition  to  make  them- 
selves acquainted  with  it. 

To  meet  the  demand  created  by  so  large  a  body  of  religious  and 
serious  readers,  we  have  a  vast  number  of  publications  in  every  de- 
partment of  Christian  theology,  and  these  are  derived  from  various 


342  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IY. 

sources.  Some  have  been  translated  from  German  and  French ;  some 
from  the  Latin  of  more  or  less  ancient  times  ;  some  from  the  Greek ; 
while  many  of  our  learned  men,  and  particularly  of  our  divines,  read 
some  or  all  these  languages,  and  would  think  their  libraries  very  de- 
ficient in  the  literature  with  which  they  ought  to  be  familiar,  did 
they  not  contain  a  good  stock  of  such  books  imported  from  Europe. 

Again,  we  have  either  re-published  or  imported  a  great  many  of 
the  best  English  religious  works,  both  of  the  present  times  and  of 
two  or  three  centuries  back.  Such  as  seem  adapted  for  popular  use, 
and  as  many  of  a  more  learned  cast  as  seem  likely  to  justify  their 
publication,  are  reprinted ;  while  not  a  few  copies  of  many  more  are 
ordered  from  Europe  through  the  booksellers. 

Some  American  reprints  of  English  religious  books,  particularly  ot 
works  of  a  practical  character,  have  had  an  immense  circulation. 
The  commentaries  of  Scott,  Henry,  Doddridge,  Adam  Clarke,  and 
Gill,  have  been  extensively  sold,  and  some  booksellers  owe  a  large 
part  of  their  fortunes  to  the  success  of  the  American  editions.  All 
the  sterling  English  writers  on  religious  subjects,  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  as  well  as  of  later  times,  are  familiar  to  our  Christian  read- 
ers ;  and  the  smaller  practical  treatises  of  Flavel,  Baxter,  Boston, 
Doddridge,  and  others,  have  been  very  widely  disseminated.  Bates, 
Charnock,  Flavel,  Howe,  the  Henrys,  etc.,  are  well  known  among  us, 
as  are  also  Jeremy  Taylor,  Barrow,  Bishops  Hall  and  "Wilson  (of 
Sodor  and  Man),  and  many  more  whom  I  need  not  name.  As  for 
more  modern  times,  the  names  of  Thomas  Scott  and  Adam  Clarke 
are  household  words,  and  Chalmers  is  known  to  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. There  are  many  men  in  England  and  Scotland  with  whose 
names  we  have  been  familiar  from  our  youth.  In  English  systematic 
theology  no  names  are  more  known  or  esteemed  than  the  late 
Andrew  Fuller  and  Thomas  Watson.  And  although  it  can  not  be 
said  that  every  good  religious  work  that  appears  in  Great  Britain  is 
republished  in  the  United  States,  a  large  proportion  of  the  best  cer- 
tainly are,  especially  such  as  are  of  a  catholic  nature,  and  many  of 
them,  I  am  assured,  have  a  wider  circulation  in  the  United  States  than 
in  England  itself. 

The  United  States  have  sometimes  been  reproached  by  foreigners 
as  a  country  without  any  literature  of  native  growth.  M.  de  Tocque- 
ville,  arguing  from  general  principles,  and,  as  he  supposes,  philosophi- 
cally, seems  to  think  that,  from  the  nature  of  things,  the  country, 
because  a  republic,  never  can  have  much  literature  of  its  own.  He 
forgets  that  even  the  purest  democratical  government  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen,  that  of  Athens,  produced  in  its  day  more  distinguished 
poets,  orators,  historians,  philosophers,  as  well  as  painters  and  sculp- 


CHAP.  XXI.]     THE  RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      343 

tors,  than  any  other  city  or  country  of  the  same  population  in  the 
world.  He  full  well  knows,  however,  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  is  not  an  unmixed  democracy,  and  that  in  every  thing 
that  bears  upon  the  higher  branches  of  learning,  our  institutions  are 
as  much  above  the  control  of  a  democracy  as  those  of  any  other 
country.  The  grand  disadvantage,  according  to  M.  de  Tocqueville, 
under  which  our  literature  labors  is,  that  authors  are  not  encouraged 
by  pensions  from  the  government.  But  are  these  so  absolutely  indis- 
pensable ?  Have  such  encouragements  accomplished  all  that  has 
been  expected  from  them  ?  Are  they  not  often  shamefully  abused, 
and  merely  made  to  gratify  the  personal  predilections  of  ministers  ot 
State  ?  Besides,  it  is  notorious  that  in  England  at  least,  where  the 
government  professes,  I  understand,  to  patronize  literature,  the  most 
distinguished  authors,  in  all  its  various  departments,  owe  nothing  to 
that  source.  As  for  the  patronage  of  associations  and  wealthy  indi- 
viduals, it  may  exist  just  as  well  in  the  United  States  as  anywhere 
else,  and,  in  fact,  is  not  altogether  wanting  there. 

But  our  literature,  it  is  said,  is  not  known  beyond  the  country 
itself;  and  this  is  to  some  extent  true.  But  that  few,  comparatively, 
even  of  the  distinguished  authors  of  any  country,  are  known  beyond 
its  limits,  might  easily  be  shown  in  the  case  of  France,  Germany, 
Holland,  Denmark,  and  Italy.  With  the  exception  of  the  corps  of 
literary  men,  even  the  well-informed  among  the  English  are  little 
acquainted  with  the  literature  of  those  countries,  and  but  for  what 
they  learn  through  the  medium  of  the  Reviews,  would  hardly  know 
so  much  as  the  names  of  some  of  their  most  distinguished  authors. 
No  doubt  the  literature  of  every  civilized  nation  greatly  influences 
that  of  all  others ;  not,  however,  by  having  a  general  circulation  in 
those  countries,  but  because  of  the  master  minds  who  first  familiarize 
themselves  with  it,  and  then  transfer  all  of  it  that  is  most  valuable 
into  their  own  language,  just  as  Milton  appropriated  the  beauties  of 
Homer,  Virgil,  and  Tasso. 

The  United  States  have  unquestionably  produced  a  considerable 
number  of  authors  hi  every  branch  of  literature,  who,  to  say  the 
least,  are  respectable  in  point  of  eminence.*     Their  being  unknown 

*  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  make  out  a  tolerably  long  list  of  authors  who  have 
lived  in  recent  times,  and  many  of  whom  are  living  yet,  that  must  be  pronounced,  by 
those  who  know  any  thing  of  them,  to  be  such  as  would  be  an  honor  to  any  country; 
and  many  of  them  are  not  unknown  in  Europe.  Among  writers  on  law,  in  its  various 
branches,  we  have  had  Kent,  Story,  "Webster,  Wheaton ;  in  medicine,  Mott,  Warren, 
Beck,  Ray,  Jackson,  and  many  others ;  in  theology  and  Biblical  science,  Stuart,  Mil- 
ler, Woods,  the  Alexanders,  Hodge,  Wayland,  Robinson,  Conant,  Barnes,  Stowe, 
Beecher,  Schmucker,  Hawks,  the  Abbots,  etc. ;  in  belles-lettres  and  history,  Irving, 
Prescott,  Bancroft;  Walsh,  Cooper,  Paulding ;  in  science,  Silliman,  Hitchcock,  Henry, 


344  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

to  those  who  make  use  of  the  fact  as  a  reproach  to  the  country,  may 
possibly  be  owing  to  something  else  than  the  want  of  real  merit  on 
their  part ;  and  if,  upon  the  whole,  they  present  what  appears  to 
foreigners  nothing  beyond  a  respectable  mediocrity,  this  may  be 
readily  accounted  for  by  other  causes  than  a  hopeless  peculiarity  al- 
leged to  exist  in  the  people  or  their  government. 

The  country  is  comparatively  new.  Much  has  yet  to  be  done  in 
felling  the  forest  and  clearing  it  for  the  habitations  of  civilized  man. 
But  a  small  part  of  our  territory  bears  evidence  of  having  been  long 
settled.  Our  people  have  passed  through  exciting  scenes  that  gave 
but  little  leisure  for  writing.  Few  families  possess  much  wealth.  The 
greater  number  of  our  institutions  of  learning  are  of  recent  origin. 
None  of  them  have  such  ancient  foundations  as  exist  in  many  Euro- 
pean universities ;  our  colleges  have  no  fellowships ;  the  time  of  our 
professors  is  much  occupied  in  giving  instruction ;  our  pastors,  law- 
yers, and  physicians  find  but  little  leisure,  amid  their  professional  labors, 
for  the  cultivation  of  literature.  We  have  no  sinecures — no  pensions — 
for  learned  men.  There  is  too  much  public  life  and  excitement  to  allow 
the  rich  to  find  pleasure  in  Sybaritic  enjoyments;  and  they  have 
other  sources  of  hapj^iness  than  the  extensive  possession  of  paintings 
and  statues,  though  even  for  these  the  taste  is  gaining  ground. 

But  to  return  to  our  proper  subject,  the  religious  literature  of  the 
United  States :  the  number  of  our  authors  in  this  department  is  by 
no  means  small.  Many  valuable  works,  the  production  of  native 
minds,  issue  year  after  year  from  the  press,  a  very  large  proportion 
of  which  are  of  a  practical  kind,  and  exert  unquestionably  a  most 
salutary  influence.  They  meet  with  an  extensive  sale,  for  the  taste 
for  such  reading  is  widely  diffused,  fostered  as  it  is  by  the  establish- 
ment of  Sunday-schools  and  the  libraries  attached  to  them* 

Davies;  and  in  political  economy,  Carey,  Yethake,  Biddle,  Raymond.  These 
are  but  a  few,  selected  chiefly  with  reference  to  their  being  known  to  some  ex- 
tent, at  any  rate,  in  Europe.  "We  have  also  had  Marshall,  Livingston,  Madison, 
Jefferson,  Jay ;  Rush,  Dorsey,  Wistar,  Dewees,  Godman ;  the  Edwardses,  Davies, 
Dwight,  Smith,  Mason,  Emmons,  Channing,  Griffin,  Rice ;  Wirt,  Noah  "Webster,  Ram- 
sey ;  Franklin,  Ewing,  and  Hamilton.  In  the  fine  arts  we  have  had  a  West,  an 
Alston,  and  have  now  a  Crawford,  a  Powers,  a  Brown ;  while  in  the  useful  arts,  as 
they  are  called,  we  have  not  been  without  men  of  some  renown,  as  the  names  of  Ful- 
ton, Whitney,  and  others  attest. 

Nor  are  American  books  unknown  in  Great  Britain,  the  only  country  in  Europe  in 
which  they  could  be  extensively  read.  In  the  London  Catalogues  we  find  the 
names  of  American  works  on  theology,  in  fiction,  of  juvenile  literature,  of  travels,  on 
education,  on  biography,  on  history,  on  poetry,  on  metaphysics,  on  philosophy,  on 
science,  and  on  law.  Besides  these,  a  good  many  books  published  in  America  are 
imported  every  year  into  Great  Britain. 

*  I  need  not  repeat  here  what  has  been  said  of  the  immense  circulation  of  books 


CHAP.  XXI.]      THE  RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       345 

To  the  religious  literature  of  books  must  be  added  that  of  periodi- 
cal works — newspapers,  magazines,  reviews — and  nowhere  else,  per- 
haps, is  this  literature  so  extensive  or  so  efficient.  More  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  evangelical  religious  newspapers  are  published  once 
a  week.  The  Methodists  alone  publish  twenty-four,  including  one  in 
the  German  tongue,  and  nearly  all  under  the  direction  of  their  Con- 
ferences. The  Episcopalians  have  twelve ;  the  Baptists  twenty-eight ; 
the  Presbyterians  of  all  classes,  including  the  Congregationalists, 
Dutch  Reformed,  Lutherans,  etc.,  about  forty  more.  This  estimate 
includes  evangelical  Protestant  papers  only.  In  all,  they  can  not 
have  fewer  than  five  hundred  thousand  subscribers.  They  comprise  a 
vast  amount  of  religious  intelligence,  as  well  as  valuable  selections 
from  pamphlets  and  books ;  and  though  it  may  be  the  case  that  re- 
ligious newspapers  sometimes  prevent  more  substantial  reading,  yet 
it  must  be  confessed,  I  think,  that  they  are  doing  great  good,  and  are 
perused  by  many  who  would  otherwise  read  little  or  nothing  of  a  re- 
ligious character.  Besides  these  newspapers,  there  is  a  large  number 
of  religious  monthly  and  semi-monthly  magazines,  and  several  quar- 
terly reviews,  in  which  valuable  essays  on  subjects  of  importance  may 
be  found  from  time  to  time.* 

The  political  papersf  in  the  United  States,  though  often  extremely 

by  the  Sunday-school  and  the  Tract  and  Book  societies,  including  the  "  Book  Con- 
cerns" of  the  Methodists. 

*  Two  of  these  quarterlies  are  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterians 
of  the  Old  School:  the  "Biblical  Bepertory  and  Princeton  Beview,"  at  Princeton, 
New  Jersey;  and  the  "  Southern  Presbyterian  Quarterly,"  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
The  "Methodist  Magazine  and  Quarterly  Beview," and  the  "Christian  Beview,"  con- 
ducted by  the  Baptists,  are  both  valuable  periodicals ;  and  all  four  contain  able  re- 
views and  essays.  The  "  Christian  Begister"  is  published  monthly ;  it  is  the  organ 
of  the  Unitarians,  and  is  conducted  with  much  ability. 

f  In  the  year  1850,  according  to  the  census,  the  number  of  newspapers  and  other 
periodical  journals  in  the  United  States  was  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
six,  of  which  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  were  published  daily  (the  Sabbath  excepted), 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  three  times  a  week,  thirty-one  twice  a  week,  and  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  two  once  a  week.  The  remainder,  which  were  issued  twice 
a  month,  monthly,  or  quarterly,  were  principally  magazines  and  reviews.  Of  the 
newspapers,  more  than  one  hundred  are  in  the  German  language,  eight  or  ten  in 
French,  two  in  Spanish,  and  the  rest  in  English.  Several  of  the  New  Orleans  papers 
are  published  in  both  French  and  English.  The  circulation  of  these  newspapers  and 
other  periodicals  is  immense,  being  estimated  at  four  hundred  and  twenty-six  million 
four  hundred  and  nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight  copies  annually. 
And  though  the  number  is  too  great  by  one  half,  and  though  many  are  conducted  by 
men  poorly  qualified  for  the  responsible  and  difficult  task  of  an  editor,  yet  it  is  not 
to  be  denied  that  even  the  poorest  of  them  carry  a  vast  amount  of  information  to 
readers  in  the  most  secluded  and  distant  settlements,  as  well  as  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  most  populous  districts.     And  if  we  take  the  editors  in  the  mass,  it  must  be  ac- 


346  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

violent  in  party  politics,  are  in  many  instances  auxiliary  to  the  cause 
of  religion.  While  the  editors  of  some,  happily  not  many,  are  op- 
posed to  every  thing  that  savors  of  religion,  and  even  allow  it  to  be 
outraged  in  their  columns,  an  overwhelming  majority  often  give  ex- 
cellent articles,  and  publish  a  large  amount  of  religious  intelligence. 
In  this  respect  there  has  evidently  been  a  remarkable  improvement 
within  the  last  twenty  years.  Many  of  the  political  journals  have 
rendered  immense  service  in  the  Temperance  cause,  as  well  as  in  every 
other  cause  involving  the  alleviation  of  human  suffering. 

Some  of  the  literary  and  political  reviews  of  native  origin  are  very 
respectable  works  of  the  kind;  the  North  American  Review,  for  ex- 
ample, which  has  now  existed  nearly  half  a  century.  There  are  also 
several  valuable  monthly  reviews.  Besides  these,  the  leading  reviews 
published  in  Great  Britain,  such  as  the  Edinburg,  the  London  Quar- 
terly, Westminster,  North  British,  etc.,  are  republished  among  us. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

EFFORTS   TO   PROMOTE  THE    RELIGIOUS    AND   TEMPORAL   INTERESTS    OF 

SEAMEN. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  endeavors  made  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the 
destitute  settlements  of  the  United  States,  both  in  the  West  and  in 
the  East.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  population  of  that  country 
includes  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  whose  home  is  on  the 
deep,  and  who  "  do  business  in  the  great  waters" — a  number  which 
must  be  almost  doubled  if  we  include  those  who  navigate  the  rivers 
and  lakes  in  steamboats,  sailing  vessels,  and  other  craft. 

The  first  systematic  efforts  made  on  a  large  scale,  in  the  United 
States,  for  the  salvation  of  seamen,  commenced  in  1812,  at  Boston. 
Since  then  much  interest  in  the  subject  has  been  awakened  at  almost 
every  port  along  the  sea-board ;  and  within  the  last  few  years  a  great 
deal  has  been  done  for  boatmen  and  sailors  on  the  rivers  and  lakes. 

The  American  Seaman's  Friend  Society  was  instituted  at  New 
York  in  1827,  and  is  now  the  chief  association  engaged  in  this  benev- 
olent enterprise.  It  serves,  in  some  sense,  as  a  central  point  to  local 
societies  formed  in  the  other  leading  sea-ports,  as  well  as  those  on  the 

knowledged  that  they  are  very  ready  to  lend  their  columns  to  the  publication  of  re- 
ligious articles,  of  a  suitable  character  and  length,  when  requested  by  good  men. 
And  if  Christians  felt  as  they  should  feel  on  this  subject,  and  did  what  they  might, 
the  press  would  be  far  more  useful  to  the  cause  of  religion  than  it  is. 


CHAP.  XXII.]     EFFOETS  FOE  THE  EELIGIOUS  INTERESTS  OF  SEAMEN.     347 

Western  rivers ;  though  they  are  not,  in  general,  connected  with  it 
nominally.*  By  a  monthly  publication,  called  the  Sailor's  Magazine, 
it  communicates  to  pious  seamen  much  interesting  information  re- 
garding the  progress  of  Truth  among  that  class  of  men,  with  details  of 
its  own  proceedings,  and  those  of  other  associations  of  the  same  kind. 

Chapels  have  now  been  opened  for  seamen,  and  public  worship  main- 
tained on  their  account  in  ahnost  all  the  principal  sea-ports  from  the 
north-east  to  the  south-west,  chaplains  being  engaged  for  the  purpose, 
and  supported  chiefly  by  local  societies.  Those  in  the  service  of  the 
central  society  are,  with  few  exceptions,  stationed  at  foreign  ports, 
such  as  Havre,  in  France ;  Canton,  in  China ;  Valparaiso,  in  Chili ; 
Sydney,  in  New  South  "Wales ;  Honolulu,  in  the  Sandwich  Islands ; 
and  Panama  and  Aspinwall,  hi  New  Grenada.  It  had  chaplains  at  one 
time,  also,  at  Rio  Janeiro,  Marseilles,  Cronstadt,  and  some  other  places. 

Besides  promoting  the  establishment  of  public  worship  under 
chaplains  at  sea-ports,  the  society  has  strongly  and  successfully  recom- 
mended the  opening  of  good  boarding-houses  and  reading-rooms  for 
seamen  when  on  shore,  and  the  promotion  of  their  temporal  comfort 
in  every  possible  way.f 

The  efforts  of  the  different  associations  for  seamen  have  been 
greatly  blessed.  The  year  1841,  in  particular,  was  marked  by  special 
mercies.  In  no  fewer  than  ten  or  twelve  ports  there  were  manifest 
outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  meetings  held  for  religious 
instruction.  A  hundred  and  fifty  sailors  were  reported  by  one  of  the 
chaplains  at  Philadelphia  as  having  been  converted  under  his  minis- 
try ;  and  among  these  was  an  old  man,  ninety-nine  years  of  age,  who 
had  been  a  drunkard  for  more  than  seventy  years. 

There  are  supposed  to  be  six  hundred  pious  captains  in  the  United 
States'  mercantile  navy.  There  are  also  several  decidedly  religious 
officers  in  the  national  marine,  who  exercise  a  happy  influence  on  the 
service.  The  pious  seamen  belonging  to  the  United  States  are  now 
reckoned  at  about  six  or  seven  thousand ;  a  most  gratifying  contrast 
to  the  state  of  things  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  a  pious  seaman,  of 
any  class,  was  rarely  to  be  met  with. 

The  income  of  the  society  for  the  year  1855  was  $22,845,  without 
including  the  receipts  of  the  local  associations,  which  must  have  been 
considerable.     Its  expenditures  were  $22,816. 

*  There  are  no  fewer  than  sixty  of  these  local  associations  for  the  promotion  of 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  seamen  and  river-men  in  the  United  States. 

f  It  has  a  large  "  Sailors'  Home"  in  the  city  of  New  York,  which  had  three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  hoarders  last  year  (1855),  and  has  had  forty-three  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-six  in  the  course  of  the  thirteen  years  of  its  existence,  many  of 
whom  needed  assistance.  The  society  has  also  a  flourishing  "  Home"  for  colored 
seamen. 


348  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

OF   THE  INFLUENCE   OF   THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  REFORMING 
EXISTING   EVILS. TEMPERANCE   SOCIETIES. 

We  have  contemplated  the  Voluntary  Principle  as  the  main  support 
of  Religion  and  its  institutions  in  the  United  States.  We  have  now 
to  consider  its  powers  of  correcting^  or  rather  overcoming,  some  of 
the  evils  that  prevail  in  society.  And,  first,  let  us  see  how  it  has 
contended  with  Intemperance,  one  of  the  greatest  evils  that  have  ever 
afflicted  the  human  race. 

It  is  not  easy  to  depict  in  a  few  words  the  ravages  of  drunkenness 
in  the  United  States.  The  early  wars  of  the  Colonial  Age,  the  long 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and,  finally,  that  of  1812-15  with  England,  all 
contributed  to  promote  this  tremendous  evil.  The  very  abundance 
of  God's  gifts  became,  by  their  perversion,  a  means  of  augmenting  it. 
The  country  being  fertile,  nearly  throughout  its  whole  extent,  and 
producing  immense  quantities  of  wheat,  rye,  and  corn,*  the  last  two 
of  which  were  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  whiskey,  there  seemed  no 
feasible  check,  or  conceivable  limit  to  the  ever-growing  evil,  especially 
as  the  government  had  no  such  pressure  on  its  finances  as  might  just- 
ify the  imposing  of  a  tax  that  would  prevent  or  diminish  the  manu- 
facture of  ardent  spirits.  Moreover,  the  idea  had  become  almost 
universally  prevalent  that  the  use  of  such  stimulants,  at  least  in  mod- 
erate quantities,  was  not  only  beneficial,  but  almost  indispensable  for 
health,  as  well  as  for  enabling  men  to  bear  up  under  toil  and 
fatigue. 

The  mischief  spread  from  year  to  year.  It  pervaded  all  classes  of 
society.  The  courts  of  justice,  the  administration  of  government,  the 
very  pulpit,  felt  its  direful  influence.  The  intellect  of  the  physician, 
and  the  hand  of  the  surgeon,  were  too  often  paralyzed  by  it ;  and  it 
might  be  said,  that  what  some  thought  to  be  ordained  unto  life,  was 
found  to  produce  death.  Poverty,  disease,  crime,  punishment,  mis- 
ery, were  the  natural  fruits  which  it  brought  forth  abundantly.  So- 
ciety was  afflicted  in  almost  all  its  ranks;  nearly  every  family 
throughout  the  land  beheld  the  plague  in  one  or  more  of  its  members. 
For  a  long  time,  while  all  saw  and  lamented  the  evil,  none  stood  up 
against  it.  But  there  were  those  that  mourned,  and  wept,  and 
prayed  over  the  subject,  and  the  God  of  our  fathers,  who  had  been 

*  The  word  corn  is  almost  invariably  employed  in  America  to  designate  the  grain 
commonly  called  maize  in  England,  and  Ble  de  Turquie  in  France. 


CHAP.  XXIII.]  TEMPERANCE   SOCIETIES.  349 

with  them  on  the  ocean  and  amid  the  dreary  wilderness,  to  watch 
over  and  protect  them,  heard  those  prayers. 

In  the  year  1812,  a  considerable  effort  was  made  to  arouse  the  at- 
tention of  Christians  to  the  growing  evils  of  intemperance,  and  a 
day  of  fasting  and  of  .prayer  was  observed  by  some  religious  bodies. 
In  the  following  year,  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression 
of  Intemperance  was  formed,  and  its  labors  were  manifestly  useful. 
Still,  "  the  plague  was  not  stayed."  The  subject,  however,  was  not 
allowed  to  drop.  It  was  seen  that  the  Society  had  not  gone  far 
enough,  and  that  it  would  not  do  to  admit  of  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits,  even  in  moderation.  The  evil  of  wide-spread  drunkenness 
could  never  be  exterminated  by  such  half-way  measures. 

It  was  accordingly  proposed,  in  1826,  to  proceed  upon  the  princi- 
ple of  entire  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  or  distilled  spirits,  as 
a  beverage,  and  the  same  year  saw  the  formation  of  the  American 
Temperance  Society  at  Boston.  The  press  was  soon  set  in  motion  to 
make  its  objects  known,  and  competent  agents  were  employed  in  ad- 
vocating its  principles.  Great  was  the  success  that  followed.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years,  societies  were  to  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  were  joined,  not  by  thousands  only,  but  by  hundreds  of 
thousands.  People  of  all  classes  and  ages  entered  zealously  into  so 
noble  an  undertaking.  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  lawyers,  judges,  leg- 
islators, and  physicians,  took  a  prominent  part  in  urging  it  forward. 

But  we  need  not  enter  upon  the  details  of  this  progress.  The 
cause  continues  advancing  to  this  day.  To  reach  the  poor,  as  well  as 
remove  temptation  from  the  rich,  the  rules  of  the  Temperance  Socie- 
ties have,  within  the  last  six  or  seven  years,  excluded  "  all  intoxicat- 
ing drinks."  Upon  this  principle,  wines  of  all  descriptions  have  been 
generally  abandoned,  both  because  of  their  being  mostly  impure  with 
us — being,  for  the  most  part,  imported,  and  all  more  or  less  intoxicat- 
ing— and  because  they  are  not  found  necessary  to  persons  in  health, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  injurious ;  besides  which,  it  was  of  consequence 
that  an  example  of  self-denial  should  be  given  by  those  who  could 
afford  to  buy  wine,  for  the  sake  of  the  poor,  who  could  not. 

But,  in  the  progress  of  the  Temperance  reformation,  little  was 
done  to  reclaim  men  who  had  already  become  drunkards.  And  yet 
at  the  lowest  estimate,  there  were  three  hundred  thousand  such  in 
the  United  States ;  many  even  reckoned  them  at  five  hundred  thou- 
sand at  the  commencement  of  the  Temperance  movement.  No  hope 
seemed  to  be  entertained  with  respect  to  these.  To  prevent  such  as 
had  not  yet.  become  confirmed  drunkards  from  acquiring  that  fatal 
habit,  was  the  utmost  that  any  one  dared  to  expect.  A  few  drunk- 
ards, indeed,  were  here  and  there  reclaimed :  but  the  mass  remained 


350  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

unaffected  by  all  the  cogent  arguments  and  affecting  appeals  that 
were  resounding  through  the  country. 

At  length  God,  in  His  wonderful  providence,  revealed  the  way  by 
which  these  miserable  persons  might  be  reached.  And  how  simple ! 
A  few  hard  drinkers  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  congregating  at  a  low  tavern  for  the  purpose  of  revelry,  and  had 
been  drunkards  for  years,  met  one  night  as  usual.  All  happened  to 
be  sober.  Apparently  by  accident,  the  conversation  fell  upon  the 
miseries  of  their  life.  One  after  another  recounted  his  wretched  his- 
tory. All  were  deeply  touched  with  the  pictures  of  their  own  degra- 
dation thus  held  up.  Some  one  proposed  that  they  should  stop  in 
their  career  of  folly  and  wickedness,  and  form  themselves  into  a 
Temperance  association.  They  did  so.  Rules  were  written  and 
signed  on  the  spot.  They  met  again  the  next  night,  related  their 
histories,  wept  together  over  their  past  delusions,  and  strengthened 
each  other  in  their  new  resolutions.  They  continued  to  meet  almost 
every  night — not,  however,  at  a  tavern.  They  invited  their  com- 
panions in  sin  to  join  them — these  were  affected  and  won.  The  fire 
was  kindled,  and  soon  it  spread.  In  a  few  weeks  four  hundred  such 
persons  joined  the  society.  In  a  few  months  two  thousand  drunkards 
in  the  city  of  Baltimore  were  reclaimed.  Then  the  movement  came 
to  light.  The  newspapers  spread  the  wonderful  news.  The  whole 
country  was  astonished.  Christians  lifted  up  their  hearts  in  thank- 
fulness to  God,  and  took  courage.  Benevolent  men  rallied  around 
these  reformed  persons,  and  encouraged  them  to  perseverance. 

The  society  of  reclaimed  drunkards  in  Baltimore  was  invited  to 
send  delegates  to  other  cities ;  and  soon  the  "  apostles  of  Temper- 
ance," as  these  men  were  called,  went  forth  to  every  city  in  the  land. 
Great  was  their  success.  Hundreds  and  thousands  were  reclaimed  in 
ISTew  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Albany,  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and 
from  these  cities,  as  from  great  centres,  other  delegations  of  re- 
formed drunkards  went  forth  into  almost  every  village  and  district 
in  the  land. 

To  o-o  further  into  detail  would  not  consist  with  the  nature  of  this 
work.  A  large  proportion  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  are 
now  under  the  happy  influence  of  the  principle  of  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  drinks.  In  1826,  when  the  reform  commenced, 
it  was  estimated  that  at  least  sixty  million  gallons  of  whiskey  were 
manufactured  and  consumed  annually  in  the  United  States,  without^ 
including  the  imported  brandies,  rum,  etc.  This  estimate  was  un- 
questionably a  very  low  one.  In  1850,  that  is,  twenty-four  years 
afterward,  the  census  stated  that  the  number  of  gallons  of  "whiskey," 
"  high  wines,"  and  "  rum,"  distilled  during  that  year,  was  forty-seven 


CHAP.  XXIV.]       THE   AMERICAN   PRISON   DISCIPLINE  SOCIETY.  351 

million  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  showing  a  falling  off  of  more  than  twelve  million  gallons  : 
and  yet,  within  the  same  period,  the  population  had  more  than 
doubled.  And  all  this  reformation  had  been  brought  about  solely 
through  the  operation  of  voluntary  associations,  without  the  slightest 
direct  aid  from  the  government,  with  the  exception  of  its  abolishing 
the  daily  ration  of  whiskey  formerly  given  to  the  officers  and  men  in 
the  army.  Could  any  thing  in  the  world  show  more  conclusively  the 
resources  which  right  principles  possess  in  themselves  for  overcom- 
ing, under  God's  blessing,  the  evils  that  are  in  the  world,  and  even 
those  that  derive  most  power  from  the  depraved  appetites  of  man  ? 

Within  the  last  five  years,  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  induce 
the  State  governments  to  break  up  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intox- 
icating liquors,  by  severe  penal  enactments.  Some  progress  has  been 
made  hi  several  States,  but  it  is  perhaps  premature  to  speak  confi- 
dently of  the  expediency  of  the  measure,  or  of  its  probable  result. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE   AMERICAN   PRISON   DISCIPLINE   SOCIETY. 

The  Prison  Discipline  Society  was  instituted  in  1824.  It  had  for 
its  object  an  investigation  into  the  best  methods  of  treatment  for  con- 
victs and  other  prisoners,  with  a  view  to  their  health,  proper  degree 
of  comfort,  and,  above  all,  their  moral  and  religious  reformation. 

Prior  to  the  establishment  of  this  society,  the  prisons  in  the  United 
States  were  all  conducted  according  to  the  old  practice  of  herding 
the  prisoners  together  in  large  numbers,  without  any  due  regard  to 
their  health,  and  with  the  inevitable  certainty  of  corrupting  one  an- 
other. In  most  cases,  there  was  little  regular  religious  instruction ; 
in  some,  none  at  all.  The  prisoners  were  generally  left  idle,  so  that 
their  maintenance,  instead  of  being  so  far  defrayed  by  the  proceeds 
of  their  work,  fell  entirely  on  the  public,  and  involved  a  heavy  ex- 
pense. 

But  a  great  reformation  has  now  been  effected.  The  society's  late 
able,  enlightened,  and  zealous  secretary,  the  only  agent,  I  believe,  in 
its  service,  devoted  nearly  his  whole  time  and  energies  to  the  subject 
for  twenty-five  years.  During  that  period  he  examined  the  prisons 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  studied  whatever  was  defective  or  wrong 
in  each,  devised  improvements  in  the  construction  of  prison  build- 
in  o-s,  visited  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States,  and  delivered  lee- 


352  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

tures  to  them  on  the  subject,  besides  giving  to  the  world,  in  the  Re- 
ports that  came  from  his  pen,  such  a  mass  of  well-digested  informa- 
tion as  is  probably  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  any  language.  The 
results  have  been  wonderful.  New  penitentiaries,  upon  the  most 
improved  plans,  have  been  erected  in  almost  all  the  States  by  their 
respective  governments,  and  in  many  cases  at  a  great  expense. 
These  institutions  are  very  generally  under  the  direction  of  men  de- 
cidedly religious.  Judicious  and  faithful  preachers  have  been  ap- 
pointed as  chaplains  in  many  of  them  ;  and  in  the  others,  neighboring 
pastors  have  been  invited  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  visit  the  inmates 
as  often  as  they  can.  Bible-classes  and  Sunday-schools  have  been  es- 
tablished in  several  instances ;  and  in  all,  pains  are  taken  to  teach 
prisoners  to  read  where  they  have  yet  to  learn,  so  that  they  may  be 
able  to  peruse  the  Word  of  God. 

A  great  blessing  has  rested  upon  these  efforts.  In  many  prisons 
very  hopeful  reformations  have  taken  place  ;  and  in  many  cases,  it  is 
believed,  after  long  and  careful  examination  and  trial,  that  convicts, 
who  were  hardened  in  their  sins,  have  submitted  their  hearts  to  that 
adorable  Saviour  who  died  to  save  the  very  chief  of  sinners.  Taken 
as  a  whole,  in  no  other  country  in  the  world,  j)robably,  are  the  peni- 
tentiaries and  prisons  brought  under  a  better  moral  and  religious 
discipline.  This  great  result  has  been  brought  about,  first,  by  the 
erection  of  new  and  more  convenient  buildings,  and,  secondly,  by 
committing  their  direction  so  generally  to  decided  and  zealous  Chris- 
tians. This  has  brought  pure  Christianity  into  contact  with  the 
minds  of  convicts  to  an  extent  unknown  in  former  times  in  America, 
and  still  too  little  known  in  many  other  lands.* 

*  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  two  different  systems  of  discipline  are  to  be 
found  in  the  prisons  of  the  United  States,  each  having  its  ardent  advocates.  There 
is,  first,  the  Philadelphia  system,  according  to  which  the  prisoners  are  entirely 
separated  day  and  night,  so  that  they  are  unknown  to  each  other,  and  live  in 
separate  chambers  or  cells.  And  next  there  is  the  Auburn  system,  so  called  be- 
cause adopted  in  the  prison  for  the  State  of  New  York,  at  Auburn,  a  town  in  the 
central  part  of  that  State.  According  to  it,  the  prisoners  are  separated  from  each 
other  at  night,  and  work  together  in  companies  during  the  day,  under  the  eye  of 
overseers  and  guards,  but  are  not  allowed  to  speak  to  each  other.  They  are  assem- 
bled, also,  morning  and  evening,  for  prayers ;  and  on  the  Sabbath  they  meet  in  the 
chapel  for  public  worship,  conducted  by  the  chaplain  or  some  other  minister  of  the 
Gospel.  Each  system  has  its  advantages  and  disadvantages.  For  health,  facility  in 
communicating  religious  instruction,  and  the  saving  of  expense  through  the  avails  of 
the  labor  of  the  prisoners,  the  latter,  in  my  opinion,  has  evidently  the  advantage. 
The  former  furnishes  greater  security,  enables  the  prisoners  to  remain  unknown  to 
their  fellows  on  leaving  the  prison,  and  more  effectually  breaks  down  the  spirit  of 
the  most  hardened  criminals.  But  the  difference  in  point  of  expense  is  immense : 
nor  are  the  moral  results  of  the  more  expensive  plan  so  decidedly  superior  as  to  com- 


CHAP.  XXIV.]      THE  AMERICAN   PRISON   DISCIPLINE   SOCIETY.  353 

Besides  effecting  this  great  reformation  in  the  State  penitentiaries 
and  prisons,  the  society  has  directed  much  of  its  attention  to  the 
asylums  for  the  insane,  and  to  county  or  district  prisons  for  persons 
committed  for  trial,  convicts  sentenced  to  short  terms  of  imprison- 
ment, and  debtors,  in  States  where  the  law  still  allows  imprisonment 
for  debt.  In  all  these  various  establishments  the  American  Prison 
Discij)line  Society  has  exerted  much  influence,  and  gradually  effected 
the  most  important  ameliorations.  It  has  also  discussed,  in  a  very 
able  manner,  many  questions  in  criminal  legislation,  such  as  those  of 
imprisonment  for  debt,  capital  punishments,  etc.,  and  its  labors  in  this 
department  have  not  been  in  vain.  Yet  the  society  has  had  but  one 
agent — its  excellent  secretary — and  its  whole  receipts  scarcely  ex- 
ceed $3,000.  With  these  limited  means  it  has  accomplished  an  im- 
mense amount  of  good. 

I  know  nothing  that  more  fully  demonstrates  how  favorably  dis- 
posed our  government  is  to  religion,  and  to  all  good  objects,  than 
the  fact  that  the  Legislatures  of  so  many  of  our  States,  as  well  as 
Congress  itself,  have  been  so  ready  to  second  every  feasible  plan  for 
ameliorating  the  condition  of  mankind  by  moral  and  religious  means, 
as  far  as  they  can  do  so  consistently  with  their  constitutional  powers. 
Indeed,  they  are  ever  ready  to  adopt  measures  suggested  by  good  and 
judicious  men,  as  likely  to  benefit  the  public  interests  and  to  promote 
religion,  provided  they  fall  within  their  sphere  of  action. 

I  may  conclude  this  chapter  by  referring  to  the  encouraging  fact 
that  crime  has  been  for  some  years  decreasing  in  this  country,  at  the 
rate  of  from  two  to  three  per  cent,  per  annum.  This  is  the  more 
satisfactory,  when  we  consider  how  many  difficulties  have  to  be  en- 

pensate  for  this  disadvantage.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  Auburn  system  has  been 
decidedly  preferred  by  the  Prison  Discipline  Society,  and  by  our  citizens  generally, 
for  it  has  been  adopted  by  all  but  four  of  the  penitentiaries*  in  the  country ;  whereas 
the  Philadelphia  plan  has  been  preferred  by  the  commissioners  sent  from  France, 
England,  and  Prussia,  to  examine  our  prisons.  For  myself,  I  apprehend  that  suf- 
ficient time  has  scarcely  been  allowed  for  a  due  estimate  of  their  comparative  merits. 
After  paying  considerable  attention  to  the  subject,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  I 
should  say  that,  with  the  right  sort  of  men  to  manage  a  prison — religious  men  of 
great  judgment  and  self  control — the  Auburn  plan  is  the  better.  But  if  such  men 
can  not  be  had,  the  Philadelphia  system  is  safer.  The  former  demands  extraordinary 
qualities  in  the  keepers,  and  especially  in  the  superintendent,  whose  powers,  as  they 
must  be  great,  are  capable,  also,  of  being  sadly  abused.  Much,  indeed,  depends  on 
keepers  under  either  system.  I  may  add  that  for  the  ignorant,  the  rude,  the  sensual, 
the  Auburn  system  is  far  more  salutary  than  that  of  Philadelphia ;  for  to  such,  entire 
solitary  confinement  is  sadly  destructive  to  health  and  happiness.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Philadelphia  system  is  more  tolerable  and  useful  to  the  better  educated  and  the 
more  intellectual  classes. 

*  And  even  one  of  these  has  abandoned  it  for  the  other  system. 

23 


354  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

countered  in  a  new  country,  and  what  a  mighty  stream  of  emigra- 
tion from  foreign  lands  is  continually  bringing  over  new  settlers  who 
have  had  little  proper  moral  culture,  not  a  few  of  whom  are  almost 
desperately  depraved.  Nor  is  it  less  gratifying  to  think  that  this 
occurs  by  a  process  in  which  brute  force  is  superseded  to  such  an  ex- 
tent in  the  suppression  of  vice  and  crime  by  means  essentially  moral. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

SUNDRY     OTHER     ASSOCIATIONS. 

I  shall  now  include  in  one  chapter  a  notice  of  two  or  three  other 
instances,  in  which  the  variety  and  energy  of  action  possessed  by  the 
voluntary  principle  are  remarkably  illustrated. 

Societies  for  the  Promotion  of  a  better  Observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath.— Although  the  Sabbath  is  recognized,  and  its  observance  is 
enjoined  by  the  laws  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  although  that 
sacred  day  is  observed  in  the  United  States  in  a  manner  that  strik- 
ingly contrasts  with  its  neglect  in  Europe,  and  particularly  on  the 
Continent :  yet  in  certain  quarters,  and  especially  in  places  that  are 
in  some  sense  thoroughfares,  the  violation  of  it  is  distressing,  nay, 
alarming  to  a  Christian  mind.  Hence  the  formation  of  societies  for 
the  better  observance  of  that  day. 

These  are  sometimes  of  a  local  and  limited  nature ;  sometimes  they 
embrace  a  wider  sphere  of  operation.  By  publishing  and  circulating 
well-written  addresses  and  tracts — still  more  by  the  powerful  ap- 
peals of  the  pulpit,  they  succeed  in  greatly  diminishing  the  evil.  By 
such  measures  they  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  justice, 
and  give  a  sounder  tone  and  better  direction  to  public  opinion, 
greatly  to  the  reduction,  if  not  to  the  entire  remedy,  of  the  evil  to 
be  cured.  What  is  best  of  all,  this  result  is  obtained  most  commonly 
by  the  moral  influence  of  truth — by  kindly  remonstrance,  and  argu- 
ments drawn  from  the  Word  of  God  and  right  reason.  I  may  state 
that  I  have  myself  seen  the  happiest  influence  exerted  by  these  asso- 
ciations. 

Anti-slavery  Societies. — And  so  with  respect  to  slavery,  an  evil 
which  afflicted  all  the  thirteen  original  colonies  at  the  epoch  of  their 
declaration  of  independence,  and  which  still  exists  in  fifteen  of  the 
thirty-one  States,  as  well  as  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  though  no 
longer  to  be  found  in  the  six  New  England  States,  or  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wis- 


CHAP.  XXV.]  SUNDRY    OTHER   ASSOCIATIONS.  355 

consm,  Iowa,  and  California.  With  a  view  to  its  removal  from  the 
States  to  which  it  still  adheres,  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  North- 
ern, or  non-slaveholding  States,  have  associated  themselves  in  what 
are  called  anti-slavery  societies,  and  have  been  endeavoring,  for  sev- 
eral years  past,  to  awaken  the  public  to  a  sense  of  the  evils  and 
dangers  of  slavery,  and  to  the  reproach  which  it  entails  on  the  whole 
country.  By  means  of  the  press,  by  tracts  and  books,  and  by  the 
voice  of  living  agents,  they  aim  at  the  removal  of  this — the  greatest 
of  all  the  evils  that  lie  heavy  on  our  institutions.  I  say  nothing  at 
present  of  the  wisdom  of  their  plans,  or  of  the  spirit  in  which  they 
have  been  prosecuted.  I  only  mention  these  societies  as  a  further 
proof  of  the  wide  application  of  the  voluntary  principle,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  leads  to  associated  efforts  for  the  correction  of 
existing  evils. 

Peace  Societies. — Thus,  too,  in  relation  to  the  evils  of  war,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving  good  men  especially,  and  all  men,  if  possi- 
ble, from  thinking  lightly  of  them,  Peace  Societies  began  to  be 
formed  as  early  as  the  year  1816,  and  a  national  society  was  or- 
ganized in  1827.  The  object  must  be  admitted  to  be  humane  and 
Christian.  By  the  diffusion  of  well- written  tracts,  by  offering  hand- 
some premiums  for  essays  on  the  subject,  and  their  subsequent  publi- 
cation, and,  above  all,  by  short  and  pointed  articles  in  the  newspapers, 
a  great  deal  has  been  done  to  cause  the  prayer  to  ascend  with  more 
•  fervency  from  the  heart  of  many  a  Christian,  "  Give  peace  in  our 
time,  O  Lord,"  and  to  inspire  a  just  dread  of  the  awful  curse  of  war. 
To  many,  such  efforts  may  appear  ridiculous  ;  but  not  so  to  the  man 
who  can  estimate  the  value  of  even  one  just  principle,  when  once  es- 
tablished in  the  heart  of  any  individual,  however  humble.  Who  can 
tell  how  much  such  efforts  in  the  United  States,  and  other  countries, 
may  have  contributed,  in  God's  holy  providence,  which  often  avails 
itself  of  the  humblest  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  greatest 
purposes,  to  prolong  that  happy  general  peace  which  held  Europe, 
and  all  the  civilized  world,  in  its  embrace  during  almost  forty  years ! 
The  receipts  of  the  American  Peace  Society  are  usually  $3,000.* 

*  The  late  William  Ladd,  Esq.,  of  the  State  of  Maine,  was  the  founder  of  the 
American  Peace  Society,  and  for  many  years  its  worthy  president.  He  was  an  ex- 
cellent Christian.  His  heart  was  absorbed  in  the  objects  of  the  society  over  which 
he  presided.  Through  his  exertions  a  prize  of  $1,000  was  offered  for  the  best  essay 
on  the  subject  of  A  Congress  of  Nations,  for  the  termination  of  national  disputes.  Four 
or  five  excellent  dissertations  were  presented,  and  the  premium  was  divided  among 
the  authors  by  the  judges  appointed  to  make  the  award ;  one  of  whom  was  the  Hon. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  formerly  President  of  the  United  States.  The  evils  of  war  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated.  "In  peace,"  said  Croesus  to  Cyrus,  "children  bury  their 
fathers;    but  in  war,  fathers  bury  their  children."      "War  makes  thieves,"  says 


356  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  17. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

INFLUENCE   OF  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   ON  THE    BENEFICENT 

INSTITUTIONS   OF  THE   COUNTRY. 

Nor  is  the  Voluntary  Principle  less  operative  in  the  formation  and 
support  of  beneficent  institutions  than  of  associations  for  attacking  and 
vanquishing  existing  evils.  But  these  present  a  field  too  wide  to  be 
fully  gone  over  in  this  work ;  besides,  they  do  not  properly  come 
within  its  scope.  I  shall  therefore  glance  only  at  a  few  points,  show- 
ing how  the  Voluntary  Principle  acts  in  this  direction  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  Gospel. 

In  efforts  to  relieve  the  temporal  wants  and  sufferings  of  mankind, 
as  well  as  in  all  other  good  undertakings,  Christians,  and  those,  too, 
with  few  exceptions,  evangelical  in  their  faith,  almost  invariably  take 
the  lead.  Whenever  there  is  a  call  for  the  vigorous  exercise  of  be- 
nevolence, proceeding  from  whatever  cause,  Christians  immediately 
go  to  work,  and  endeavor  to  meet  the  exigency  by  their  own  exer- 
tions, if  possible.  But  should  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  relief  re- 
quired properly  demand  co-operation  on  the  part  of  municipal  and 
State  authorities,  they  will  bring  the  case  before  these  authorities,  and 
invoke  their  aid.  It  follows  naturally  that,  when  this  is  given,  it 
should  be  applied  through  the  hands  of  those  who  were  the  first  to 
move  in  the  matter  ;  and  this  wisely,  too,  since  who  can  be  supposed 
so  fit  to  administer  the  charities  of  the  civil  government  as  those  who 
have  first  had  the  heart  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  same  object  ?  Such 
alone  are  likely  to  have  the  experience  which  in  such  affairs  is  neces- 
sary. 

All  this  I  might  illustrate  by  adducing  many  instances.  In  this 
chapter,  however,  I  shall  notice  but  a  few,  and  take  these  collect- 
ively. 

There  is  not  a  city  or  large  town,  and  hardly  a  village,  in  the  whole 
country,  which  has  not  its  voluntary  associations  of  good  men  and 
women  for  the  relief  of  poverty,  especially  where  its  sufferings  are 
ao-oravated  by  disease.  These  efforts,  in  countless  instances,  may  not 
be  extensive,  only  because  there  is  no  extensive  call  for  their  being 
made.  Created  by  circumstances,  when  these  disappear,  the  associa- 
tions also  cease  to  exist.     But  where  the  sufferings  to  be  relieved  are 


'er 


Hachiavelli,  "and  peace  brings  them  to  the  gallows."  "May  we  never  see  another 
war,"  said  Franklin,  in  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  a  friend,  just  after  signing  the 
treaty  of  peace  at  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution,  "  for  in  my  opinion  there 
never  was  a  good  war  or  a  bad  peace." 


CHAP.  XXVI.]         INFLUENCE   ON   BENEFICENT   INSTITUTIONS.  357 

perpetually  recurring,  as  well  as  too  extensive  to  be  alleviated  by  in- 
dividual effort,  these  benevolent  associations  become  permanent. 
Their  objects  are  accomplished,  in  most  instances,  by  the  unaided  ex- 
ertions of  the  benevolent,  who  voluntarily  associate  for  the  purpose ; 
but  if  these  prove  insufficient,  municipal  or  State  assistance  is  sought, 
and  never  sought  in  vain.  Accordingly,  the  stranger  who  visits  the 
United  States  will  find  hospitals  for  the  sick,  almshouses  for  the  poor, 
and  dispensaries  for  furnishing  the  indigent  with  medicines  gratui- 
tously, in  all  the  large  cities  where  they  are  required.*  There  is  a 
legal  provision  for  the  poor  in  all  the  States,  not  such,  however,  as  to 
do  away  with  the  necessity  of  individual  or  associated  effort  to  meet 
extraordinary  cases  of  want,  especially  when  it  comes  on  suddenly, 
and  in  the  train  of  disease.  The  rapid  and  wide-spread  attacks  of 
epidemics  may  demand,  and  will  assuredly  find  benevolent  individ- 
uals ready  to  associate  themselves  for  meeting  such  exigencies,  before 
the  measures  provided  by  law  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them.f 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  state  that  the  Gospel  finds  admit- 
tance into  the  establishments  for  the  relief  of  poverty  and  disease, 
which  have  been  created  and  maintained  by  the  municipal  and  State 
authorities ;  and  that  I  have  never  heard  of  any  case  in  which  the 
directors  have  opposed  the  endeavors  of  judicious  Christians  to  make 
known  to  the  inmates  the  blessings  of  religion.  Prudent  and  zealous 
Christians,  both  ministers  and  laymen,  are  allowed  to  visit,  and  min- 

*  The  manner  of  providing  for  the  poor  differs  greatly  in  different  States.  In  the 
"West,  where  there  is  but  little  extreme  poverty,  the  inhabitants  of  each  township 
generally  make  this  provision  in  such  manner  as  best  suits  them.  Money  is  raised, 
and  by  a  "  commissioner  of  the  poor"  appropriated  to  the  support  of  such  as  need  it. 
Those  who  have  families  live  in  houses  hired  for  them ;  single  persons  board  with 
others  who  are  willing  to  take  them  for  the  stipulated  sum.  In  the  Atlantic  States, 
where  there  are  more  poor  who  need  assistance,  the  same  course  is  pursued  in  many 
cases.  In  others,  "poor-houses"  are  erected  in  such  counties  as  choose  to  have  such 
establishments,  and  to  these  the  townships  send  their  quota  of  paupers,  and  pay  for 
their  board,  clothing,  etc.  In  the  cities  on  the  sea-board,  the  municipal  authorities 
make  abundant  provision  for  the  poor  who  need  aid,  a  great  proportion  of  whom  are 
foreigners. 

f  There  were  many  illustrations  of  the  expansive  nature  of  individual  and  associ- 
ated charity  during  the  prevalence  of  the  cholera.  In  all  our  large  cities,  associations, 
comprising  the  very  best  Christians  in  them,  were  formed  with  the  utmost  prompti- 
tude, and  zealously  sustained  as  long  as  needed.  I  myself  saw,  and  often  attended 
the  meetings  of  an  association  of  Christian  ladies  formedin  Philadelphia,  as  soon  as 
the  pestilence  commenced  its  ravages  in  that  city.  They  hired  a  house,  converted  it 
into  a  hospital,  gathered  into  it  all  the  children  whom  the  plague  had  made  orphans, 
both  white  and  black,  and  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  washed,  dressed,  and 
took  care  of  those  children  with  their  own  hands,  and  defrayed  all  the  expenses  of 
the  establishment.  Two  of  the  children  died  of  the  cholera  in  their  arms !  These 
ladies  belonged,  many  of  them,  to  the  first  families  in  that  city. 


358  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

isters  to  preach  to  the  occupants  of  such  establishments ;  and  in  sev- 
eral of  our  cities,  one  or  more  excellent  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are 
employed  to  preach  regularly  in  them  as  well  as  in  the  prisons.  With 
rare  exceptions,  they  are  in  the  hands  of  Protestants,  though  Roman 
Catholic  priests  are  nowhere  forbidden  to  enter  and  teach  all  who  de- 
sire their  ministrations. 

Of  all  the  beneficent  institutions  of  our  large  cities,  there  are  none 
more  interesting  than  those  intended  for  the  benefit  of  children. 
Orphan  asylums,  well  established  and  properly  conducted,  are  to  be 
found  in  every  city  of  any  considerable  size  throughout  the  Union. 
Nor  are  these  asylums  provided  for  white  children  only ;  they  are  also 
for  the  colored.  Indeed,  it  can  not  be  said  with  truth  that  the  poor 
and  the  sick  of  the  African  race,  in  our  cities  and  large  towns,  are  less 
cared  for  than  those  of  the  white  race.  Nor  are  those  children  only 
who  have  lost  both  parents  thus  provided  for.  In  some  of  our  cities, 
asylums  have  been  formed  for  what  are  called  half-orphans — that  is, 
those  who  have  still  one  parent  or  both,  but  are  not  supported  by 
them.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  a  single  foundling  hospital  in 
the  United  States. 

In  some  of  our  cities  we  have  admirable  institutions,  called  houses 
of  refuge,  for  neglected  children,  and  for  such  as  are  encouraged  by 
their  parents  to  live  a  vagabond  life,  or  are  disposed  to  lead  such  a 
life.  In  these  establishments,  now  nine  in  number,  they  not  only  re- 
ceive the  elements  of  a  good  English  education,  but  are  instructed 
also  in  the  mechanical  arts ;  and  with  these  religious  instruction  is 
faithfully  and  successfully  combined.  All  of  these  institutions  were 
commenced,  and  are  carried  on  by  the  voluntary  efforts  of  Christians, 
though  they  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  appropriations  in  their  favor, 
in  the  shape  of  endowments  or  annuities  from  some  of  the  State  gov- 
ernments.* 

Nor  are  the  aged  poor  neglected.     Asylums  for  widows  are  to  be 

*  One  of  the  best  conducted  of  these  establishments  is  at  Philadelphia.  It  occu- 
pies a  beautiful  site,  and  has  a  number  of  acres  of  ground  attached  to  it.  There  are 
here  usually  between  one  and  two  hundred  youth  of  both  sexes,  who  occupy  different 
apartments,  and  are  under  the  care  of  excellent  teachers.  The  magistrates  of  the 
city  have  the  power  to  send  vagrant,  idle,  and  neglected  children  to  it.  Yery  many 
youths  have  left  this  institution  greatly  benefitted  by  their  residence  in  it.  It  has 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  writer  to  preach  often  to  its  inmates,  and  never  has  he  seen  a 
more  affecting  sight.  If  a  man  wishes  to  learn  the  importance  of  the  parental  rela- 
tion, and  the  blessings  which  flow  from  a  faithful  fulfilment  of  its  duties,  let  him  visit 
such  an  institution,  and  inquire  into  the  history  of  each  youth  whom  it  contains.  A 
similar  one,  admirably  conducted,  has  within  a  few  years  been  established  at  Alle- 
gheny city  (near  Pittsburg),  partly  by  the  aid  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
"Farm  Schools"  for  orphans  and  for  neglected  children,  in  the  neighborhoods  of  Bos- 
ton and  New  York,  are  excellent,  and  have  been  the  means  of  doing  much  good. 


CHAP.  XXVII.]        ASYLUMS  FOR  THE  INSANE.  359 

met  with  in  all  our  large  towns,  where  they  are,  in  fact,  most  needed ; 
and  old  and  infirm  men  are  also  provided  for. 

At  the  same  time,  that  "  charity  which  seeketh  not  her  own,"  but 
the  good  of  all  others,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  their  character 
or  what  their  crimes,  has  not  forgotten  those  unfortunate  females 
who  have  been  the  victims  of  the  faithlessness  of  men.  Magdalen 
asylums  have  been  founded  in  all  our  chief  cities,  especially  on  the 
sea-board,  and  have  been  the  means  of  doing  much  good.  It  is  only 
to  be  regretted  that  this  branch  of  Christian  kindness  and  effort  has 
not  been  far  more  extensively  prosecuted.  Nevertheless,  there  are 
many  hearts  that  are  interested  in  it ;  and  in  the  institutions  which 
they  have  erected,  the  glorious  Gospel  of  Him  who  said  to  the  peni- 
tent woman  in  Simon's  house,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,  go  in 
peace,"  is  not  only  preached,  but  also  received  into  hearts  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  touched  and  broken. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE   ON  THE  BENEFICENT  INSTI- 
TUTIONS OF  THE  COUNTRY. ASYLUMS  FOR  THE  INSANE. 

The  utmost  attention  is  now  paid  in  the  United  States  to  a  class 
of  the  unfortunate  who,  of  all  others,  present  the  strongest  claims  on 
our  sympathy — I  allude  to  the  insane.  For  these  very  much  has  been 
done  in  the  course  of  the  last  twenty  years,  by  the  establishment  of 
suitable  places  for  their  reception,  instead  of  confining  them,  as  for- 
merly, in  the  common  prisons  of  the  country.  In  this  the  American 
Prison  Discipline  Society  has  exerted  a  most  extensive  and  happy  in- 
fluence, never  having  ceased,  in  its  annual  reports,  to  urge  upon  the 
governments  of  the  States  the  duty  of  providing  proper  receptacles, 
to  which  persons  discovered  to  be  insane  might  be  conveyed  as 
promptly  as  possible,  with  a  view  to  their  proper  treatment.  The 
society  has  showed  this  to  be  an  imperative  duty  on  the  part  of  the 
States,  and  its  voice  has  not  been  heard  in  vain. 

There  are  now  thirty-one  asylums  in  the  United  States,  supported 
or  aided  by  the  States,  and  some  of  these  are  on  a  large  scale.  That 
near  Utica  will  consist,  when  completed,  of  four  buildings,  each  four 
hundred  and  forty-six  feet  long  by  forty-eight  feet  wide,  forming  the 
sides  of  a  beautiful  quadrilateral  area,  which,  by  the  intersection  of 
its  corners  with  verandahs  of  open  lattice-work,  assumes  an  octagonal 
form.    It  is  intended  for  the  insane  poor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 


360  THE  VOLUNTARY   PEINCIPLE   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

that  State  being  at  the  sole  expense  of  its  erection :  and  the  cost, 
npon  the  completion  of  the  whole,  will  amount,  it  is  supposed, 
to  about  $1,000,000.  It  is  calculated  to  receive  one  thousand 
patients. 

Nearly  all  these  asylums  are  constructed  on  the  most  approved 
plans.  Nearly  all  are  beautifully  situated,  have  a  light  and  cheerful 
aspect,  and  are  surrounded  with  ample  grounds,  tastefully  laid  out 
in  fields  and  meadows,  pleasant  gardens,  and  delightful  walks.  After 
visiting  many  such  institutions  in  Europe,  I  can  truly  say  that  I  have 
seen  none  more  pleasantly  situated,  or  better  kept,  than  the  Massa- 
chusetts State  Asylum,  at  Worcester,  the  Retreat  at  Hartford,  in 
Connecticut,  and  the  Asylum  on  Blackwell's  Island,  near  New  York. 

I  would  particularly  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  religious  worship 
is  kept  up  in  twenty-seven  of  these  institutions,  which  number  in  all 
thirty-one.  Some  have  regular  chaplains  attached  to  them ;  in  others, 
Divine  worship  is  conducted  for  the  inmates  by  clergymen  or  laymen 
in  the  neighborhood,  who  volunteer  their  services  in  performing  this 
important  and  interesting  duty.  In  almost  every  case  it  is  done  by 
men  of  evangelical  sentiments.  Nor  is  their  labor  in  vain,  ample  ex- 
perience having  demonstrated  that  such  services,  when  performed  by 
judicious,  calm,  and  truly  spiritual  men,  exert  an  influence  highly 
beneficial  on  the  insane.  The  Gospel,  when  presented  in  the  spirit 
of  its  blessed  Author,  is  admirably  fitted  to  soothe  the  excitement  of 
the  poor  lunatic. 

"  Regular  religious  teaching,"  says  Dr.  Woodward,  the  superintend- 
ent of  the  asylum  for  the  insane  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  "is 
as  necessary  and  beneficial  to  the  insane  as  to  the  rational  mind ;  in 
a  large  proportion  of  the  cases  it  will  have  equal  influence.  They  as 
well  know  their  imperfections,  if  they  will  not  admit  their  delusions ; 
and  they  feel  the  importance  of  good  conduct  to  secure  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  those  whose  good  opinion  they  value." 

According  to  a  Report  of  Dr.  Earle,  made  in  1840,  the  deaths  in 
the  European  institutions  for  the  insane  vary  from  thirteen  to  forty 
per  cent. ;  while  in  the  American  asylums  none  exceed  ten  per  cent.* 

*  The  number  of  the  insane  in  the  asylums  in  the  United  States  is  about  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred ;  in  1840,  the  whole  number  of  the  insane  and  idiotic  in  the  country, 
of  all  ages  and  conditions,  was,  according  to  the  census,  seventeen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  thirty-four,  being  about  one  to  every  nine  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
inhabitants.  Of  these  seventeen  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-four  insane  per- 
sons, five  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  were  maintained  at  the  public  ex- 
pense, and  twelve  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  at  that  of  their  friends. 
In  1850  the  number  of  the  insane  and  idiotic  was,  by  the  census,  twenty-nine  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  twenty-nine — the  insane  being  fourteen  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  seventy-two,  and  the  idiotic  fourteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 


CHAP.  XXVIII.]  ASYLUMS   FOR  THE   DEAF   AND   DUMB.  86] 

While  the  State  governments  have  been  doing  so  much  for  the 
establishment  of  hospitals  and  asylums  for  the  insane,  much  has  also 
been  done  by  individual  munificence.  Some  of  the  State  institutions 
have  been  assisted  by  donations  from  private  citizens.  Thus  two 
benevolent  gentlemen  in  the  State  of  Maine  gave  $10,000  each  to- 
ward founding  the  asylum  for  that  State. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  ON  THE  BENEFICENT  INSTI- 
TUTIONS OF  THE  COUNTRY. ASYLUMS  FOR  THE  DEAF  AND  DUMB. 

Our  asylums  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  owe  their  existence  to  a  series 
of  efforts  on  the  part  of  a  few  Christian  friends. 

The  late  Dr.  Cogswell,  a  pious  and  excellent  physician  in  the  city 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  had  a  beloved  daughter  who  was  deaf  and 
dumb.  For  her  sake  he  proposed  to  a  devoted  young  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gallaudet,  to  go  to  Europe,  and  there  to  learn, 
at  the  best  institutions,  the  most  approved  methods  of  teaching  this 
unfortunate  class  of  people.  The  mission  was  cheerfully  undertaken. 
Mr.  Gallaudet  returned  in  1816,  after  having  spent  above  a  year  in 
Paris,  where  he  studied  the  methods  of  instruction  pursued  at  the 
Royal  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  under  the 
Abbe  Sicard,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  the  Abbe  l'Epee.  Thereupon 
an  effort  was  immediately  made  to  found  an  institution  at  Hartford. 
An  act  of  incorporation  was  obtained  in  1816,  a  large  sum  was  con- 
tributed by  the  people  of  Hartford  for  the  erection  of  the  requisite 
buildings,  and  Congress  granted  from  the  national  lands  a  township, 
consisting  of  twenty-three  thousand  and  forty  acres,  toward  the  en- 
dowment of  the  institution.  It  was  opened,  ere  long,  for  the  recep- 
tion of  pupils,  and  from  that  time  to  this  has  been  going  on  most 
prosperously.  It  is  the  oldest  establishment  for  the  purpose  in  the 
United  States,  and  is  called  "  The  American  Asylum  for  the  Educa- 
tion and  Instruction  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb."  So  far,  indeed,  it  is  a 
national  institution.  It  was  endowed  to  a  considerable  amount  by 
Congress ;  it  is  open  to  pupils  from  all  the  States,  and  it  does,  in  fact, 
receive  them  from  the  South  as  well  as  from  the  North.  It  is  pecu- 
liarly, however,  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution  of  New  England,  five 
of  the  States  of  which  support  within  its  walls,  at  the  expense  of  their 
treasuries,  a  certain  number  of  pupils  every  year.  The  number  at 
the  asylum  is  usually  between  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  two  hun- 


362  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

dred.  The  course  of  study  lasts  four  years.  Mechanical  arts  are 
taught  to  the  young  men  at  certain  hours  daily,  while  the  young 
women  learn  such  things  as  become  their  sex  and  situation  in  life. 

Since  1816  sixteen  other  institutions  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  have 
been  established  in  the  United  States,  all  on  the  model  of  that  at 
Hartford. 

All  these  institutions  receive  paying  pupils  from  families  which 
have  the  means  of  defraying  the  expense  of  educating  their  own 
children.  But  the  number  of  such  pupils  probably  does  not  exceed 
one  sixth  of  the  whole. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  these  seventeen  asylums  ranges  from 
one  thousand  to  one  thousand  two  hundred,  and  as  the  States  by 
which  they  are  supported  have  both  the  means  and  the  disposition  to 
do  so,  they  will  doubtless  furnish  instruction  to  the  deaf  and  dumb 
of  the  other  States,  which  have  resolved  to  send  them  thither  until 
they  can  have  asylums  of  their  own.  There  will,  indeed,  be  but  a 
partial  provision  for  some  time  for  the  indigent  deaf  and  dumb  of  the 
newest  States ;  yet  the  known  enterprise  and  benevolence  of  their 
inhabitants  warrant  us  to  believe  that  as  soon  as  their  population 
shall  have  become  sufficiently  numerous,  and  they  shall  have  estab- 
lished those  more  general  and  important  institutions  that  lie  at  the 
basis  of  an  enlightened  society,  the  whole  of  the  confederated  States 
will  be  found  ready  to  make  provision  for  conducting  their  deaf  and 
dumb,  by  means  of  a  suitable  education,  to  usefulness  and  happiness. 
For  this  it  is  not  requisite  that  each  State  should  have  an  asylum  for 
itself;  it  would  be  found  enough  that  two  or  more  should  unite,  as 
at  present,  in  one. 

The  number  of  deaf  and  dumb  persons  throughout  the  United 
States  in  1850  was  nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-six,  or 
about  one  to  every  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-five  of  the 
entire  population ;  but  the  proportion  of  proper  age  for  being  placed 
in  an  asylum,  to  receive  the  usual  instruction  there,  is  hardly  above 
a  fourth  of  the  entire  number. 

It  is  delightful  to  contemplate  how  much  has  been  done  for  this 
interesting  part  of  the  community  within  the  last  few  years,  and 
especially  delightful  to  the  Christian  to  know  that  all  these  seventeen 
asylums  are  under  the  direction  of  decidedly  religious  men,  and  that 
the  course  of  instruction  pursued  in  them  is  entirely  evangelical.  The 
Bible  is  made  the  text-book  of  their  religious  studies.  Every  morn- 
ing and  evening  they  are  assembled  for  prayers,  and  then  a  portion 
of  Scripture  is  written  on  a  large  slate.  Some  pertinent  remarks  are 
addressed  to  them,  followed  by  prayer,  both  the  remarks  and  the 
prayer  being  performed,  by  the  principal  or  one  of  the  professors  of 


CHAP.  XXIX.]      ASYLUMS   FOR  THE   BLIND   AND   FOR   IDIOTS.  363 

the  institution,  by  signs.  In  the  same  way,  upon  the  Sabbath,  a  ser- 
mon is  preached  and  other  religious  services  are  held.  God  has 
greatly  blessed  these  instructions.  Many  of  the  pupils  in  these  sev- 
eral asylums  have  become,  from  time  to  time,  as  their  lives  attest, 
truly  pious  persons ;  and  in  some  instances  these  institutions  have 
richly  shared  in  the  revivals  that  have  occurred  in  places  where  they 
are  established. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

INFLUENCE   OF   THE    VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE    ON    THE    BENEFICENT    IN- 
STITUTIONS   OF   THE  COUNTRY. ASYLUMS   FOR  THE  BLIND  AND  FOR 

IDIOTS. 

In  the  year  1832  the  Perkins  Institution  and  Massachusetts  Asylum 
for  the  blind  was  founded. 

Thomas  H.  Perkins,  Esq.,  of  the  city  of  Boston,  gave  his  valuable 
house  and  grounds,  with  out-buildings  thereon,  estimated  to  be  worth 
$50,000,  for  an  asylum  for  the  blind,  provided  the  sum  required  for 
its  establishment  should  be  raised  in  New  England.  $50,000  having 
been  speedily  collected,  and  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  having 
voted  a  large  annual  grant  to  give  permanency  to  the  projected  in- 
stitution, the  corporation  entered  vigorously  upon  the  work,  and 
opened  a  school  for  the  blind,  which  has  now  been  nearly  twenty-five 
years  in  successful  operation.  As  the  property,  so  munificently  given 
by  Mr.  Perkins,  was  not  in  all  respects  suitable  for  the  purpose,  it 
was  exchanged  in  1839  for  Mount  Washington  House  and  grounds, 
in  South  Boston,  beautifully  situated  near  the  bay  which  spreads  out 
to  the  east  of  the  city,  and  in  every  way  adapted  for  the  purpose. 
The  institution  is  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe,  a  man 
of  remarkable  qualifications  for  the  post. 

There  are  ten  other  institutions  for  the  blind  in  the  United  States. 
All  these  have  sprung  up  since  the  establishment  of  that  at  Boston  in 
1832,  and  they  are  all  more  or  less  flourishing.  The  whole  number 
of  the  blind  in  the  United  States  in  1850  was  seven  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  seventy-eight. 

Some  twenty  years  ago,  a  Mr.  Will,  of  Philadelphia,  bequeathed  a 
sum  to  be  laid  out  in  establishing  a  hospital  for  the  blind,  but  the  in- 
stitution that  has  arisen  out  of  this  bequest  is  not  a  school,  but  a  re- 
treat, where  the  aged  and  infirm  blind  may  pass  their  remaining  days 
in  comfort. 


364  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

Although  most  of  these  institutions  are  aided  by  the  Legislatures  of 
the  States  within  which  they  are  established,  nearly  all  of  them, 
nevertheless,  may  be  traced  to  the  benevolence  of  Christian  citizens, 
acting  individually  or  together.  Few  establishments  can  be  contem- 
plated by  the  eye  of  Christian  sympathy  with  greater  interest  than 
these  quiet  retreats.  There  the  blind  not  only  learn  the  elements  of 
a  common  education,*  and  attain  such  expertness  in  some  of  the  me- 
chanical arts  as  enables  them,  even  while  under  tuition,  to  contribute 
toward  their  own  support,  but  they  cultivate  music  also,  by  which 
many  an  hour  sweetly  passes  away,  and  many  of  them  show  in  this 
pursuit  remarkable  aptitude. 

Nor  is  our  literature  for  the  blind  inconsiderable,  when  we  remem- 
ber that  it  is  not  twenty-five  years  since  printing  in  "  raised"  charac- 
ters for  their  use  was  first  introduced  among  us.  Above  fifty 
volumes  have  been  published  at  Boston,  and  about  half  that  number 
at  Philadelphia,  comprising  several  of  the  most  interesting  religious 
works  in  the  English  language,  the  perusal  of  which  has  already 
proved  a  blessing  to  many  of  the  blind.f  It  is  gratifying  to  think 
that  these  institutions  have  all  along  been,  to  a  great  extent,  in  the 
hands  of  good  men,  so  that  this  benevolent  enterprise  has,  from  the 
first,  taken  a  happy  direction. 

The  Report  of  the  Boston  institution  for  1841  gives  the  history  of 
a  child  who  had  been  four  years  a  pupil  there,  and  whose  case  is 
more  interesting,  probably,  than  any  other  that  has  ever  been  known. 
Laura  Bridgman,  born  in  1829,  had  lost,  when  twenty  months  old, 

*  Joseph  B.  Smith,  a  pupil  of  the  Perkins  Institution  and  Massachusetts  Asylum 
for  the  Blind,  pursued  the  study  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  the  other  branches  of  a  prepar- 
atory course  with  success,  and  entered  Harvard  University  in  the  autumn  of  1839, 
where  he  made  respectable  progress.  He  learned  his  lessons  with  the  help  of  his 
companion,  who  carefully  read  them  over  to  him,  and  sought  out  in  the  lexicon  the 
meaning  of  words  he  did  not  understand.  In  geometry,  when  the  diagram  was  too 
complicated  for  him  to  retain  a  clear  conception  of  it,  he  caused  it  to  be  "  embossed" 
upon  thick  paper,  that  he  might  examine  it  with  his  fingers. 

f  Among  the  books  published  by  the  institution  at  Boston  are,  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  parts  of  the  Old  Testament ;  Lardner's  Universal  History ;  Selections  from  Old 
English  Authors ;  Selections  from  Modern  English  Authors ;  Howe's  Geography  for 
the  Blind ;  Howe's  General  Atlas ;  Howe's  Atlas  of  the  United  States ;  Blind  Child's 
First  Book;  Blind  Child's  Second  Book;  the  Dairyman's  Daughter;  the  Harvey 
Boys;  Blind  Child's  Spelling-book;  Blind  Child's  English  Grammar;  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress ;  Baxter's  Call ;  Life  of  Melancthon ;  Book  of  Sacred  Hymns ;  Viri  Romas ; 
Pierce's  Geometry,  with  Diagrams,  illustrative  of  Natural  Philosophy ;  Political  Class- 
book;  Blind  Child's  Manual. 

The  Pennsylvania  Institute,  besides  printing  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  has 
published,  with  others,  a  Guide  to  Spelling ;  Select  Library ;  Student's  Magazine ; 
French  Verbs ;  a  Grammar ;  and  several  books  in  the  German  language. 


CHAP.  XXX.]      CONCLUDING   REMARKS    ON   ITS   DEVELOPMENT.  365 

the  faculties  of  sight,  hearing,  and  speech,  and  partially  that  of  smell. 
At  the  age  of  nine  she  was  placed  at  the  institution.  There  she 
learned  to  read  and  write,  and  has  made  very  considerable  progress 
in  knowledge.  The  details  of  the  manner  in  which  she  acquired 
these  arts  are  exceedingly  curious,  but  to  give  them  does  not  fall 
within  the  scope  of  this  work. 

Two  very  excellent  Institutions  have  lately  been  opened  for  the 
education  of  idiots  and  persons  of  weak  intellects,  one  in  Massachu- 
setts and  the  other  in  the  State  of  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS   ON  THE  DEVELOPMENT   OP  THE  VOLUNTARY 

SYSTEM. 

We  here  close  our  notice  of  the  development  of  the  Voluntary 
Principle  in  the  United  States ;  the  results  will  appear  more  appro- 
priately in  another  part  of  this  work.  If  it  is  thought  that  I  have 
dealt  too  much  in  details,  I  can  only  say  that  these  seemed  necessary 
for  obvious  reasons.  There  being  no  longer  a  union  of  Church  and 
State  in  any  part  of  the  country,  so  that  religion  must  depend,  under 
God,  for  its  temporal  support  wholly  upon  the  voluntary  principle : 
it  seemed  of  much  consequence  to  show  how  vigorously,  and  how  ex- 
tensively, that  principle  has  brought  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  to 
bear  in  every  direction  upon  the  objects  within  its  legitimate  sphere. 
In  doing  this,  I  have  aimed  at  answering  a  multitude  of  questions 
proposed  to  me  during  a  residence  and  travels  in  Europe. 

I  have  shown  how,  and  by  what  means,  funds  are  raised  for  the 
erection  of  church  edifices,  for  the  support  of  pastors,  and  for  provid- 
ing destitute  places  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel — this  last  in- 
volving the  whole  subject  of  our  home  missionary  efforts.  And  as 
ministers  must  be  provided  for  the  settlements  forming  apace  in  the 
West,  as  well  as  for  the  constantly  increasing  population  to  be  found 
in  the  villages,  towns,  and  cities  of  the  East,  I  entered  somewhat  at 
length  into  the  subject  of  education,  from  the  primary  schools  up  to 
the  theological  seminaries  and  faculties. 

It  was  next  of  importance  to  show  how  the  press  is  made  subser- 
vient to  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  and  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of 
God ;  then,  how  the  voluntary  principle  can  grapple  with  existing 
evils  in  society,  such  as  intemperance,  Sabbath  breaking,  slavery,  and 
war,  by  means  of  diverse  associations  formed  for  their  repression  or 


366  THE  VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE  ES"  AMERICA.  [BOOK  IV. 

removal ;  and,  finally,  I  have  reviewed  the  beneficent  and  humane 
institutions  of  the  country,  and  illustrated  the  energy  of  the  volun- 
tary principle  in  their  origin  and  progress. 

The  reader  who  has  had  the  patience  to  follow  me  thus  far,  must 
have  been  struck  with  the  vast  versatility,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of  this 
principle.  ISTot  an  exigency  occurs  in  which  its  application  is  called 
for,  but  forthwith  those  who  have  the  heart,  the  hand,  and  the  purse 
to  meet  the  case,  combine  their  efforts.  Thus  the  principle  seems  to 
extend  itself  in  every  direction  with  an  all-powerful  influence.  Adapt- 
ing itself  to  every  variety  of  circumstances,  it  acts  wherever  the  Gos- 
pel is  to  be  preached,  wherever  vice  is  to  be  attacked,  wherever 
suffering  humanity  is  to  be  relieved.* 

*  There  is  one  field  in  which  the  voluntary  principle  is  perhaps  accomplishing 
triumphs  as  great,  and  diffusing  an  influence  as  happy  as  in  any  other,  but  which  I 
have  not  "yet  noticed.  I  refer  to  that  presented  by  the  numerous  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments that  have  been  springing  up  during  the  last  five-and-twenty  years  in 
the  Middle  and  Northern  States.  Large  factories  in  the  Old  "World  are  proverbial 
for  ignorance  and  vice.  But  if  a  man  would  see  religion  flourishing  in  manufactur- 
ing places  and  among  "operatives,"  let  him  visit  some  of  those  towns  in  New  En- 
gland where  cotton,  woolen,  or  other  factories  have  grown  up,  and  where  hundreds, 
in  some  instances  thousands,  of  men  and  women  are  collected  under  circumstances  in 
which  they  are  apt  to  exercise  a  most  corrupting  influence  on  one  another.  Let  him 
there  observe  the  pains  taken  by  bands  of  devoted  Christians,  pastors,  and  members 
of  their  flocks,  to  gather  these  into  Bible-classes  and  Sunday-schools,  to  induce  them 
to  attend  church,  to  provide  libraries  of  good  books  for  them,  to  open  public  lectures 
on  scientific  and  general  as  well  as  religious  subjects;  above  all,  let  him  mark  the 
earnestness  with  which  faithful  ministers  preach  the  Gospel  to  them,  and  the  assiduity 
with  which  they  watch  for  their  souls ;  and  he  will  perceive  how  much  may  be  done 
even  under  very  unfavorable  circumstances,  for  saving  men's  souls  from  ruin.  I  have 
never  visited  communities  more  virtuous  than  some  of  those  villages,  or  in  which  the 
Gospel  has  triumphed  more  signally  over  all  obstacles. 

No  manufacturing  town  in  the  United  States  has  grown  up  more  rapidly  than 
Lowell,  near  the  Merrimac  River,  about  thirty  miles  north-west  of  Boston.  It  was 
but  a  small  village  not  many  years  ago,  and  in  1827  had  only  three  thousand  five 
hundred  inhabitants.  But  in  1850  these  had  increased  to  thirty-three  thousand  three 
hundred  and  eighty-three.  As  it  derives  great  advantages  for  cotton,  woolen,  and 
other  factories,  from  the  vast  water-power  it  possesses,  several  companies  have  built 
large  mills,  and  employ  a  great  number  of  people,  mostly  young  women  above  fifteen 
years  of  age,  who  have  been  led  to  leave  other  parts  of  New  England  by  the  induce- 
ment of  higher  wages  than  they  could  command  at  home.  This  is  an  object  with 
some,  in  order  that  they  may  help  their  poor  parents ;  with  others,  that  they  may 
find  means  to  prosecute  their  education ;  and  with  a  third  and  numerous  class,  who, 
being  betrothed  to  young  men  in  their  native  districts,  come  to  earn  for  themselves  a 
little  "  outfit"  for  the  married  life.  Let  us  see  what  opportunities  for  religious  in- 
struction are  presented  to  those  young  persons. 

In  1850  there  were  more  than  twenty  churches  in  Lowell,  to  nearly  all  of  which 
Sunday-schools  are  attached.  About  three  fourths  of  the  scholars  are  girls,  a  large 
proportion  of  whom  are  above  fifteen  years  of  age.     More  than  five  hundred  became 


CHAP.  XXX.]      CONCLUDING  KEMAKKS    ON   ITS   DEVELOPMENT.  367 

Nor  is  this  principle  less  beneficial  to  those  whom  it  enlists  in  the 
various  enterprises  of  Christian  philanthropy,  than  to  those  who  are 
its  express  objects.  The  very  activity,  energy,  and  self-reliance  it 
calls  forth,  are  great  blessings  to  the  individual  who  exercises  these 
qualities,  as  well  as  to  those  for  whose  sake  they  are  put  forth,  and 
to  the  community  at  large.  Men  are  so  constituted  as  to  derive  hap- 
piness from  the  cultivation  of  an  independent,  energetic,  and  benevo- 
lent spirit,  in  being  co-workers  with  God  in  promoting  His  glory, 
and  the  true  welfare  of  their  fellow-men. 

We  now  take  leave  of  this  part  of  our  subject,  to  enter  upon  that 
for  which  all  that  has  hitherto  been  said  must  be  considered  prepara- 
tory— I  mean  the  direct  work  of  bringing  men  to  the  knowledge  and 
possession  of  salvation. 

hopefully  pious  in  1830,  yet  that  year  was  not  more  remarkable  than  others  in  regard 
to  religion.  A  few  years  ago  the  whole  number  of  scholars  and  teachers  nearly 
equaled  a  third  of  the  population.  About  one  thousand  of  the  factory  girls  had  funds 
in  the  savings  banks,  amounting,  in  all,  to  $100,000.  A  decided  taste  for  reading 
prevails  among  them.  For  several  years  two  monthly  magazines  of  handsome  ap- 
pearance were  published  there.  One  of  these  was  the  "Operatives'  Magazine,"  and 
the  other  the  "  Lowell  Offering."  Both  were  of  8vo  form,  the  one  containing  sixteen 
pages,  the  other  thirty-two.  Both  displayed  very  considerable  talent,  and  the  "  Offer- 
ing" was  filled  with  original  articles,  written  solely  by  the  female  operatives.  Even  a 
third  periodical  was  established,  and  conducted  by  the  same  class  of  people. 


BOOK    V. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IMPORTANCE   OF  THIS   PART   OF  THE   SUBJECT. 

It  is  instructive  to  mark  the  influence  of  Christian  institutions  upon 
society — the  repose  of  the  Sabbath — the  civilizing  effect  of  assemblies 
of  the  people  in  churches — the  great  amount  of  knowledge  commu- 
nicated in  the  numerous  discourses  of  a  well-instructed  ministry. 
Apart  from  higher  considerations,  the  benefits  indirectly  conferred 
upon  a  community  by  an  evangelical  ministry  are  well  worth  all  that 
it  costs.  It  softens  and  refines  manners ;  promotes  health,  by  pro- 
moting attention  to  cleanliness  and  a  regard  to  decency  of  apparel ; 
it  diffuses  information,  and  rouses  minds  that  might  otherwise  remain 
ignorant,  inert,  and  stupid.  But  what  is  this  compared  with  the 
preparation  of  the  immortal  spirit  for  its  everlasting  destiny  ?  This 
world,  after  all,  is  but  the  place  of  our  education  for  a  better  ;  of  how 
much  moment,  then,  that  the  period  of  our  pupilage  should  be  rightly 
spent ! 

The  Church,  with  her  institutions,  is  of  Divine  ordination.  She 
was  appointed  by  her  great  Author  to  be  the  depositary  of  the  econ- 
omy of  salvation,  so  far  as  human  co-operation  is  concerned ;  designed 
to  combine  all  the  human  agencies  which  God,  in  infinite  wisdom,  has 
resolved  to  employ  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  salvation.  How 
important,  then,  that  the  Church  should  meet  the  design  of  her  Di- 
vine Founder,  not  only  as  regards  her  proper  character,  but  also  in 
the  development  and  right  employment  of  the  influences  she  was  con- 
stituted to  put  forth  for  the  salvation  of  the  world ! 

As  the  Church  on  earth  is  but  preparatory  to  the  Church  in  heaven, 
she  was  obviously  intended  to  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  celestial 
state.  As  the  depositary  to  which  God  has  committed  the  custody 
of  His  revealed  truth,  and  as  His  chosen  instrument  for  its  diffusion 


CHAP.  II.]      THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   MAINTAIN  DISCIPLINE.      369 

among  mankind,  she  ought  obviously  to  be  kept,  so  far  as  an  institu- 
tion placed  in  the  hands  of  creatures  imperfect  at  the  best  could  be, 
pure  from  every  thing  which  would  impede  the  discharge  of  her  high 
functions. 

But  we  must  not  misapprehend  the  office  of  the  Church.  She  has 
received  no  power  of  original  legislation.  She  is  nothing  but  an 
agent.  Christ  is  the  Lawgiver  and  the  Head  of  the  Church.  He 
has  given  her  the  revelation  of  His  will,  and  has  clearly  defined  her 
sphere  of  action.  Nor  can  she  justly  expect  His  blessing  if  she  goes 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  her  duty. 

By  a  holy  life  on  the  part  of  her  members  ;  by  a  conversation  such 
as  becometh  saints  ;  by  well-directed  efforts  to  make  known  the  Gos- 
pel everywhere  to  dying  men,  whether  by  the  faithful  proclamation 
of  it  on  the  part  of  the  ministry  whom  God  has  appointed,  or  by 
more  familiar  instruction  in  the  Sunday-school  and  the  Bible-class,  or 
around  the  family  altar,  or  by  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  and 
other  religious  books ;  united  with  constant,  fervent,  and  believing 
prayer  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  render  all  these  means  successful : 
the  Church  is  required,  to  exert  her  influence  in  saving  the  world.  It 
is  thus  that  she  becomes  "  the  light  of  the  world ;"  it  is  thus  that  she 
proves  herself  "  the  salt  of  the  earth."  But,  in  order  to  fulfill  this 
high  mission,  she  ought  to  be  as  nearly  as  possible  what  the  Saviour 
of  men  intended  her  to  be — a  company  of  saints  redeemed  by  His 
blood,  renewed  by  His  Spirit,  devoted  to  His  service — ever  bearing 
the  cross,  that  she  may  wear  the  crown,  and  preparing  for  that  day 
when  she  shall  be  presented  to  her  Lord,  "not  having  spot  or  wrinkle, 
or  any  such  thing,"  but  "  holy  and  without  blemish" — for  she  is  "  His 
Body." 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES   IN  THE   UNITED   STATES    MAINTAIN 

DISCIPLINE. 

Discipline  is  a  matter  of  inexpressible  importance  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  a  Church ;  and  I  rejoice  to  say  that  such  is  the  light  in  which 
it  is  viewed  by  Christians  of  all  the  evangelical  denominations  in  the 
United  States,  almost  without  exception. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  there  is  a  single  evangelical  church  in  the 
country  that  does  not  keep  a  record  of  its  members  ;  I  mean  of  those 
whom  it  has  received  according  to  some  regular  form  or  other  as 

24 


370  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

member  s%  and  who,  as  such,  are  entitled  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. As  this  whole  subject  is  not  only  important,  but  by  some 
readers  may  not  be  easily  comprehended,  I  may  venture  upon  some 
detail. 

1.  There  is  no  evangelical  church  in  the  United  States,  that  is,  no 
organized  body  of  believers  worshipping  in  one  place,  that  does  not 
hold  a  creed  comprehending  at  least  the  following  points  :  the  exist- 
ence of  one  God,  in  three  Persons,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  of 
the  same  substance,  and  equal  in  all  the  attributes  of  their  nature ; 
the  depravity,  guilt,  condemnation,  and  misery  of  all  mankind ;  an 
all-sufficient  and  only  atonement  by  the  Son  of  God,  who  assumed 
human  nature,  and  thus  became  both  God  and  man  in  one  person, 
and  by  His  obedience,  suffering,  death,  and  intercession,  has  procured 
salvation  for  men ;  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  which  re- 
pentance and  faith  are  made  to  spring  up  in  the  soul ;  the  final  judg- 
ment of  all  men ;  and  a  state  of  everlasting  misery  for  the  wicked, 
and  of  blessedness  for  the  righteous.  On  these  doctrines,  in  their 
substantial  and  real  meaning,  there  is  no  difference  among  the  evan- 
gelical churches  in  the  United  States. 

2.  Neither  is  there  any  evangelical  church  in  America  that  does  not 
hold  the  necessity  of  a  moral  life — a  life  against  which  no  charge  in- 
consistent with  a  Christian  profession  can  be  brought — in  order  to 
proper  membership  of  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ ;  or  that  would  not 
promptly  exclude  an  immoral  person,  sufficiently  proved  to  be  such. 
No  doubt  there  are  immoral  persons  among  the  members  of  churches. 
They  are  persons  whose  guilt  can  not  always  be  established  by  such 
proof  as  the  laws  of  Christ  require  ;  but  their  number,  it  is  believed, 
is  comparatively  small. 

3.  There  are  few,  if  any,  evangelical  churches  in  which  the  profes- 
sion of  a  mere  general  or  "  historical  belief,"  as  it  is  called,  in  the 
great  doctrines  above  stated,  accompanied  even  by  an  outwardly 
moral  life,  would  be  considered  sufficient  to  render  a  man  fit  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  Nineteen  twentieths  of  all  the  evan- 
gelical churches  in  this  country  believe  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
being  "  born  again,"  "  born  of  the  Spirit."  And  very  few,  indeed, 
admit  the  doctrine  that  a  man  who  is  not  "  converted,"  that  is,  "  re- 
newed by  the  Spirit,"  may  come  without  sin  to  that  holy  ordinance. 

There  may  be  difference  of  opinion  among  truly  evangelical  Chris- 
tians respecting  the  amount  of  evidence  of  conversion  necessary  in 
the  case.  But  I  may  unhesitatingly  affirm  that,  with  few  exceptions, 
all  expect  some  evidence  in  every  candidate  for  admission  to  the 
Church  and  participation  in  its  most  precious  privileges ;  and  such 
evidence,  too,  as  induces  the  belief  that,  as  the  Scriptures  express  it, 


CHAP.  II.]      THE   EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   MAINTAIN   DISCIPLINE.      371 

he  has  "  passed  from  death  unto  life."  The  belief  is  almost  universal 
that  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  appointed  for  the  con- 
verted or  regenerated,  and  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  administered 
only  to  such.  The  number  of  those  who  hold  a  different  opinion  is 
small.  Accordingly,  it  would  be  foimd  upon  inquiry  that  all  the  pas- 
tors of  our  evangelical  churches  are  very  careful  to  explain  with  what 
dispositions  of  the  heart  and  will,  as  well  as  with  what  views  of  the 
understanding,  one  should  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  that  these 
are  truly  such  as  no  unregenerate  person  can  possess.  This  holy 
sacrament  is  rarely  dispensed  in  our  churches  without  being  preceded 
by  a  discourse  on  the  nature  of  the  preparation  required  in  order  to 
a  right "  communicating,"  or  receiving  of  this  ordinance  ;  and  all  irre- 
ligious persons — in  fact,  all  persons,  be  their  lives  outwardly  what 
they  may — who  have  not  the  testimony  of  their  consciences  that  they 
possess,  so  far  as  they  honestly  perceive  the  state  of  their  hearts,  the 
qualifications  described,  are  solemnly  warned  of  the  sin,  and  conse- 
quent danger  to  their  souls,  incurred  by  unworthily  partaking  of  that 
holy  Supper. 

It  is,  indeed,  too  true  that,  with  all  this  care,  unworthy  persons  do 
come  to  the  Lord's  Table.  Many,  no  doubt,  gain  admission  to  the 
churches  who,  after  all,  are  not  converted.  To  say  that  many  do  so 
from  base,  hypocritical  motives,  would  imply  a  very  mistaken  view 
of  the  case,  for  with  us  there  is  no  visible  inducement  to  such  a  course. 
No  civil  privilege  hangs  on  the  condition  that  a  person  should  be  a 
member  of  the  Church  and  should  receive  the  sacrament,  as  in  some 
countries  in  Europe  ;*  nor  is  it  reckoned  dishonorable  not  to  belong 
to  some  church.  No  one  among  us  presumes  for  a  moment  that  a 
man  must  have  committed  a  crime,  and  on  that  account  been  ex- 
cluded, if  he  be  not  seen  going  twice  or  thrice  a  year  at  least — on 
the  great  festivals,  for  instance — to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. Our  pastors  and  other  church  officers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  gov- 
ern the  churches,  do  not  profess  to  be  infallible.  They  can  not  know 
the  heart.  They  can  only  judge  according  to  the  evidence  presented 
to  them.  They  lean,  very  naturally,  to  the  side  of  charity  ;  and  with 
every  desire  to  do  their  duty,  there  are  many,  doubtless,  in  every 
church,  admitted  by  them  without  being  truly  converted,  and  who, 
when  once  admitted,  remain  members,  unless  they  withdraw  of  their 
own  choice,  or  go  to  some  other  part  of  the  country,  or  are  excluded 
on  the  ground  of  some  open  immorality. 

But  while  we  can  not  hope  that  even  in  those  evangelical  churches 

*  In  Sweden,  for  instance,  a  man  can  not  give  his  testimony  in  a  court  of  justice 
who  has  not  taken  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  within  the  year  immediately 
preceding ! 


372  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

most  rigorously  strict  in  their  admission  to  membership,  and  to  the 
communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  all  the  members  are  converted  per- 
sons :  yet  the  number  of  such  as  lead  scandalous  lives  is  small.  Nor 
are  these  suffered  long  to  continue  members  when  their  character  be- 
comes known.  On  this  subject  our  churches  form  a  very  striking 
contrast  with  some  that  I  have  seen  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Nor  have  we,  like  them,  crowds  who  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper  on 
some  great  festival,  such  as  Easter  or  Christmas,  and  stay  away  during 
the  rest  of  the  year.  Still  less  will  there  be  seen,  what  I  have  been 
told  sometimes  occurs  in  Protestant  churches  of  other  lands,  persons 
waiting  outside  the  church,  on  such  occasions,  until  the  communion 
service  commences,  and  who  then  make  their  way  in,  approach  the 
communion-table  or  altar,  receive  the  emblems  of  the  Saviour's  body 
and  blood,  and  as  soon  as  possible  hasten  out  and  depart !  As  if  there 
were  any  virtue  in  such  horrible  mockery  and  profaneness  !  I  bless 
God  that  we  have  nothing  that  approaches  to  this  in  point  of  impiety ; 
and  yet  we  must  mourn  over  the  fact  that  many  of  the  members  of 
our  churches  do  not  manifest  that  spirituality,  devotion,  and  zeal 
which  they  ought  to  possess.  But  were  there  no  discipline  in  our 
churches,  and  were  all  the  world  permitted  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  state  of  things  would  be  in  every  respect  infinitely  worse. 
We  make  at  least  the  effort  to  separate  the  Church  from  the  World, 
and  to  render  it  manifest  that  there  is  a  difference,  and  not  a  small  one, 
between  those  who  belong  to  the  former,  and  those  who  seek  their 
happiness  in  the  latter,  and  have  their  desires  bounded  by  it. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  WAT   IN  WHICH   MEMBERSHIP   IN   OUR  CHURCHES   IS    OBTAINED. 

Often  has  the  question  been  addressed  to  me,  "How  do  individ- 
uals become  members  of  your  churches  in  America  ?"  This  has  been 
said  more  particularly  on  the  Continent,  where  but  too  generally  dis- 
cipline seems  to  be  almost  unknown,  and  where,  I  have  been  assured, 
there  are  many  churches  in  which  all  who  choose  may  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  without  saying  a  word  to  the  pastor,  or  any  other 
officer  of  the  church.  Widely  different  is  the  practice  that  obtains  in 
the  evangelical  churches  of  the  United  States.  I  will  describe  it  in 
few  words. 

Every  faithful  pastor,  who  preaches  regularly  in  any  place  for  a 
year  or  two,  is  supposed  to  become  well  acquainted  with  the  people 


CHAP,  in.]       THE   WAY    IN   WHICH    MEMBERSHIP    IS    OBTAINED.  373 

of  his  charge.  In  most  cases,  he  not  only  comes  to  know  the  families 
that  compose  his  flock,  but  also,  more  or  less  intimately,  nearly  every 
individual,  especially  of  the  adult  population.  With  most,  if  not  all, 
he  endeavors  to  have  some  conversation  on  the  subject  of  salvation, 
and  the  hopes  of  eternal  life  which  they  may  be  entertaining. 

In  addition  to  this,  his  Bible-classes  and  Sunday-schools  bring  him 
into  frequent  contact  with  the  juvenile  part  of  the  people  over  whom 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  made  him  overseer.  He  finds  frequent  oppor- 
tunities of  speaking  with  them  about  their  souls.  Nor  in  this  does 
he  act  alone.  The  elders,  deacons,  or  other  officers  of  his  church, 
assist  him  much  with  their  co-operation.  Through  these,  as  well  as 
through  zealous,  judicious,  and  faithful  private  members  of  his  church, 
he  learns  continually  the  state  of  mind  of  most,  if  not  all,  the  people 
in  his  congregation.  This  knowledge  is  of  the  greatest  consequence 
when  persons  come  to  converse  with  him  respecting  their  salvation. 
In  our  revivals,  as  will  appear  presently,  it  is  common  for  the  pastor 
to  appoint  a  time  for  meeting  at  his  house,  or  at  some  other  con- 
venient place,  those  who  are  awakened  to  a  sense  of  the  importance 
of  religion.  On  these  occasions  he  converses,  if  possible,  with  each 
individual,  gives  such  directions  as  they  may  need,  and  prays  with 
them.  When  their  number  is  too  great  for  him  to  speak  to  each,  he 
makes  use  of  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  most  experienced  of  the 
officers  of  his  church.  Sometimes  a  neighboring  minister  will  come 
and  help  him.  I  have  seen  twenty,  fifty,  a  hundred,  and  even  as  many 
as  three  hundred  persons,  most  of  them  adults,  come  together  in  deep 
distress  of  soul  on  such  occasions. 

At  such  meetings  the  pastor  learns  the  progress  of  religion  in  the 
souls  of  his  people.  But  when  there  is  no  special  "  seriousness,"  as  we 
say,  or  uncommon  attention  to  religion  among  his  people,  then  it  may 
be  that  the  number  of  those  who  come  from  time  to  time  to  speak  to 
him  respecting  their  salvation  will  be  small.  And  if  he  ceases  to  be 
faithful  in  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  his  church  becomes  cold  in  its 
zeal,  in  its  faith,  and  in  its  prayers,  then  it  may  happen  that  for  awhile 
he  may  not  have  any. 

In  many  of  our  churches  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
administered  once  in  three  months,  in  many  once  in  two,  and  in  others 
every  month.  Some  time  before,  the  pastor  gives  notice  that  he  will 
meet  at  a  certain  time  and  place  all  such  as  wish  to  join  the  church 
on  that  occasion,  and  receive  the  communion  for  the  first  time.  He 
meets  with  them,  converses  with  them,  and  learns  the  state  of  their 
minds,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  man  to  judge.  In  many  instances 
persons  come  to  him  repeatedly  to  lay  open  their  hearts,  and  receive 
his  counsels.    If  he  believes  that  they  have  met  with  the  change  of 


374  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

heart  of  which  the  Saviour  speaks  in  His  interview  with  Nicodemus, 
he  encourages  them  in  the  resolution  to  join  the  church.  If  he  thinks 
that  they  are  not  prepared  for  this  important  step,  he  advises  them 
to  defer  it  for  a  season,  that  they  may  become  so.  In  some  cases,  as 
among  the  Presbyterians  universally,  the  pastor  reports  the  matter  to 
the  session  of  the  church,  and  the  candidates  have  generally  to  appear 
before  that  body,  consisting  of  the  pastor  and  the  elders,  who  may 
number  from  two  to  twelve.  In  the  Congregational  and  Baptist  de- 
nominations, it  is  the  "  church,"  that  is,  the  body  of  the  members, 
who  hear  the  candidates  relate  the  history  of  the  work  of  grace  in 
their  hearts,  and  give  their  reasons  for  believing  that  they  have  be- 
come "  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus."  This  is  also  sometimes  done 
by  the  pastor  and  a  committee  of  the  church.  If  the  person  who  ap- 
plies to  be  received  as  a  member,  be  a  stranger,  or  one  of  whose  deep 
seriousness  the  pastor  and  the  brethren  of  the  church  had  been  igno- 
rant, then  he  is  examined  more  fully  upon  his  "  experience,"  or  the 
work  of  God  in  his  soul.  He  is  asked  to  narrate  when  and  how  he 
became  concerned  for  his  salvation,  he  is  questioned  as  to  the  nature 
and  depth  of  his  repentance,  his  views  of  sin,  his  faith  in  Christ,  his 
hopes  of  eternal  life.  These  examinations  are  sometimes  long,  and  in 
the  highest  degree  interesting.  Solemn,  and  yet,  to  the  faithful  pas- 
tor, joyful  work,  to  deal  with  souls  in  these  important  seasons !  But 
the  faithful  pastor  is  always  engaged  in  guiding  the  souls  of  his  peo- 
ple in  the  way  that  leads  to  life. 

The  day  arrives  for  administering  the  Lord's  Supper ;  the  prepara- 
tory services,  including  a  sermon,  are  gone  through ;  the  moment  comes 
for  commencing  those  services  which  relate  to  this  sacred  ordinance. 
Before  this,  however,  the  pastor,  in  many  churches,  calls  upon  all 
those  who  are  now  about  to  join  the  church  to  come  forward  and 
take  their  places  before  the  pulpit.  He  reads  their  names  aloud,  and 
baptizes  those  of  them  who  have  not  been  baptized  before.  He  then 
puts  certain  questions  to  the  adults,  embodying  the  chief  articles  of 
the  church's  creed,  and  to  these  they  answer  in  the  affirmative.  This 
is  sometimes  followed  by  his  reading  out  the  form  of  a  covenant,  to 
which  they  must  assent  and  make  their  engagement.*     The  forms  in 

*  As  the  reader  may  be  desirous  of  seeing  one  of  these  summaries  of  faith  and 
covenant,  I  give  the  following,  selected  from  among  many  such  that  I  have  seen. 
The  pastor  addresses  the  candidates  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  church  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms: 

PROFESSION  OP  FAITH. 

'•  In  the  presence  of  God  and  this  assembly  you  do  now  appear,  desiring  publicly 
and  solemnly  to  enter  into  covenant  with  Him  and  His  Church  according  to  the  Gos- 
pel, professing  your  full  assent  to  the  following  summary  of  faith : 

"Art.  1.  You  solemnly  and  publicly  profess  your  belief  in  one  God,  the  Almighty 


CHAP.  III.]      THE   WAY   IX   WHICH   MEMBERSHIP   IS    OBTAINED.  375 

which  all  this  is  done  vary  in  different  churches  and  denominations, 
but  the  substance  is  the  same.  Sometimes  this  ceremony  takes  place 
at  the  public  services  on  Saturday,  preparatory  to  the  celebration  of 
the  communion  on  the  Sabbath  following. 

Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  upholds  all  things,  and  orders  all  events  according 
to  His  own  pleasure,  and  for  His  own  glory. 

"  Art.  2.  You  believe  that  this  glorious  Being  exists  in  three  Persons,  God  the 
Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  that  these  three  are  one,  being 
the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory. 

"Art.  3.  You  believe  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  are  our  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

"  Art.  4.  You  believe  that  God  at  first  created  man  upright,  and  in  His  own  image ; 
that  our  first  parents  fell  from  'their  original  uprightness,  and  involved  themselves  and 
their  posterity  in  a  state  of  sin  and  misery. 

"Art.  5.  You  believe  that  all  men  since  the  fall  ar6  by  nature  depraved,  having  no 
conformity  of  heart  to  God,  and  being  destitute  of  all  moral  excellence. 

"  Art.  6.  You  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  the  only 
Mediator  between  God  and  man. 

"Art.  7.  You  believe  in  the  necessity  of  the  renewing  and  sanctifying  operations 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  to  be  happy  you  must  be  holy. 

"  Art.  8.  You  believe  that  sinners  are  justified  by  faith  alone,  through  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"Art.  9.  You  believe  that  the  saints  will  be  kept  by  the  almighty  power  of  God 
from  the  dominion  of  sin,  and  from  final  condemnation,  and  that  at  the  last  day  they 
will  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  be  forever  happy. 

"Art.  10.  You  believe  that  the  finally  impenitent  will  be  punished  'with  everlast- 
ing destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  His  power.' 

"  Thus  you  believe  in  your  hearts,  and  thus  you  confess  before  men." 

COVENANT. 

"  You  do  now,  under  the  belief  of  the  Christian  religion  as  held  in  this  church, 
publicly  and  solemnly  avouch  the  eternal  Jehovah,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  to 
be  your  God  and  the  God  of  yours,  engaging  to  devote  yourselves  to  His  fear  and 
service,  to  walk  in  His  ways,  and  to  keep  His  commandments.  With  an  humble  reli- 
ance on  His  Spirit,  you  engage  to  live  answerably  to  the  profession  you  now  make, 
submitting  yourselves  to  the  laws  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  to  that  discipline  which 
He  has  appointed  to  be  administered  in  His  Church.  That  you  may  obtain  the  as- 
sistance you  need,  you  engage  diligently  to  attend,  and  carefully  to  improve  all  the 
ordinances  He  has  instituted. 

"Thus  you  covenant,  promise,  and  engage,  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  by  the  help  of 
His  Spirit. 

"In  consequence  of  these  professions  and  promises,  we  affectionately  recognize  you 
as  members  of  this  church,  and  in  the  name  of  Christ  declare  you  entitled  to  all  its 
visible  privileges.  We  welcome  you  to  this  fellowship  with  us  in  the  blessings  of  the 
Gospel,  and  'on  our  part  engage  to  watch  over  you,  and  to  seek  your  edification  as  long 
as  you  shall  continue  among  us. 

"  May  the  Lord  support  and  guide  you  through  a  transitory  life,  and  after  this  war- 
fare is  accomplished,  receive  you  to  His  blessed  Church  above,  where  our  love  shall 
be  forever  perfect,  and  our  joy  forever  full.     Amen." 

In  some  churches  the  summary  of  faith  used  on  these  occasions,  and  the  covenant, 


376  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT   IN  AMEEICA.  [BOOK  V. 

I  may  add  that  many  of  the  Presbyterian  churches,  in  the  interior 
particularly,  retain  the  old  practice,  according  to  which  the  communi- 
cants take  their  seats  at  a  long  table  in  the  principal  aisle  of  the 
church,  the  bread  and  wine  being  handed  round,  accompanied  with 
prayer  and  a  brief  exhortation.  In  the  cities  and  large  towns  the 
communicants  occupy  certain  pews  assigned  to  them,  either  in  the 
middle  of  the  church  or  at  the  end  next  to  the  pulpit.  In  the  Epis- 
copal and  Methodist  churches,  the  communicants  receive  the  sacra- 
ment kneeling  round  the  altar.  Though  the  administration  of  this 
sacrament  takes  place  most  commonly  after  the  forenoon  sermon,  it 
is  now  celebrated  in  many  churches  in  the  afternoon,  preceded  by  a 
short  sermon  or  address.  In  a  Presbyterian  church  in  "Washington 
City,  it  was  customary,  a  few  years  ago,  to  celebrate  it  at  night. 
The  effect  was  solemn,  and  more  pleasing,  and,  in  the  eyes  of  those 
who  attach  importance  to  such  matters,  it  had  the  advantage  of  co- 
inciding with  the  hour  of  its  first  institution.  But  a  more  important 
advantage,  in  my  opinion,  lay  in  the  facility  afforded  to  communicants 
of  other  churches  for  uniting  in  the  celebration,  on  an  occasion  so  well 
calculated  to  unite  the  hearts  of  all  in  Christian  sympathy  and  love. 

Let  me  further  add  that  in  almost  all  our  churches  those  who  are 
not  members  usually  remain  and  witness  the  solemn  ceremony ;  a 
custom  most  proper  and  profitable,  for  the  very  occasion  speaks  in 
language  most  affecting  to  the  unconverted  heart,  and  affords  an  ad- 
mirable opportunity  for  the  faithful  and  skillful  messenger  of  God  to 
appeal  to  such  on  behalf  of  that  Saviour  whose  sorrows  are  so 
touchingly  set  forth  in  this  ordinance  which  may  truly  be  called  an 
epitome  of  the  Gospel. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  RELATIONS   OF   UNCONVERTED   MEN  TO   THE   CHURCH. 

Many  persons  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  after  listening  to  state- 
ments such  as  the  above,  have  seemed  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the 
position  held,  with  respect  to  the  Church,  by  those  who  are  not  its 
members,  and  they  have  asked  again  and  again  for  explanations  on 
the  subject.     I  have  told  them,  in  reply,  that  such  of  these  persons 

accompanied  by  a  short  and  pertinent  address  to  the  members  of  the  church,  is 
printed  in  a  little  book,  which  also  contains  a  list  of  all  their  names,  and  their  resi- 
dences if  in  a  city,  a  copy  of  which  is  possessed  by  each  member.  It  is  a  convenient 
manual,  as  well  as  a  solemn  remembrancer,  which  it  is  profitable  to  consult  fre- 
quently. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE  RELATIONS  OF  UNCONVEETED  MEN  TO  THE  CHURCH.  377 

as  are  the  children  of  pious  parents,  hold  toward  the  Church  a  very 
interesting  relation,  which,  though  invisible,  so  to  speak,  is  real ;  and 
such  of  them  as  have  been  baptized  in  infancy,  maintain,  in  my 
opinion,  an  important  relation  to  it,  to  which  greater  prominence 
ought  unquestionably  to  be  given  than  is  usual  among  the  Psedobap- 
tist  branches  of  the  Protestant  Church.  We  are  very  faulty  on  this 
point  in  the  United  States,  but  not  more  so,  I  apprehend,  than  are  our 
Protestant  brethren  in  other  lands.  Very  affecting  appeals,  never- 
theless, are  often  made  by  our  faithful  ministers  to  such  of  their 
hearers  as  are  not  converted,  yet  have  knelt  by  the  side  of  a  devout 
mother,  have  felt  her  hand  resting  on  their  youthful  heads,  and,  in 
the  arms  of  a  pious  parent,  received  the  symbol  of  that  "washing  of 
regeneration,"  without  which  none  can  serve  God  acceptably,  either 
on  earth  or  in  heaven.     Nor  are  such  appeals  in  vain.* 

But  the  question  has  often  been  proposed — "Are  men  who  are  not 
allowed  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper  willing  to  attend  your  church- 
es ?"  Most  certainly  they  are.  They  have  been  too  well  instructed 
in  religion  not  to  be  aware  that  admission  to  that  ordinance  would  do 
them  any  thing  but  good,  so  long  as  they  remained  unreconciled  to 
God  through  Jesus  Christ.f  Many  of  them,  indeed,  would  recoil 
with  horror  were  a  minister  to  propose  such  a  thing.  Yet  they  value 
the  privilege  of  going  to  the  sanctuary.  They  have  been  taught  from 
childhood  that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  the  great  instrument- 
ality appointed  by  God  for  the  salvation  of  men.  They  go  in  the 
hope  of  one  day  finding  that  which  they  know  to  be  essential  to  their 
happiness  even  for  this  life.     Others  may  be  influenced  by  the  force 

*  Some  very  interesting  investigations  have  been  made  in  the  churches  in  New 
England,  the  portion  of  the  United  States  where  the  Gospel  has  been  longest,  most 
extensively,  and  most  faithfully  preached,  which  have  shown  in  the  most  decisive 
manner  that  the  "  children  of  the  Church,"  that  is,  the  children  of  believers,  who 
have  been  dedicated  to  God,  many  of  them  in  baptism,  have  shared  most  largely  in 
the  blessing  of  God's  grace ;  and  that  nothing  can  be  more  completely  unfounded 
than  the  reproach  that  "the  children  of  Christians,  and  especially  those  of  ministers 
and  deacons,  do  worse  than  those  of  other  people."  The  very  reverse  has  been 
demonstrated  by  a  widely-extended  and  carefully-prosecuted  inquiry.  Indeed,  what 
other  result  could  a  man  who  believes  the  promises  of  God  expect  ? 

f  Foreigners  sometimes  commit  great  mistakes  from  ignorance  of  our  customs  in 
this  respect.  A  Spanish  gentleman  once  called  on  the  late  Rev.  Sylvester  Lamed, 
of  New  Orleans,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  pulpit  orators  of  the  day,  to  say  that  he 
wished  to  join  his  church,  and  to  receive  the  sacrament  of  the  Supper,  "for,"  said  he, 
with  an  oath,  M  you  are  the  most  eloquent  man  I  ever  heard !"  Mr.  Earned  spent  an 
hour  with  him  in  explaining  what  was  required  in  order  to  his  becoming  a  member 
of  his  church  ;  in  other  words,  what  it  is  to  be  a  true  Christian ;  and  the  Spaniard 
went  away  with  a  heavy  heart,  to  reflect  on  a  subject  which  had  never  before  been 
presented  to  his  mind  in  the  same  light. 


378  THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  PULPIT   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

of  education,  or  by  that  of  habit,  by  fashion,  by  the  desire  of  seeing 
and  being  seen,  by  the  charms  of  the  preacher's  eloquence,  and  similar 
motives.  In  no  other  part  of  the  world,  perhaps,  do  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  attend  church  than  in  the  United  States ; 
certainly  no  portion  of  the  Continent  of  Europe  can  compare  with 
this  country  in  that  respect.  The  contrast  must  strike  any  one  who, 
after  having  traveled  much  in  the  one,  comes  to  see  any  of  the  cities 
of  the  other.  New  Orleans,  which  is  hardly  as  yet  an  American 
city,  constitutes  a  solitary  exception ;  and  even  it,  in  point  of  church 
attendance,  is  far  better  than  Paris,  Rome,  Vienna,  Hamburg,  or 
Copenhagen. 

Not  only  do  those  who  have  not  yet  become  members,  by  formal 
admission,  attend  our  churches  ;  they  form  a  very  large  part  of  our 
congregations.  In  many  cases  they  constitute  two  thirds,  three 
fourths,  or  even  more ;  this  depending  much  on  the  length  of  the 
period  during  which  the  congregation  has  been  organized ;  and  hardly 
ever  less  than  a  half,  even  in  the  most  highly-favored  churches.  Nor 
do  they  attend  only ;  they  are  cheerful  supporters  of  the  public  wor- 
ship, and  are  often  found  as  liberal  in  contributing  of  their  substance 
for  the  promotion  of  good  objects,  as  the  members  of  the  church 
themselves,  with  whom  they  are  intimately  connected  by  thcordinary 
business  of  life,  and  by  family  ties.  Multitudes  of  them  are  like  the 
young  man  whom  Jesus  loved,  but  who  still  "  lacked  one  thing." 
They  attend  from  year  to  year,  as  did  the  impotent  man  at  the  Pool 
of  Bethesda,  nor  do  they,  in  many  cases,  attend  in  vain*  It  pleases 
God  to  make  the  faithful  preaching  of  His  Word  instrumental  to  the 
salvation  now  of  one,  now  of  another ;  and  sometimes,  by  a  special 
outpouring  of  His  Spirit,  He  brings  many  at  the  same  time  into  His 
kingdom. 

The  non-professing  hearers  of  the  Word,  then,  are  to  be  considered 
as  simply  what  we  term  them,  members  of  the  congregation,  not  of 

*  In  the  State  of  Connecticut  a  series  of  most  interesting  inquiries  have  been 
prosecuted,  during  the  last  few  years,  under  the  auspices,  I  believe,  of  the  General 
Association  of  the  Congregational  churches ;  one  of  which  relates  to  the  influence  of 
the  faithful  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  a  community,  upon  the  mass  of  those  who 
hear  it  for  a  long  time.  The  results  are  most  striking,  and  clearly  illustrate  the  bless- 
ing of  the  stated  and  regular  use  of  the  means  of  grace.  It  has  been  found  that,  of 
those  who  habitually  attend  churches  where  the  Gospel  is  faithfully  preached,  the 
number  that,  sooner  or  later,  are  made  to  experience  its  saving  power,  is  surprisingly 
great ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  the  number  of  those  who  die  without  giving  evidence 
of  possessing  true  piety  is  small.  The  investigation  has  been  made  in  all  parts  of  the 
State,  and  everywhere  has  conducted  to  the  same  important  and  delightful  conclu- 
sion. I  know  not  whether  such  inquiries  have  ever  before  been  prosecuted  so  thor- 
oughly and  extensively  elsewhere. 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  ADMINISTRATION   OP   DISCIPLINE.  379 

the  church.  We  can  look,  as  I  have  said,  for  their  assistance  in  many, 
if  not  in  all  good  undertakings,  as  well  as  in  the  ordinary  support  of 
the  Gospel.  Many,  in  the  character  of  trustees,  are  faithful  guardians 
of  the  property  of  the  church  and  congregation.  Many  teach  in  our 
Sunday-schools,  and  find  instruction  themselves  in  their  endeavors  to 
instruct  others. 

One  great  advantage  in  this  is,  that  unconverted  men,  who  know 
themselves  to  be  such,  occupy  their  proper  place.  No  law,  no  false 
custom,  compels  them  to  be  members  of  the  Church.  Hence  their 
position  is,  in  several  respects,  less  dangerous.  They  are  less  tempted 
to  indulge  self-delusion,  and  are  more  open  to  the  direct,  unimpeded 
shafts  of  the  truth.  Their  position,  too,  tends  to  give  them  a  remark- 
able simplicity  and  frankness  of  character.  The  term  "  Christian" 
generally  signifies  with  us,  not  a  mere  believer  in  Christianity,  but 
one  who  professes  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ,  and  is  known  as  such. 
Nine  persons  out  of  ten  of  those  who  make  no  profession  of  religion 
would,  on  being  asked,  "  Are  you  a  Christian  ?"  promptly  reply, 
"  No,  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  am  not ;"  meaning  thereby  to  acknowledge 
with  regret  that  they  are  not  truly  religious  men,  or  what  the  word 
Christian  ought  to  signify,  and  is  with  us  so  often  employed  to  ex- 
press. This  is  obviously  better  for  unconverted  persons — better  for 
their  own  consciences — than  to  be  involved  in  a  church  relation,  and 
yet  be  without  religion.  It  is  every  way  better,  also,  for  the  pastor 
and  for  the  church ;  and  the  prospect  of  an  entrance  gained  by  the 
Word  of  God  into  the  heart  of  the  unrenewed  is  many  times  more 
encouraging  than  if  they  were  members  of  the  church,  and  had  "  a 
name  to  live"  while  in  reality  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins." 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF   DISCIPLINE. 

I  have  often  been  asked  what  measures  are  adopted  by  the  Amer- 
ican churches  to  enforce  discipline — how  are  unworthy  persons,  for 
instance,  prevented  from  coming  to  the  Lord's  Table  ?  The  very 
question  indicates  familiarity  with  a  state  of  things  very  different 
from  that  which  prevails  in  the  United  States — a  state  of  things  in 
which  the  decisions  of  ecclesiastical  authority  are  enforced  by  the 
civil  power. 

Church  discipline  with  us,  though  wholly  moral,  is  thought  quite 


380  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

sufficient.  The  case  must  be  rare,  indeed,  where  any  one,  not  a 
member  of  some  recognized  church,  comes  forward  to  receive  the 
sacrament  in  an  evangelical  church.  He  hears  the  qualifications  ne- 
cessary to  a  worthy  participation  in  the  ordinance ;  he  knows  that 
none  but  Christians  of  good  repute  in  other  churches  are  invited  to 
join  the  members  on  the  solemn  occasion ;  and  if  he  belongs  to  nei- 
ther of  these  categories,  he  is  not  likely  to  unite  himself  to  the  Lord's 
people.  But  if  he  should  do  so,  it  is  on  his  own  responsibility  before 
God :  the  church  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  his  conduct.  Even  were  a 
person  who  had  been  excommunicated  for  open  immorality,  and  uni- 
versally known  as  such,  to  take  his  seat  among  the  members  of  the 
church,  its  office-bearers,  in  carrying  round  the  sacred  symbols  of  the 
Saviour's  body  and  blood,  would  pass  him  by ;  or,  if  that  could  not 
be  done,  would  allow  the  matter  to  take  its  course  rather  than  risk 
confusion  at  so  solemn  a  moment,  in  the  conviction  that  the  church, 
having  done  her  previous  duty  to  the  unhappy  man,  is  not  to  blame 
for  his  unauthorized  intrusion.  I  have  known  of  a  solitary  occasion 
upon  which  one  of  the  office-bearers  whispered  in  the  ear  of  a  person 
who  ought  not  to  have  been  among  the  communicants,  that  it  would 
be  better  for  himself,  as  well  as  due  to  the  church,  that  he  should  re- 
tire, and  he  did  so.  But  this  was  unobserved  by  most  of  those  imme- 
diately around,  or,  if  observed,  the  cause  of  his  withdrawal  was  un- 
known. 

No  difficulty  whatever,  I  repeat,  can  arise  on  this  score.  Our 
discipline  is  moral,  and  the  people  are  well  instructed  on  the  subject 
of  their  duties.  We  have  no  gens  cParmes,  or  other  j>olice  agents,  to 
enforce  our  discipline,  and  if  such  functionaries  are  ever  seen  about 
our  churches  in  any  character  but  that  of  worshipers,  it  is  on  extra- 
ordinary occasions,  to  keep  order  at  the  door ;  nor  are  their  services 
often  needed  even  for  that  purpose. 

In  regard  to  church  members  who  expose  themselves  to  censure 
for  open  sin,  or  gross  neglect  of  duty,  they  are  dealt  with  according 
to  the  established  discipline  of  the  body  to  which  they  belong ;  and 
that,  in  all  our  evangelical  churches,  is  founded  upon  the  simple  and 
clear  directions  given  by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles.  Unworthy 
members,  having  been  dealt  with  according  to  Scriptural  rule,  are 
excluded  until  they  give  evidence  of  sincere  contrition  for  their  sin. 
Where  the  case  is  flagrant,  and  the  sin  persisted  in,  after  the  failure 
of  all  attempts  to  reclaim  the  offender,  he  is  openly  excommunicated 
before  the  church  and  congregation.  In  other  cases  a  less  open  de- 
claration of  the  offence  and  punishment  takes  place.  But  whatever 
be  the  course  pursued,  in  all  our  evangelical  churches  unworthy  men 
are  excluded  as  soon  as  their  offence  can  be  proj:>erly  taken  up  by  the 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHARACTER    OF  AMERICAN   PREACHING.  381 

church.  I  state  this  as  a  general  fact.  Once  excluded,  the  world 
does  not  long  remain  ignorant  of  what  has  taken  place,  and  the 
church  thus  avoids  the  charge  of  retaining  persons  of  scandalous  lives 
in  her  communion.*  Any  defect  in  our  administration  of  church 
discipline  does  not  lie,  I  conceive,  generally  speaking,  in  its  harshness 
and  impatience ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  in  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  country,  or  in  the  opinions  and  habits  of  the  people, 
to  prevent  it  from  being  rigid  as  the  legislation  of  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church  demands. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARACTER    OF   AMERICAN  PREACHING. 

Adequately  to  describe  American  preaching,  one  should  be  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  Churches  of  the  country  throughout  its 
vast  extent :  but  this  knowledge  it  falls  to  the  lot  of  few  to  possess. 
Foreign  writers  on  the  subject  have  been  either  travelers,  whose 
books  betray  a  very  limited  acquaintance  with  the  Churches  and 
their  ministers;  or  untraveled  authors,  whose  judgment  has  been 
formed  upon  such  specimens  as  they  could  find  in  printed  discourses, 
or  hear  from  the  lips  of  preachers  from  the  United  States  during 
visits  to  Europe.  In  either  case,  however  impartial  the  judges,  the 
data  for  forming  a  sound  opinion  upon  the  subject  have  been  mani- 
festly insufficient.  Except  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  to  a  very 
limited  extent  in  Germany,  American  preaching  is  unknown,  save 
from  books  and  the  reports  of  persons  who  have  visited  the  country. 
As  for  the  American  preachers  who  have  visited  Europe,  they  have 
been  few,  and  have  been  confined  for  the  most  part  to  those  of  three 
or  four  denominations.  Yet  there  have  been  some  who,  while  in 
Europe,  reflected  no  discredit  on  themselves  or  their  country  as  pulpit 
orators.f 

*  The  deposition' of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  when  it  occurs — and  this,  considering 
how  numerous  the  ministry  is,  can  not  be  thought  frequent — is  commonly  announced 
in  the  religious  and  other  journals,  in  order  that  the  churches  may  be  duly  guarded 
against  the  admission  of  the  deposed  person  into  their  pulpits,  through  ignorance  of 
his  character  and  present  position. 

\  Among  the  American  preachers  whose  visits  are  still  remembered  with  interest 
in  Great  Britain  (and  some  of  them  on  the  Continent  also),  but  who  are  no  longer 
with  us,  may  be  mentioned  the  Rev.  Drs.  Mason,  Romeyn,  Codman,  Bruen,  Henry, 
Hobart,  Milnor,  Emory,  Fisk,  Olin,  and  Clark,  who  were  certainly  no  ordinary  men. 
Of  those  who  have  visited  Europe  within  the  last  few  years,  and  who  are  still  per- 
mitted to  prosecute  their  work  among  us,  are  the  Rev.  Drs.  Spring,  Humphrey,  Cox, 


382  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

Preaching  in  the  United  States  varies  ejsceedingly  both  in  manner 
and  in  substance  ;  but  most  in  manner.  The  clergy  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian, Congregational,  Episcopal,  Reformed  Dutch,  Lutheran,  German 
Reformed,  Moravian,  Reformed  Presbyterian,  Associate,  and  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Churches,  have,  with  few  exceptions,  passed  through 
a  regular  course  of  education  in  Latin,  Greek,  the  Natural  and  Moral 
Sciences,  and  Theology,  such  a  course  as  is  now  pursued  at  our  col- 
leges and  theological  seminaries.  Many,  especially  the  younger  men, 
have  some  knowledge  of  Hebrew.  As  for  the  Baptist  ministers,  it  is 
not  easy  to  say  how  many  have  gone  through  a  similar  course — cer- 
tainly not  half,  perhaps  not  a  fourth.  A  still  smaller  proportion  of 
the  Methodist  preachers  have  had  that  advantage,  though,  upon  the 
whole,  they  are  probably  as  well  informed  as  the  Baptist  ministers 
are.  Ministerial  education  among  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  is 
much  in  the  same  state  as  among  the  Methodists. 

The  clergy  of  certain  denominations,  who  have  not  passed  through 
a  collegiate  course,  are  often  spoken  of,  but  very  unjustly,  as  "  unedu- 
cated," "  unlearned,"  "  illiterate,"  and  so  forth.  Very  many  of  such, 
however,  have,  by  great  application,  made  most  respectable  attain- 
ments. Some  have  acquired  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
and  Greek  classics,  and  a  far  greater  number  have,  by  the  diligent 
perusal  of  valuable  works  in  English,  stored  their  minds  with  a  large 
amount  of  sound  learning,  which  they  use  with  much  effect  in  preach- 
ing. Nor  is  this  surprising.  One  may  acquire  an  immense  fund  of 
knowledge  through  the  sole  medium  of  the  English  tongue.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  knew  nothing  of  the  ancient  languages,  and  not  much 
of  any  of  the  modern,  beyond  his  mother  tongue  and  French ;  yet 
few  men  of  his  day  were  better  informed,  or  wrote  their  mother 
tongue  with  equal  purity.  So,  also,  with  Washington.  And  who 
ever  used  the  English  tongue  with  greater  propriety  and  effect  than 
Bunyan ;  or  where  shall  we  find  a  sounder  or  abler  theological  writer 
than  Andrew  Fuller  ?     Yet  neither  Bunyan  nor  Fuller  was  ever  at  a 

college. 

It  is  a  great,  though  common  mistake,  for  example,  to  suppose  that 

Sprague,  Breckinridge,  Patton,  and  Kirk,  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
Churches ;  Bethune  and  Ferris,  of  the  Beformed  Dutch ;  Mcllvaine  (bishop  of  Ohio), 
Meade  (bishop  of  Virginia),  Hawks,  and  Tyng,  of  the  Episcopal;  Stevens,  Durbin, 
and  Bishop  Soule,  of  the  Methodist ;  Stowe,  and  Sears,  of  the  Baptist ;  and  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Kurtz,  Schmucker,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Riley  of  the  Lutheran  and  German  Re- 
formed Churches.  These  gentlemen  are  widely  known  in  Great  Britain,  and  some 
of  them  on  the  Continent.  The  last  three  were  kindly  received  in  Germany,  and 
heard  with  attention,  both  when  they  spoke  of  the  infant  seminaries  for  which  they 
pleaded,  as  well  as  when  they  proclaimed  "that  Name  which  is  above  every  name," 
and  which  is  "like  ointment  poured  forth." 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHAEACTER    OF   AMERICAN   PREACHING.  383 

Methodist  ministers,  when  "  on  the  circuit,"  read  nothing.  As  there 
are  generally  two  on  each  circuit,  each  has  a  good  deal  of  time,  es- 
pecially in  the  older  portions  of  the  country,  for  making  up  his  re- 
ports, carrying  on  his  correspondence,  and  prosecuting  his  studies; 
and  that  this  last  is  done  to  some  good  purpose  is  clearly  shown  by 
the  preaching  of  the  great  majority.  Those  who  are  stationed  in  the 
cities  and  large  towns  have  as  much  time  for  study  as  other  ministers 
similarly  situated.  Many  Baptist  ministers,  also,  who  have  never  at- 
tended college,  are  close  students,  and  prepare  carefully  for  the  pul- 
pit ;  while  others,  of  whom  so  much  can  not  be  said,  give  themselves 
much  to  the  reading  of  favorite  authors. 

Nearly  all  the  Episcopal  and  Congregational  clergy  write  their  ser- 
mons, and  read  more  or  less  closely  when  delivering  them.  So  do 
many  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Dutch,  and  some,  also,  of 
the  Baptist  ministers.  A  large  proportion  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
Baptist  clergy,  and  nearly  all  the  ministers  of  the  Methodist,  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian,  and  some  other  evangelical  denominations, 
neither  write  their  sermons  in  full,  nor  read  any  considerable  part  of 
them.  Few,  however,  of  any  Church,  commit  their  sermons  to  mem- 
ory ;  the  great  majority  of  such  as  do  not  read  out  their  discourses, 
carefully  study  the  subjects  of  them,  and  generally  note  down  the 
principal  heads  to  be  used  in  the  pulpit. 

The  delivery  of  the  ministers  who  read  is  not,  in  general,  very  ani- 
mated ;  still,  it  is  in  most  instances  sufficiently  attractive  to  interest 
hearers  endued  with  any  capacity  for  distinguishing  between  sound 
and  sense.  Good  reading,  though  in  all  countries  much  more  rare 
than  attractive  and  effective  speaking,  will  generally  be  preferred  by 
hearers  of  high  intellectual  acquirements. 

Ministers  of  all  denominations  who  do  not  read  their  discourses, 
possess  a  much  more  animated  delivery,  and  generally  display  more 
of  what  may  be  called  "  oratory"  in  their  manner,  than  their  brethren 
who  read.  But  their  sermons  can  hardly  have  the  same  order,  clear- 
ness, and  freedom  from  repetition.  Still,  they  need  not  be  deficient  in 
instruct! ven ess,  and  they  have  greatly  the  advantage  in  point  of  fervor, 
and  in  those  direct  and  powerful  appeals  which  owe  their  effect 
almost  as  much  to  look,  tone,  and  manner,  as  to  the  truths  which  the 
speaker  expresses.  N"'ot  that  such  appeals  can  be  of  much  avail  if  no 
truth  be  conveyed  by  them,  but  truth  may  become  much  more  effect- 
ive when  pressed  upon  the  attention  in  an  attractive  and  impressive 
manner. 

Those  of  the  clergy  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  in  the  United 
States  who  have  passed  through  a  regular  classical  and  theological 
course  of  education — and  who  in  point  of  numbers  may  be  estimated 


384  THE   CHUKCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA  [BOOK  V. 

at  more  than  twelve  thousand — would,  taken  as  ,a  whole,  be  pro- 
nounced less  animated  than  the  most  celebrated  preachers  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  France  and  Germany,  and,  I  may  add,  Denmark 
and  Sweden.  Not  a  few  of  them,  however,  are  not  wanting?  in 
fervor,  and  even  fire  in  their  delivery.  But  this  is  not  the  case  with 
those  of  our  ministers  who  have  had  a  less  complete  education,  and 
have  been  very  differently  trained.  Our  Methodist  ministers  have  a 
certain  course  of  reading  prescribed  to  them  for  the  four  probation- 
ary years  preceding  their  being  ordained  elders  or  presbyters.  Dur- 
ing that  time  they  have  their  circuit  labors  to  perform ;  what  they 
learn  is  put  to  instant  use,  and  incorporated,  as  it  were,  with  their 
very  being.  Now,  this  preparatory  course  has  no  tendency  to  keep 
down  the  eagerness  for  energetic  preaching,  so  much  felt  by  men 
who  regard  themselves  as  called  by  God  to  preach  His  Gospel,  but 
which  is  so  much  restrained  by  the  precise  knowledge  and  artificial 
rules  of  eloquence  taught  in  colleges.  Besides,  as  they  generally 
preach  to  moderate  assemblages,  and  these,  in  many  cases,  mainly 
composed  of  the  plainer  classes,  they  are  far  less  apt  to  feel  embar- 
rassed than  youths  who,  having  first  spent  several  years  at  a  college, 
and  then  several  more  at  a  theological  seminary,  have  acquired  so 
fastidious  a  taste,  and  have  become  so  nervously  sensible  to  the 
slightest  deviations  from  the  strictest  rules  of  grammar  and  rhetoric, 

ithat  they  almost  dread  to  speak  at  all,  lest  they  should  offend  against 
both.  But  the  grand  advantage  possessed  by  the  Methodist  itinerant 
preacher,  and  one  which,  if  he  has  any  talent  at  all,  he  can  not  fail  to 
profit  by,  is,  that  he  may  repeat  in  many  or  all  of  the  eight,  ten,  or 
more  places  in  his  circuit,  the  discourse  with  which  he  sets  out,  pre- 
pared during  intervals  of  repose.  This  frequent  repetition  of  the 
same  sermon  is  an  inestimable  means  of  improvement.  Each  repeti- 
tion admits  of  some  modification,  as  the  discourse  is  not  written  out ; 
and  enables  the  preacher  to  remedy  what  seemed  faulty,  and  to  sup- 
ply what  seemed  deficient  in  the  preceding  effort.  No  men,  accord- 
ingly, with  us  become  readier  or  more  effective  speakers.  Their 
diction  may  not  always  be  as  pure  as  that  of  men  who  have  spent 
several  years  in  the  schools  ;  yet  it  is  surprising  with  what  propriety 
vast  numbers  express  themselves,  while  in  forcible  and  effective  de- 
livery they  far  surpass  multitudes  of  preachers  who  have  passed 
through  the  colleges. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  Methodists  applies  to  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  a  body  of  Christians  of  whom  we  shall  give  some  ac- 
count hereafter,  and  who  are  to  be  found  almost  exclusively  in  the 
West  and  South-west.  Like  the  Methodists,  they  have  circuit  or 
itinerant  preachers,  and  about  one  half  of  their  ministers  have  never 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHARACTER    OF   AMERICAN   PREACHING.  385 

pursued  a  course  of  study  at  college.  These  remarks  may  be  applied, 
also,  "but  not  to  the  same  extent,  to  what  is  called — neither  with  strict 
propriety,  nor  always  in  kindliness  of  feeling — the  "uneducated"  por- 
tion of  Baptist  preachers.  They  have  not  the  advantages  of  the  itin- 
eracy, and  many  of  them  are  too  much  occupied  with  their  secular 
pursuits  to  spare  much  time  for  study.  Still,  among  them,  also,  there 
will  be  found  a  great  deal  of  energetic  eloquence — rather  homely  at 
times,  yet  often  highly  effective — and  flowing  from  a  mind  more  in- 
tent upon  its  conceptions  than  upon  the  language  in  which  they  are 
to  be  clothed,  and  more  desirous  of  producing  a  lasting  effect  on  the 
understanding  and  hearts  of  the  hearers  than  of  exciting  admiration 
for  the  graces  of  a  fine  style  and  elegant  delivery. 

Some  of  the  tourists  who  visit  the  United  States  affect  to  despise 
our  "  uneducated"  and  "  ignorant"  ministers,  and  think  what  they 
call  the  "ranting"  of  such  men  a  fit  subject  of  diversion  for  them- 
selves and  their  readers.  Such  authors  know  little  of  the  real  worth 
and  valuable  labors  of  these  humble,  and,  in  comparison  with  such  as 
have  studied  at  colleges  and  universities,  unlettered  men.  Their 
plain  preaching,  in  fact,  is  often  far  more  likely  to  benefit  their  ordin- 
ary audiences*  than  would  that  of  a  learned  docter  of  divinity  issuing 
from  some  great  university.  Their  language,  though  not  always  re- 
fined, is  intellioible  to  those  whom  it  addresses.  Their  illustrations 
may  not  be  classical,  but  they  will  probably  be  drawn  either  from  the 
Bible  or  from  scenes  amid  which  their  hearers  move,  and  the  events 
with  which  they  are  familiar ;  nor  would  the  critical  acumen  of  a 
Porson,  or  the  vast  learning  of  a  Parr,  be  likely  to  make  them  more 
successful  in  their  work.  I  have  often  heard  most  solemn  and  edify- 
ing discourses  from  such  men.  I  have  met  with  them  hi  all  parts  of 
the  United  States ;  and  though  some,  doubtless,  bring  discredit  upon 
the  ministry  by  their  ignorance,  their  eccentricities,  or  their  incapac- 
ity, yet,  taken  as  a  whole,  they  are  a  great  blessing  to  the  country. 
A  European  who  should  denounce  the  United  States  as  uncivilized, 
and  the  inhabitants  as  wretched,  because  he  does  not  everywhere 
find  the  luxuries  and  refinements  of  London  and  Paris,  would  display 
no  more  ignorance  of  the  world,  nor  a  greater  want  of  common 
sense,  than  in  despising  the  plain  preaching  of  a  man  who  enters  the 
pulpit  with  a  mind  replete  with  Scriptural  knowledge,  obtained  by 

*  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  would  not  for  a  moment  convey  the  idea  that 
the  people  who  attend  the  preaching  of  the  non-classically  educated  Methodist  and 
Baptist  ministers  consist  only  of  the  poor  and  uneducated.  On  the  contrary,  in  many 
places,  both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  they  have  a  fair  share  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  respectable  part  of  the  population  among  their  hearers.  At  the  same  time, 
it  has  ever  been  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  former,  indeed,  of  both,  that  through  their 
labors  "the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them." 

25 


386  THE  CHUECH   AND   THE  PULPIT  US"  AMEKICA.  [BOOK  V. 

frequent  perusal  of  the  Bible,  and  the  assistance  of  valuable  commen- 
taries, besides  being  generally  well-informed,  and  having  a  heart  full 
of  love  to  God  and  concern  for  men's  souls,  even  although  he  may 
never  have  frequented  the  groves  of  an  academy,  or  studied  the  nicer 
graces  of  oratory.  To  the  labors  of  such  men  tens  of  thousands  of 
neighborhoods  in  the  United  States  are  indebted  for  their  general 
good  order,  tranquillity,  and  happiness,  as  well  as  for  the  humble  but 
sincere  piety  that  reigns  in  many  a  heart,  and  around  many  a  fireside. 
To  them  the  country  owes  much  of  its  conservative  character,  for  no 
men  have  inculcated  more  effectively  those  doctrines  which  promote 
obedience  to  law,  respect  for  magistracy,  and  the  maintenance  of 
civil  government ;  and  never  more  than  within  the  last  few  years, 
during  which  they  have  had  to  resist  the  anarchical  principles  of  self- 
styled  reformers,  both  religious  and  political.  No  men  are  more 
hated  and  reviled  by  these  demagogues,  whose  projects,  I  rejoice  to 
say,  find  comparatively  a  small  and  decreasing  number  of  friends  and 
advocates.  To  the  influence  of  the  pulpit,  and  that  of  the  religious 
and  sound  part  of  the  political  press,  we  owe  a  return  of  better  senti- 
ments in  several  States,  in  relation  to  capital  punishments  in  the  case 
of  murder  in  its  highest  degree,  and  the  more  frequent  condemnation 
and  execution  of  those  who  commit  it.  And  in  an  insurrectionary 
movement  in  Rhode  Island,  some  years  ago,  the  leading  journals  of 
that  State  attested  that  the  clergy  of  all  denominations  exerted  a 
highly  salutary  influence.* 

But  the  subject  of  preaching  ought  to  be  viewed  in  its  highest 
and  most  important  aspect — that  of  the  salvation  of  souls. 

The  first  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is,  I  should  say, 
simplicity.  It  is  simple  in  the  form  of  discourse  most  usually  adopted 
by  the  better-educated  part  of  the  ministry.  The  most  natural  and 
obvious  view  of  a  subject  is  preferred  to  the  far-fetched,  it  may  be 
the  philosophical.  The  grand  aim  of  our  preachers,  taken  as  a  body, 
is  rather  to  present  the  true  meaning  of  a  text  than  to  produce  what 
is  called  effect.  Again,  preaching  in  the  United  States  is  simple  in 
point  of  language,  the  plain  and  familiar  being  preferred  to  the  ornate 
and  rhetorical.  Such  of  our  preachers  as  wish  to  be  perfectly  intelli- 
gible, prefer  words  of  Saxon  to  those  of  Latin  origin,  as  being  better 
understood  by  the  people.  Vigor,  too,  is  preferred  to  beauty,  and 
perspicuity  to  embellishment.  Not  that  we  have  no  preachers  whose 
composition  is  ornate,  and  even  elegant,  but  I  speak  of  the  mass. 
Lastly,  our  preaching  is  simple  in  respect  to  delivery.     The  manner 

*  "Nothing,"  says  the  Providence  Journal  of  July,  1842,  "has  filled  the  enemies 
of  law  and  order  with  greater  rage  than  the  high  and  noble  stand  taken  by  the  clergy 
against  their  insurrectionary  doctrines." 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHARACTER   OF   AMERICAN   PREACHING.  387 

of  our  preachers,  their  gestures,  and  their  intonation,  must  be  allowed 
to  be  extremely  simple.  There  is  little  of  the  rhetorician's  art  in  it, 
little  that  is  studied  and  theatrical.  There  may  be  animation,  and 
in  some  cases  even  vehemence,  accompanied  with  a  loud  and  power- 
ful utterance,  but  the  manner  remains  simple — the  hearer's  attention 
is  not  ordinarily  diverted  from  what  is  said  to  him  that  says  it. 
Truth,  accordingly,  has,  so  to  speak,  a  better  chance  of  making  its 
way  to  the  hearts  of  the  audience,  than  when  announced  with  all  the 
fascinations  of  a  splendid  address  and  captivating  manner.  Nor  do 
our  ministers  affect  a  peculiar  manner  or  intonation,*  such  as  prevail 
in  some  countries,  but  every  good  preacher  endeavors  to  take  with 
him  into  the  pulpit  what  is  natural  and  habitual  to  himself  in  that 
respect. 

The  second  grand  characteristic  of  American  preaching  lies  in  its 
being  serious  and  earnest.  Thanks  be  to  God,  the  preachers  of  our 
evangelical  Churches  seem,  in  general,  to  be  truly  converted  men, 
and  preach  as  if  they  felt  the  infinite  importance  of  what  they  say. 
"  We  believe,  and  therefore  speak,"  seems  to  be  the  mainspring  of  all 
their  endeavors,  and  to  give  the  tone  to  all  their  preaching.  They 
feel  it  to  be  a  serious  office  to  speak  to  dying  men  of  their  immortal 
souls,  and  help  them  to  prepare  for  death,  judgment,  and  eternity. 
They  would  recoil  from  the  task  under  an  overwhelming  sense  of  its 
awfulness,  were  it  not  that  they  believe  themselves  called  to  it  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  "  Woe  unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel,"  are  the 
words  that  often  address  themselves  to  their  hearts,  and  urge  them 
to  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  vows.  Can  we  wonder  that  the 
preaching  of  such  men  is  serious  and  earnest  ? 

A  third  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is  its  dwelling  much 
upon  immediate  reconciliation  with  God,  by  sincere  repentance 
toward  Him,  and  faith  toward  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Reconcilia- 
tion with  God  !  that  is  the  great  duty  urged  by  the  Gospel,  and  the 
doing  of  that  duty  "  now,"  "  to-day,"  while  it  is  "the  accepted  time," 
and  "  the  day  of  salvation,"  not  postponing  it  till  to-morrow,  or  a 
"  more  convenient  season,"  is  the  lesson  mainly  urged  by  our  evan- 
gelical ministers  generally,  so  as  to  form  a  prominent  characteristic  of 
their  preaching.  This  it  is  that  communicates  to  their  preaching  so 
much  of  the  style  of  Richard  Baxter,  as  exhibited  in  his  writings. 


*  Many  of  the  Methodist  and  Baptist  preachers  have  more  of  what  may  be  called 
English  intonation  than  those  of  other  denominations.  This  may  doubtless  be  as- 
cribed to  the  influence  of  some  leading  English  preachers,  such  as  Drs.  Coke  and 
Ashbury  among  the  former,  and  the  late  Dr.  Staughton  and  others  among  the  latter. 
This  I  mention  not  by  way  of  disparagement,  but  solely  because  it  appears  to  me  to 
be  a  real  peculiarity. 


388  THE   CHUKCH   AND   THE   PULPIT   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

ISTo  excuse,  no  delay  on  the  part  of  the  unconverted  sinner  can  "be  ac- 
cepted ;  the  solemn  call  to  repent,  and  seek  now  the  salvation  of  his 
never-dying  soul  is  sounded  in  his  ear,  and  no  peace  is  given  until  he 
has  not  only  heard  but  obeyed  it. 

A  fourth  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is  its  highly  doctrinal 
nature.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the  discourses  of  such  of 
our  ministers  as  have  passed  through  a  regular  course  of  classical  and 
theological  studies ;  and  of  these  the  preachers  who  write  and  read 
their  discourses  indulge  rather  more,  perhaps,  than  those  who  speak 
from  premeditation  merely,  in  what  may  be  called  a  dogmatic  style, 
using  the  word  in  its  original  signification.  And  although  with  the 
others  the  practical  and  hortatory  style  may  prevail  over  the  doc- 
trinal and  exegetical,  yet  the  latter  has  unquestionably  a  very  consid- 
erable place  in  their  sermons,  as  all  will  admit  who  have  regularly 
attended  such  preaching  for  a  sufficient  time.  Many  of  our  pastors 
expound  certain  portions  of  the  Bible  in  order ;  but  this,  the  most 
difficult,  and  yet,  when  happily  done,  the  most  profitable  of  all  meth- 
ods of  presenting  truth,  is  not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  so  common  as  it 
ouoht  to  be.  The  Bible-classes,  may,  perhaps,  be  considered,  so  far, 
a  substitute  for  it. 

As  a  fifth  characteristic  of  our  method  of  homiletics,  I  may  state 
that  it  is  systematic  or  consecutive.  What  I  mean  is,  that  the  best 
preaching  in  our  evangelical  churches  maintains  a  proper  connection 
among  the  discourses  successively  delivered  from  the  same  pulpit, 
instead  of  presenting  in  each  a  separate  or  isolated  statement  of  truth. 
A  preacher  ought,  indeed,  to  change  his  topics  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances and  character  of  his  hearers.  But  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  dwelling  on  a  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  in  successive  discourses,  so 
as  to  make  it  more  thoroughly  understood,  and  convey  a  deeper  im- 
pression than  could  otherwise  be  done.  And  there  is  such  a  thing, 
also,  as  presenting  all  the  subjects  which  should  constitute  the  themes 
of  a  preacher's  discourses  in  their  proper  connection  with,  and  rela- 
tion to,  one  another.  Preaching  on  isolated  subjects,  without  any 
connecting  link,  and  of  which  no  better  account  can  be  given  than 
that  the  preacher  finds  them  easy  to  preach  upon,  is  not  likely  to  do 
much  good.  This  is  not  the  method  chosen  by  men  when  they  would 
fain  produce  a  deep  and  effectual  impression  on  any  other  subject. 
Thev  strive,  by  all  possible  means,  to  present  it  in  all  its  aspects  and 
bearings,  and  do  not  quit  one  point  until  they  have  well  established  it. 
They  cause  every  succeeding  statement  and  argument  to  bear  upon 
and  strengthen  that  which  preceded,  and  in  this  way  make  it  mani- 
fest that  they  are  steadily  tending  to  a  great  final  result,  from  which 
nothing,  not  even  want  of  systematic  process  in  argumentation,  must 


CHAP.  YI.]  CHARACTER    OF   AMERICAN   PREACHING.  389 

be  allowed  for  a  moment  to  divert  them.  It  is  with  them,  "line  upon 
line,  line  upon  line ;  precept  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept ;" 
and  as  the  blacksmith  can  expect  to  shape  the  heated  iron  only  by 
directing  his  hammer  to  the  same  point  and  its  immediate  vicinity  in 
many  successive  blows,  so  the  minister  does  not  hope  for  success  in 
opening  the  eyes  of  blind  sinners,  or  rightly  guiding  those  who  are 
scarcely  more  than  half  awake,  but  by  oft-repeated  and  faithful  pre- 
sentation of  the  same  truths  in  all  their  bearings.  This  characteristic 
can  hardly  be  called  a  prevailing  one,  for,  alas  !  with  a  good  deal  of 
systematic  preaching,  we  have  still  too  much,  even  among  our  settled 
clergy,  of  that  sort  which,  with  more  emphasis  than  elegance,  has 
been  called  scattering. 

A  sixth  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is  the  extent  to  which 
it  may  be  called  philosophical.  By  philosophical  I  mean,  founded  on 
a  knowledge  of  the  faculties  and  powers  of  the  human  mind,  and  of 
the  principles  which  govern  its  operations.  Though  not  universal, 
this  fact  distinguishes  the  evangelical  clergy  of  New  England  in  par- 
ticular, and  others  who  have  devoted  much  of  their  time  to  theology 
as  a  study.  Much  that  is  true,  and  much,  also,  that  is  absurd,  has 
been  said  against  introducing  philosophy  into  religion.  True  philos- 
ophy, in  its  proper  place,  is  a  valuable  auxiliary  or  handmaid,  rather 
than  an  enemy  to  theology ;  but  when  she  ceases  to  be  a  servant  and 
assumes  the  mastery,  undertaking  that  for  which  she  is  incompetent, 
she  fails  in  doing  the  good  she  might  otherwise  have  done,  and  be- 
comes purely  mischievous.* 

*  "I  think,"  says  M.  de  Tocqueville,  "  that  in  no  country  in  the  civilized  world  is 
less  attention  paid  to  philosophy  than  in  the  United  States.  The  Americans  have  no 
philosophical  school  of  their  own ;  and  they  care  but  little  for  all  the  schools  into 
which  Europe  is  divided,  the  very  names  of  which  are  scarcely  known  to  them. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
conduct  their  understanding  in  the  same  manner,  and  govern  it  by  the  same  rules ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  without  ever  having  taken  the  trouble  to  define  the  rules  of  a 
philosophical  method,  they  are  in  possession  of  one,  common  to  the  whole  people."* 
I  have  read  with  unmingled  astonishment  these  opinions,  which  are  faithfully  trans- 
ferred from  the  author's  original.  Certainly  one  rarely  finds  such  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  a  widely-existing  effect,  for  which  the  proper  and  only  possible  cause  is 
denied.  The  fact  is,  that  in  few  countries  in  the  civilized  world  is  philosophy,  in  the 
sense  in  which  this  word  is  used  on  the  Continent,  viz.,  metaphysical  or  psychological 
science,  more  pursued,  at  least  to  all  practicable  and  valuable  ends,  than  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  scarcely  a  college — at  least  a  Protestant  one,  and  there  are  over 
one  hundred  such — in  which  it  is  not  studied  with  no  little  care  by  the  students  in 
the  last  year  of  the  course.  In  addition  to  reading  such  authors  as  Locke,  Eeid, 
Dugald  Stuart,  Brown,  etc.,  the  professor  of  that  department  gives  lectures  or  explan- 
ations of  the  text-book  employed.     Thus  do  the  thousands  of  young  collegians  mako 

*  Democracy  in  America,  part  ii.,  chap.  i.  (Reeves's  translation),  p.  1. 


390  THE  CHTTECH   AND  THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

A  seventh  feature  of  the  American  pulpit  is  directness.  This  dis- 
tinguishes our  preaching  so  generally  that  it  were  hard  to  say  which 
of  the  evangelical  denominations  has  most  of  it.  Everywhere  we 
shall  find  it  the  preacher's  object,  first  of  all,  to  be  perfectly  under- 
stood, and  then  to  preach  to  the  heart  and  conscience,  as  well  as  to 
the  understanding.  In  doing  this  great  plainness  of  speech  is  used, 
and  care  taken  to  avoid  every  thing  by  which  the  barbed  dart  may 
be  arrested  before  it  reaches  the  heart  at  which  it  is  aimed. 

An  eighth  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is  its  faithfulness. 
I  know  not  how  often  I  have  been  asked  in  Europe  whether  our  min- 
isters are  not  intimidated  by  the  rich  and  influential  in  their  congre- 
gations who  may  dislike  the  truth.  The  question  has  not  a  little 
surprised  me,  for  I  had  never  dreamed  that  the  courage  of  evangeli- 
cal ministers  in  preaching  the  Gospel  could  be  doubted.  The  de- 
pendence of  our  ministers  upon  their  flocks  for  their  salaries  seems 
not  to  affect  in  the  least  their  faithfulness  in  preaching  "  repentance 
toward  God,"  and  "  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The  rela- 
tion between  pastor  and  people  is  certainly  more  intimate  and  kindly, 
and  calls  for  more  mutual  forbearance,  than  where  the  law  makes  the 
former  wholly  independent  of  the  latter.  But  the  very  kindness, 
tenderness  of  feeling,  and  respect  which  it  creates,  are  only  additional 
motives  to  render  a  good  minister  faithful  to  the  souls  of  those  with 
whom  he  maintains  such  an  interesting  relation,  and  who  show  him 
so  many  proofs  of  affection.  Most  certainly  facts  do  not  establish  the 
superior  faithfulness  of  ministers  who  are  independent  of  their  flocks, 
taken  as  a  body.  On  the  contrary,  this  very  independence  often 
leads  to  indolence,  neglect,  and,  sometimes,  even  to  insolence,  quali- 
ties which  it  ill  becomes  a  minister  of  Christ  to  display,  and  which 
are  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  Gospel.  And  it  may  safely  be 
affirmed  that,  with  us,  the  great  majority  of  men  who  have  been 

considerable  proficiency  in  this  science,  especially  in  its  more  popular  and  practical 
aspects.  And  thus  do  our  public  men,  our  professional  men,  all,  in  a  word,  who  have 
passed  through  college  (and  they  are  the  men,  with  few  exceptions,  that  most  influ- 
ence the  public  mind),  become  acquainted  with  the  principles  that  guide  the  opera- 
tions of  the  human  mind.  There  is  not  a  country  in  the  world,  not  even  excepting 
Scotland  itself,  where  metaphysics  have  so  much  influence  upon  preaching  as  in  New 
England ;  indeed,  they  have  sometimes  had  too  much  influence.  We  have  not  in 
the  United  States  great  jprofessors  who  occupy  themselves  with  nothing  but  philos- 
ophy, and  who  have  rivaled  Kant,  Hegel,  and  Schelling,  in  the  nature  of  their  spec- 
ulations ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  we  ever  shall  have  such.  The  nature  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  mind  hardly  admits  of  the  thing.  Besides,  we  have  too  much  public  life,  and 
too  much  to  engross  our  attention  to  allow  us  to  prosecute  extensively  unpractical 
speculations.  Nevertheless,  we  have  a  few  men,  such  as  Mr.  Ralph  "W.  Emerson,  of 
Boston,  who  equal  Mr.  Carlyle  himself  in  admiration  of  the  German  transcendental- 
ists,  and  have,  probably,  come  quite  as  near  to  understanding  them. 


CHAP.  VI.]  CHARACTER    OF   AMERICAN  PREACHING.  391 

brought  up  under  evangelical  preaching,  but  who  have  not  yet  been 
converted,  would  rather  have  a  faithful  than  an  unfaithful  pastor. 
They  know  that  religion,  though  they  profess  it  not,  is  of  vast  im- 
portance, and  they  know  well  the   difference   between  him  that 
preaches   "  smooth  things,"   and  him  that   faithfully  declares  the 
"  counsel  of  the  Lord."     Not  only  does  their  conscience  approve  of 
the  former  rather  than  the  latter,  but  they  feel  that  there  is  far  more 
prospect  of  their  salvation  under  the  ministry  of  the  one  than  of  the 
other.     Besides,  other  things  being  equal,  a  man  who  preaches  faith- 
fully "  Christ  crucified,"  is  sure  to  prove,  in  the  end,  a  more  attractive 
preacher  than  he  who  does  not.     For  what  theme  can  be  compared 
with  that  of  the  love  of  God  toward  sinners  of  mankind,  and  the 
gift  of  His  Son  to  redeem  them  from  destruction  ?     Therefore,  if  a 
man  wishes  to  be  esteemed  and  supported  by  his  people,  let  him  be 
faithful ;  that  is,  in  the  sense  in  which  Paul  was  faithful,  who  was, 
also,  neither  rash  nor  unfeeling,  but,  on  the  contrary,  prudent  and 
mild,  and  strove  to  commend  himself,  "  in  love,"  to  all  to  whom  he 
preached  the  "  unsearchable  riches  of  the  Gospel." 

The  ninth  characteristic  of  American  preaching  is,  that  it  is  emi- 
nently practical.  Not  only  are  the  unconverted  urged  to  "  acquaint 
themselves  with  God,  and  be  at  peace,  that  thereby  good  may  come 
to  them,"  and  believers  exhorted  to  "  grow  in  grace,  and  hi  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  but  the  latter  are  also  urged, 
from  the  moment  of  their  conversion,  to  commence  living  for  God, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  men.  The  doctrine  has  of  late  years  been 
more  and  more  preached,  that  every  Christian,  whatever  his  sphere  in 
life,  is  under  obligation  to  live  for  the  salvation  of  others ;  and  that  by 
his  conversation,  by  his  holy  example,  as  well  as  by  personal  sacrifices, 
he  should  do  all  that  he  can  to  promote  this  salvation  far  and  near. 
Blessed  be  God,  this  style  of  preaching  is  not  without  effect.  It  is, 
under  God's  blessing,  the  cause  of  the  annually  increasing  efforts 
made  by  Christians  of  this  land,  for  the  building  up  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, both  at  home  and  abroad. 

A  tenth  characteristic  of  American  preaching,  and  the  last  that  we 
shall  name,  is,  that  it  speaks  much  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  I  know 
of  no  one  idea  that  has  been  so  dominant  in  the  American  Churches 
for  the  last  himdred  years  as  that  of  the  importance  of  the  office  and 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  need  in  which"  the  world  lies  of  the 
operations  of  this  holy  Agent,  the  indispensableness  of  His  co-opera- 
tion with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  use  of  all  other  means 
to  effect  the  salvation  of  men,  together  with  the  gracious  promise  of 
this  great  ascension  gift  of  the  crucified  and  exalted  Saviour,  are 


392  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

themes  on  which  the  ministry  of  the  evangelical  Churches  in  America 
often  dwells,  and  not  in  vain. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  question  of  Revivals  of 
Religion  in  America :  a  subject  of  the  greatest  importance,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  attended  with  no  ordinary  difficulties  in  the  minds  of 
some.  I  would  therefore  earnestly  call  the  attention  of  such,  and, 
indeed,  of  all  who  may  read  this  volume,  to  the  chapter  that  follows. 
Though  long,  it  will  well  reward  them  for  any  attention  they  may 
bestow  upon  it.  I  know  not  where  the  whole  subject  has  been  so 
well  presented  in  any  language,  and  can  not  but  hope  that,  with  God's 
blessing,  it  will  prove  eminently  useful.  The  distinguished  friend  and 
professor  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  it,  and  of  whom  I  have  spoken 
in  the  Introduction,  is,  probably,  better  qualified  by  his  position,  and 
by  his  experience,  to  write  such  an  article  than  any  other  man  in  the 
United  States.  God  grant  that  the  day  may  speedily  arrive  when  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit  will  be  better  understood  and  appreciated 
in  all  parts  of  Christendom  than  it  is  at  present;  and  when  the 
abundant  gift  of  this  blessed  Agent  will  fill  the  Churches  with  light, 
and  life,  and  holiness.  No  where,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  Holy  Spirit 
honored  as  He  ought  to  be,  and  must  be,  before  the  world  will  be 
converted.  This  is  true  of  even  the  best  portions  of  the  Protestant 
Churches ;  while  as  to  some  of  the  rest,  as  well  as  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics in  mass,  it  would  seem  as  if  they  had  not  yet  "  heard  whether 
there  be  any  Holy  Spirit." 


CHAPTER    VII. 


REVIVALS     OF     RELIGION. 


Extraordinary  seasons  of  religious  interest,  denominated  Revivals 
of  Religion,  have  existed  in  the  American  Churches  from  a  very  early 
period  of  their  history.  The  cause  of  this  peculiarity  in  the  dispen- 
sation of  Divine  grace  may  be  traced,  in  part,  to  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter and  circumstances  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  country.  They  were 
English  Puritans,  who  had  suffered  the  severest  persecution  for  their 
principles  in  their  native  land,  and  who  fled  into  the  wilderness  to  en- 
joy those  principles  unmolested,  and  to  carry  them  out  in  their  full 
extent. 

The  leading  point  in  controversy  between  our  fathers  and  the  En- 
glish government  was  freedom  of  worship ;  the  right  to  have  the 
Gospel  preached  among  them,  in  its  most  searching  application  to  the 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  393 

conscience  and  the  heart,  "  without  human  mixture  or  impositions.'' 
To  secure  this  privilege,  they  willingly  "endured  the  loss  of  all 
things,"  and  it  was  therefore  natural  that  they  should  prize  it  highly. 
Accordingly,,  the  attachment  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  to 
the  ordinance  of  public  worship,  and  especially  the  reliance  they 
placed  on  "the  preaching  of  the  word"  as  the  chief  instrument,  under 
God,  for  the  conversion  of  their  children  and  dependants,  were  among 
the  most  striking  traits  in  their  character.     Strict  as  they  were,  even 
to  sternness,  in  family  discipline ;  literally  as  they  obeyed  the  injunc- 
tion, "  Thou  shalt  teach  these  things  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and 
shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thy  house,  and  when  thou 
walkest  in  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest 
up,"  they  still  felt  that  it  is  the  Truth  pre-eminently,  as  dispensed  in 
"  the  great  congregation,"  under  the  combined  influence  of  awakened 
sympathy  and  awe  of  the  Divine  presence,  which  is  made  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  "  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation."     This  feeling  modified  all 
their  habits  and  institutions  as  a  people.     It  made  them  settle  in  vil- 
lages around  their  places  of  worship,  and  not,  like  their  Southern  neigh- 
bors, upon  scattered  plantations ;  it  led  them  to  support  two  religious 
teachers  for  each  of  their  infant  churches ;  it  founded  colleges  for  the 
preparation  of  a  ministry  adequate  to  these  high  duties ;  it  established 
week-day  lectures,  on  which  those  who  lived  in  the  outer  settlements, 
at  the  distance  of  six  or  eight  miles,  felt  it  a  privilege  and  a  duty  reg- 
ularly to  attend ;  it  pervaded,  in  short,  all  the  arrangements  of  society, 
and  gave  a  prominence  to  preaching,  a  disposition  to  multiply  relig- 
ious meetings,  and  a  reliance  upon  this  mode  of  urging  truth  upon 
the  conscience,  greater,  perhaps,  than  has  ever  existed  among  any 
other  people. 

Another  trait  in  the  character  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England, 
in  common  with  their  brethren  at  home,  was  a  strong  faith  and  ex- 
pectation of  special  answers  to  prayer.  The  English  Puritans  never 
regarded  prayer  as  a  mere  means  of  grace,  but  (what  it  truly  is)  as  a 
means  of  moving  God,  of  inducing  Him  to  grant  what  He  could  not 
otherwise  be  expected  to  bestow.  Nor  did  they  stop  here.  They 
did  not  expect  merely  the  blessing  of  God  in  general  on  the  requests 
they  made,  but  direct  and  specific  answers,  according  to  their  need, 
in  every  pressing  emergency.  This  strong  faith  in  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  carried  with  them  when  they 
fled  into  the  wilderness.  It  was  their  support  and  consolation  under 
all  the  trials  of  famine,  pestilence,  and  savage  warfare.  They  felt  that 
special  and  extraordinary  answers  were  often  vouchsafed  them  when 
they  cried  to  God ;  that  there  were  periods  in  their  history  when  His 
arm  was  made  bare  for  their  deliverance,  in  a  manner  scarcely  less 


394  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

remarkable  than  if  He  had  interposed  by  direct  miracle ;  and  the  re- 
sult was,  that  the  spirit  of  the  early  New  England  Christians  was 
emphatically  a  spirit  of  prayer  /  which  led  them  to  the  throne  of 
grace,  with  the  highest  confidence  of  being  heard,  on  every  occasion 
of  especial  interest  to  themselves,  their  families,  and  the  Church. 

To  see  the  connection  of  these  two  traits  of  character  with  the 
spirit  of  revivals,  we  have  only  to  consider  the  influence  they  would 
naturally  exert  at  one  of  the  most  interesting  crises  which  can  ever 
happen  to  a  minister  and  his  church — I  mean  the  commencement  of 
increased  thoughtfulness  among  the  unconverted  part  of  the  congre- 
gation. Such  seasons  exist,  at  times,  in  every  place  where  the  Gospel 
is  faithfully  preached.  Some  alarming  providence,  some  general 
calamity  which  weakens  for  a  time  the  fascination  of  worldly  things, 
some  impressive  sermon,  some  instances  of  sudden  conversion,  may 
strike  upon  the  consciences  of  considerable  numbers  at  once,  and 
awaken  that  latent  sense  of  guilt  and  danger,  which  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  the  most  thoughtless  wholly  to  suppress.  At  such  a  period, 
how  has  many  a  pastor  felt,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  that  if  he 
could  then  enjoy  the  hearty  co-operation  and  fervent  prayers  of  the 
whole  body  of  his  church ;  if  he  could  draw  the  impenitent  around 
him  in  more  frequent  meetings,  and  hold  their  minds  fixed  in  the 
steady  and  prolonged  contemplation  of  Divine  truth,  while  the  world 
was  shut  out  from  view,  and  the  seriousness  of  one  might  spread  by 
contact  till  it  reached  the  hearts  of  many ;  how  has  he  felt,  that,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  this  interest  in  religion  might  extend  throughout 
the  whole  congregation  ;  might  rise  to  deep  anxiety  and  pungent  con- 
viction ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  be  present  to  renew  the  hearts 
of  many ;  and  that  more  might  be  done  for  the  salvation  of  his  peo- 
ple in  a  few  weeks  or  months,  than,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  in 
as  many  years !  And  what  would  this  be,  if  his  desires  were  realized, 
but  a  revival  of  religion,  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  a  result 
of  the  prayers  and  efforts  of  the  people  of  God !  Now  I  need  not 
say  how  entirely  the  early  settlers  of  New  England  were  prepared, 
by  the  traits  of  character  described  above,  to  enter  at  once  on  this 
very  course  of  action.  Prayer  and  preaching  were  the  living  princi- 
ple of  their  institutions ;  special  prayer  upon  special  emergencies,  with 
the  confident  expectation  of  direct  and  specific  answers ;  preaching, 
the  most  plain  and  pungent,  enforcing  those  peculiar  doctrines  of 
grace  which  humble  man  and  exalt  God,  and  which  have  in  every  age 
been  made  "  powerful  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds."  There  was 
much,  also,  in  the  state  of  their  infant  settlements  to  favor  the  desired 
result.  They  were  a  world  within  themselves,  cut  off  by  their  dis- 
tance and  poverty  from  most  of  the  alluring  objects  which  seize  on 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   EELIGION.  395 

the  hearts  of  the  unconverted  in  a  more  advanced  state  of  society. 
They  were  all  of  one  faith ;  there  was  none  among  them  to  question 
or  deny  the  necessity  of  a  work  of  the  Spirit ;  and  the  minds  of  their 
children  were  prepared,  by  their  early  religious  training,  to  bow  sub- 
missively under  the  sacred  influence.  In  these  circumstances,  how 
natural  was  it  to  multiply  the  means  of  grace  upon  any  appearance 
of  increased  seriousness ;  to  press  with  redoubled  zeal  and  frequency 
to  the  throne  of  God  in  prayer ;  to  urge  their  children  and  depend- 
ants, with  all  the  fervor  of  Christian  affection,  to  seize  the  golden  op- 
portunity, and  make  their  "  calling  and  election  sure,"  to  remove,  as 
far  as  possible,  every  obstacle  of  business  or  amusement  out  of  the 
way ;  and  to  concentrate  the  entire  interest  of  their  little  communi- 
ties on  the  one  object  of  the  soul's  salvation !  How  natural  that  these 
labors  and  prayers  should  be  blessed  of  God ;  that  the  Truth  preached 
under  these  circumstances  should  be  made,  like  "  the  fire  and  the 
hammer,  to  break  in  pieces  the  flinty  rock ;"  that  extraordinary  effu- 
sions of  the  Holy  Spirit  should  be  granted ;  that  there  should  be  an 
"  awakening,"  as  it  was  then  called,  or,  in  modern  language,  a  revival 

OF  EELIGION ! 

That  such  was  actually  the  result  in  numerous  instances  we  have 
the  fullest  evidence.  The  celebrated  Jonathan  Edwards,  author  of 
the  "  Treatise  on  the  Will,"  states  that  his  grandfather,  who  preceded 
him  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  was 
favored  during  his  ministry  with  five  seasons  of  this  kind,  which  he 
called  his  "  harvests,"  occurring  at  various  intervals  during  the  space 
of  forty  years.  His  father,  he  also  says,  had  four  or  five  similar 
periods  of  "  refreshing  from  on  high"  among  the  people  of  his  charge ; 
and  he  adds,  that  such  had  been  the  case  with  many  other  of  the 
early  ministers ;  that  no  one  could  tell  when  awakenings  commenced 
in  New  England ;  that  they  must  have  been  very  nearly  coeval  with 
its  first  settlement. 

Some  of  the  States  further  South  were  settled,  to  a  limited  extent, 
by  Presbyterians  from  the  west  of  Scotland  and  the  north  of  Ireland, 
who  had  also  suffered  persecution.  Many  of  these  had  the  same 
general  traits  of  character,  and  especially  the  same  absorbing  interest 
in  religion,  with  their  New  England  brethren.  In  addition  to  this, 
they  had  brought  with  them  the  cherished  tradition  of  several  re- 
markable outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  their  native  land,  at 
Kilsyth,  at  Stewarton,  at  Irvine,  at  the  Kirk  of  Shotts,  and  in  the 
county  of  Antrim,  which  led  them  to  pray  for  and  expect  similar  dis- 
pensations of  the  Spirit  to  their  infant  churches.  These,  at  a  later 
period,  shared  largely  in  the  influences  of  Divine  grace,  and  handed 
down  the  spirit  of  revivals  to  their  descendants. 


396  THE   CHUKCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

The  early  awakenings,  mentioned  above,  seem  to  have  been  gene- 
rally of  a  calm  and  silent  character ;  and  it  rarely  happened  that  two 
congregations  in  the  same  neighborhood  were  visited  at  the  same 
time.  In  the  year  1735,  a  remarkable  change  took  place  in  this  re- 
spect. An  increased  power,  and  wider  extent,  were  given  to  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit :  a  large  tract  of  country  became  in  this  and 
the  following  year  the  seat  of  numerous  awakenings,  which  about 
this  time  took  the  name  of  revivals.  As  this  forms  an  important 
epoch  in  the  history  of  our  revivals,  I  shall  dwell  upon  it  somewhat 
at  large,  and  then  trace  more  briefly  the  progress  of  these  works  of 
grace  down  to  the  present  time. 

The  revival  of  1735  commenced  at  Northampton,  Massachusetts, 
under  the  preaching  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  The  town,  at  an  earlier 
period,  had  enjoyed  five  awakenings,  mentioned  above ;  but  at  this 
time  religion  had  suffered  a  very  great  decline,  not  only  in  North- 
ampton, but  in  New  England  at  large.  A  pernicious  practice  had 
been  gradually  introduced  of  admitting  persons  to  full  communion  in 
the  Church  on  the  gronnd  of  a  blameless  external  deportment,  with- 
out strict  inquiry  into  their  religious  experience,  or  decisive  evidence 
of  renewing  grace.  The  disastrous  consequences  were  soon  felt.  The 
tone  of  spiritual  feeling  was  lowered  hi  the  churches  by  the  admission 
of  many  who  had  a  "  name  to  live,  but  were  dead."  Prayer  and 
effort  for  the  salvation  of  the  impenitent  had  greatly  decreased;  and, 
as  a  natural  consequence,  there  had  been  for  more  than  thirty  years 
a  very  marked  suspension  of  Divine  influence  throughout  New  En- 
gland. 

The  preaching  of  Mr.  Edwards  which  gave  rise  to  this  revival,  like 
all  preaching  which  prepares  the  way  for  extensive  reformations,  was 
doctrinal  in  its  character.  He  dwelt  with  great  force  of  argument 
and  closeness  of  application  on  the  leading  doctrines  of  grace — which 
had  begun  to  lose  their  power  in  the  prevailing  declension — -justifica- 
tion by  faith  alone,  the  necessity  of  the  Spirit's  influences,  and  kindred 
topics. 

Under  such  preaching,  in  connection  with  a  sudden  and  alarming 
providence,  in  the  beginning  of  1735,  a  solemn,  and  very  soon  an 
overwhelming  interest  in  religious  truth,  pervaded  the  whole  town. 
For  the  space  of  six  months,  the  revival  went  on  with  a  power  and 
extent  never  before  known.  Hardly  a  family  could  be  found  in  the 
place  in  which  there  were  not  one  or  more  under  conviction  of  sin, 
or  rejoicing  in  hope.  So  entire  was  the  absorption  hi  the  interests 
of  the  soul,  that  a  report  went  abroad  that  the  people  of  Northamp- 
ton had  abandoned  all  worldly  employments,  and  given  themselves 
wholly  up  to  the  pursuit  of  eternal  life ;  and  though  this  was  an  ex- 


CnAP.  VII.]  EEVIVALS   OF  RELIGION.  397 

ao-seration,  it  is  true  that  Mr.  Edwards  found  it  necessary  to  remind 
some  of  his  flock  that  their  secular  duties  were  not  to  be  neglected. 
The  enlightened  character  of  the  population,  all  of  whom  were  well 
educated  (all,  even  the  poorest,  being  taught  in  the  same  schools  at 
the  public  expense),  guarded  them  effectually  against  fanaticism; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  the  strength  of  emotion  which  prevailed,  the 
distress  under  a  sense  of  sin,  and  the  joy  in  giving  the  heart  to  God, 
were,  in  most  cases,  far  greater  than  in  the  early  awakenings.  The 
work  was  confined  to  no  class  or  age.  Ten  persons  above  ninety,  and 
more  than  fifty  above  forty  years  of  age  ;  nearly  thirty  between  ten 
and  fourteen,  and  one  of  only  four,  became,  in  the  view  of  Mr.  Ed- 
wards, subjects  of  renewing  grace.  More  than  three  hundred  were 
added  to  the  Church  as  the  fruits  of  this  revival,  making  the  whole 
number  of  communicants  about  six  hundred  and  twenty,  being  nearly 
the  entire  adult  population  of  the  town,  which  consisted  of  two  hun- 
dred families.  I  will  only  add,  that  Mr.  Edwards's  well-known  prin- 
ciples on  the  subject  led  him  to  guard  his  people,  throughout  the 
revival,  with  the  most  watchful  care,  against  hasty  and  delusive  hopes 
of  having  experienced  renewing  grace.  He  conversed  with  each  in- 
dividual separately,  not  only  while  under  conviction  of  sin,  but  in 
repeated  instances  after  the  supposed  change  of  heart  took  place ; 
pointing  out  the  evidences  and  nature  of  true  piety ;  warning  them 
against  self-deception,  and  leading  them  to  the  strictest  examination 
into  their  spiritual  state.  Such  has  been  the  course  pursued  in  the 
New  England  churches  generally,  down  to  the  present  day ;  and  the 
consequence  has  been,  that  neither  in  that  revival,  nor  in  most  of  our 
well-conducted  revivals,  has  there  been  reason  to  suppose  that  more 
persons  were  self-deceived  than  in  the  ordinary  accessions  to  the 
Church  at  times  of  no  prevailing  religious  concern. 

The  scenes  presented  in  this  work  of  grace  were  so  striking  and 
wonderful  as  to  awaken  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  whole  country 
round.  Many  flocked  to  Northampton  from  the  impulse  of  curiosity, 
or  even  worse  motives ;  not  a  few  of  whom,  struck  with  the  order, 
solemnity,  and  strength  of  feeling  which  they  everywhere  witnessed, 
and  cut  to  the  heart  by  the  powerful  appeals  of  Mr.  Edwards  in  the 
meetings  they  attended,  were  themselves  brought  under  conviction 
of  sin.  Many  of  these  gave  evidence  of  genuine  repentance  after  they 
returned  home,  and  did  much  to  extend  the  work  into  the  places 
where  they  belonged.  Members  of  the  neighboring  churches,  also, 
and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  from  parts  more  remote,  resorted  thither 
to  witness  the  triumphs  of  redeeming  grace  ;  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the 
revival,  and  bear  it — a  spirit  of  hope,  and  prayer,  and  fervent  effort — 
to  the  towns  where  they  resided.    The  blessing  of  God,  in  many  in- 


398  THE   CHUECH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

stances,  went  with  them ;  the  work  spread  from  place  to  place,  until, 
in  less  than  a  year,  ten  of  the  adjacent  towns  in  Massachusetts,  and 
seventeen  in  Connecticut,  lying  directly  south  of  them,  were  favored 
with  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  some  remote  places  were 
visited  in  other  States,  where  settlements  had  been  made  by  emi- 
grants from  New  England,  or  by  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  spoken 
of  above.  Many  thousands  gave  evidence  in  their  subsequent  lives 
of  having  experienced  a  genuine  conversion  in  this  work  of  grace. 

In  1740,  revivals  commenced  anew  at  Northampton,  Boston,  and 
many  other  places,  very  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  spread  within 
eighteen  months  throughout  all  the  English  colonies.  For  some 
time,  this  appears  to  have  been,  to  an  unusual  degree,  a  silent,  power- 
ful, and  glorious  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  An  eye-witness  states, 
under  date  of  May,  1741,  that  from  Philadelphia  to  the  remotest  set- 
tlements beyond  Boston,  a  distance  of  nearly  five  hundred  miles, 
there  was  in  most  places  more  or  less  concern  for  the  soul.  "  Whole 
colleges  are  under  conviction,  and  many  savingly  converted.  Our 
minister  (Mr.  Pemberton,  of  New  York),  being  sent  for  to  Yale  Col- 
lege on  account  of  the  many  distressed  persons  there,  in  his  going 
and  coming  preached  twice  a  day  on  the  road,  and  even  children 
followed  him  to  his  lodgings,  weeping  and  anxiously  concerned  about 
the  salvation  of  their  souls."  At  a  later  period,  however,  some  were 
unhappily  betrayed  into  intemperate  zeal,  which  called  forth  opposi- 
tion, and  produced  great  excitement  and  contention.  Mr.  Edwards 
came  forward  with  his  usual  ability  to  defend  the  work,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  repress  undue  excesses.  One  hundred  and  sixty  of  the 
most  respectable  mmisters  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  New 
Jersey,  joined  in  a  public  attestation  to  its  genuineness  and  purity 
in  most  places,  while  they  united  with  Mr.  Edwards  in  condemning 
the  improprieties  which  had  occurred  in  too  many  instances.  But  a 
spirit  of  jealousy  and  strife  was  engendered,  which  is  always  fatal  to 
the  progress  of  a  revival.  It  therefore  terminated  in  the  year  1743. 
Notwithstanding  these  unfortunate  admixtures  of  human  imperfec- 
tion, the  work,  as  a  whole,  was  most  evidently  shown  by  its  results 
to  have  been  of  God.  Those  who  had  the  best  means  of  judging,  es- 
timated the  number  of  true  converts,  as  proved  by  their  subsequent 
lives,  at  thirty  thousand  in  New  England  alone,  at  a  time  when  the 
whole  population  was  but  three  hundred  thousand;  besides  many 
thousands  more  among  the  Presbyterians  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  more  southern  settlements. 

It  will  interest  the  reader  to  know,  that  about  this  time  there  was 
an  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon  one  of  our  Indian  tribes,  correspond- 


CHAP.  VII.]  EEVIVALS   OP  RELIGION.  399 

ing  exactly  in  its  character  and  effects  to  the  widely-extended  work 
of  grace  among  the  whites. 

In  June,  1745,  David  Brainard,  who  has  been  so  extensively 
known  for  his  piety  and  missionary  zeal,  began  to  labor  among  a 
small  collection  of  Indians  in  New  Jersey.  For  the  first  six  weeks, 
they  manifested  such  entire  indifference  and  stupid  unconcern,  that 
he  was  about  to  leave  them,  in  despair,  when  he  was  somewhat  en- 
couraged by  the  conversion  of  his  interpreter.  The  interest  with 
which  this  man  now  entered  into  the  subject,  and  the  warmth  and 
unction  with  which  he  translated  Mr.  Brainard's  discourses,  struck 
the  Indians  with  surprise,  and  arrested  their  attention.  "  On  the 
8th  of  August,"  says  Mr.  Brainard  in  his  journal  (which  I  slightly 
abridge),  "  I  preached  to  the  Indians,  now  about  sixty-five  in  num- 
ber. There  was  much  visible  concern  among  them  when  I  discoursed 
publicly ;  but  afterward,  when  I  spoke  to  one  and  another  particu- 
larly, the  power  of  God  seemed  to  descend  upon  them  like  c  a  mighty 
rushing  wind.'  Almost  all  persons,  of  all  ages,  were  bowed  down 
with  concern  together,  and  were  scarcely  able  to  withstand  the 
shock.  Old  men  and  women,  who  had  been  drunken  wretches  for 
many  years,  and  some  children,  appeared  in  distress  for  their  souls. 
One  who  had  been  a  murderer,  apoio-woio  or  conjurer,  and  a  notorious 
drunkard,  was  brought  to  cry  for  mercy  with  many  tears.  A  young 
Indian  woman,  who,  I  believe,  never  before  knew  that  she  had  a 
soul,  had  come  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  She  called  on  me  on 
her  way,  and  when  I  told  her  that  I  meant  presently  to  preach  to  the 
Indians,  she  laughed,  and  seemed  to  mock.  I  had  not  proceeded  far 
in  my  public  discourse  when  she  felt  effectually  that  she  had  a  soul ; 
and  before  the  discourse  closed,  was  so  distressed  with  concern  for 
her  soul's  salvation,  that  she  seemed  like  one  pierced  through  with  a 
dart."  Such  scenes  were  repeated  in  a  number  of  instances  during 
the  following  eight  weeks.  Some  months  after,  in  reviewing  the 
events  of  this  revival,  he  says,  "  This  surprising  concern  was  never 
excited  by  any  harangues  of  terror,  but  always  appeared  most  re- 
markable when  I  insisted  on  the  compassion  of  a  dying  Saviour,  the 
plentiful  provisions  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  free  offer  of  Divine  grace 
to  needy  sinners.  The  effects  have  been  very  remarkable.  I  doubt 
not  that  many  of  these  people  have  gained  more  doctrinal  knowledge 
of  Divine  truth  since  I  visited  them  in  June  last,  than  could  have  been 
instilled  into  their  minds  by  the  most  diligent  use  of  proper  and  in- 
structive means  for  whole  years  together  without  such  a  Divine  influ- 
ence. They  seem  generally  divorced  from  their  drunkenness,  which 
is  'the  sin  that  easily  besets  them.'  A  principle  of  honesty  and 
justice  appears  among  them,  and  they  seem  concerned  to  discharge 


400  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

their  old  debts,  which  they  have  neglected,  and,  perhaps,  scarcely 
thought  of  for  years.  Love  seems  to  reign  among  them,  especially 
those  who  have  given  evidence  of  having  passed  through  a  saving 
change.  Their  consolations  do  not  incline  them  to  lightness,  hut  on 
the  contrary,  are  attended  with  solemnity,  and  often  with  tears  and 
apparent  brokenness  of  heart."  After  some  months  of  probation,  he 
baptized  forty-seven  out  of  less  than  one  hundred,  who  composed  the 
settlement.  Surely  we  may  unite  with  him  in  saying,  "  I  think  there 
are  here  all  the  evidences  of  a  remarkable  work  of  grace  among  the 
Indians  which  can  reasonably  be  expected." 

The  fifty  years  that  followed  were  years  of  war  and  civil  commo- 
tion ;  first  in  a  conflict  of  nearly  twenty  years  between  the  English 
and  French  for  ascendency  in  North  America,  and  afterward  in  a 
struggle  of  the  colonies  for  independence,  and  the  formation  of  a 
Federal  Government.  During  this  long  period  the  country  was  kept 
in  a  state  of  perpetual  agitation,  under  the  influence  of  passions  hos- 
tile to  the  progress  of  spiritual  religion  in  any  form,  and  peculiarly 
hostile  to  the  prevalence  of  any  extended  work  of  grace.  Revivals, 
however,  did  not  wholly  cease,  as  might  reasonably  have  been  ex- 
pected. On  the  contrary,  I  have  been  struck  with  surprise,  in  look- 
ing over  the  accounts  of  that  wide-spread  work  of  grace  which  soon 
after  commenced,  to  see  in  how  many  instances  they  point  back  to 
some  preceding  season  of  spiritual  refreshing  during  those  fifty  years 
of  war  and  civil  strife. 

The  period  just  referred  to,  of  increased  influence  from  on  high, 
commenced  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  has  often  been  styled 
the  era  of  modem  revivals.  Owing  to  its  importance  in  this  charac- 
ter, I  shall  dwell  upon  it  somewhat  more  fully,  and  shall  then  turn  to 
other  topics  which  demand  our  attention.  It  was  preceded  by  a 
spirit  of  fervent  prayer  and  deep  solicitude  among  Christians,  on  ac- 
count of  the  growing  tendency  in  our  country  to  infidel  principles. 
For  this  a  preparation  had  been  made  by  the  crimes  and  vices  of  a 
long-protracted  war ;  and  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Revolution 
had  given  to  the  enemies  of  religion  the  most  confident  expectations 
of  a  speedy  triumph.  The  minds  of  multitudes  had  become  unset- 
tled. Wild  and  vague  expectations  were  everywhere  entertained, 
especially  among  the  yoimg,  of  a  new  order  of  things  about  to  com- 
mence, in  which  Christianity  would  be  laid  aside  as  an  obsolete  sys- 
tem. The  }:>eople  of  God,  under  these  circumstances,  were  driven  to 
the  throne  of  grace  with  redoubled  fervor  of  supplication,  that  while 
the  enemy  came  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  would  lift  up  a 
standard  against  him.  Another  subject  of  solicitude  was  the  religious 
wants  of  our  new  settlements,  which  began  at  this  time  to  spread 


CHAP.  VII.  REVIVALS   OF  RELIGION.  401 

abroad  in  the  wilderness,  to  an  unparalleled  extent.  There  was  every 
reason  to  fear  that,  if  left  to  themselves,  in  the  rapidity  of  their  prog- 
ress, they  would  leave  behind  them  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel. 
This  gave  rise  to  a  missionary  spirit  in  the  older  States,  which  has 
been  the  salvation  of  that  growing  part  of  our  country.  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut,  especially,  from  which  emigrants  by  tens  of 
thousands  were  going  forth  every  year,  entered  into  this  cause  with 
the  liveliest  interest.  Large  contributions  were  made  from  time  to 
time  by  the  churches ;  and  as  regular  missionaries  could  not  be  pro- 
cured in  sufficient  numbers,  many  of  the  settled  clergy  were  induced, 
by  the  exigency  of  the  case,  to  leave  their  flocks  under  the  care  of 
the  neighboring  pastors,  and  perform  long  tours  of  missionary  labor 
in  the  new  States. 

The  spirit  thus  awakened  of  more  fervent  prayer  to  God,  and 
more  active  zeal  in  his  service,  was  followed  by  the  Divine  blessing. 
A  number  of  churches  in  the  interior  of  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts were  favored,  in  1797,  with  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  gradually  spread  into  many  of  the  neighboring  towns.  The 
utmost  care  was  taken  to  guard,  from  the  first,  against  any  recur- 
rence of  that  spirit  of  intemperate  zeal  which  had  brought  reproach, 
to  some  extent,  on  the  revival  of  1 740.  These  efforts,  most  happily, 
were  attended  with  complete  success.  Rarely,  if  ever,  has  there 
been  a  series  of  revivals  in  our  country  more  calm,  more  pure,  more 
lasting  and  salutary  in  their  effects.  As  one  means  of  extending  the 
work,  ministers  who  had  enjoyed  the  presence  of  God  among  their 
own  people,  were  selected  by  some  ecclesiastical  body,  and  sent 
forth,  generally  two  together,  on  preaching  tours  among  the  neigh- 
boring churches.  The  expectation  of  their  coming  drew  large  audi- 
ences wherever  they  preached.  They  came  with  that  fervor  of 
spirit,  and  that  close  and  direct  dealing  with  the  consciences  of  men, 
which  a  preacher  gains  during  the  progress  of  revival,  and  which  he 
rarely  gains  to  an  equal  degree  under  any  other  circumstances.  The 
churches  which  they  visited  being,  in  most  cases,  prepared  to  receive 
them  by  a  previous  season  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  animated  by 
their  presence  and  labors  to  redoubled  fervor  of  supplication,  were, 
in  many  cases,  favored  with  an  immediate  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Under  these  and  similar  influences,  the  work  of  God  spread 
into  more  than  one  hundred  towns  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 
and  into  a  still  greater  number  of  places  in  the  new  settlements  of 
Vermont,  N"ew  Hampshire,  Maine,  and  New  York,  which  had  but 
recently  formed  a  wide-spread  field  of  missionary  labor. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Presbyterian,  already  mentioned,  entered 
into  the  work  with  equal  zeal  and  effect,  and  carried  the  spirit 

26 


402  THE   CHTJKCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

of  revivals  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  In  Kentucky,  lying 
in  the  centre  of  these  new  States  of  the  West,  a  revival  com- 
menced in  the  year  1801,  which  spread  over  the  whole  State,  and 
within  the  two  following  years  extended  to  the  North  and  South, 
throughout  a  tract  of  country  six  hundred  miles  in  length.  Owing 
to  the  rude  state  of  society  in  those  new  settlements,  there  occurred 
in  these  revivals  some  irregularities,  which  threw  a  suspicion  upon 
them  for  a  time  in  the  view  of  Christians  in  the  Eastern  States. 
Some,  undoubtedly,  of  the  vast  multitudes  who  were  then  awakened 
were  wrought  upon  merely  by  the  excitement  of  the  occasion. 

But  as  to  the  character  of  the  work  in  general,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing testimony  from  one  of  the  most  enlightened  Presbyterian  clergy- 
men of  Virginia,  who  visited  the  scene  of  those  revivals,  for  the  sake 
of  forming  for  himself  a  deliberate  judgment  on  the  subject.  "  Upon 
the  whole,  I  think  the  revival  in  Kentucky  among  the  most  extraor- 
dinary that  have  ever  visited  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and,  all  things 
considered,  it  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
country  into  which  it  came.  Infidelity  was  triumphant,  and  religion 
on  the  point  of  expiring.  Something  extraordinary  seemed  necessary 
to  arrest  the  attention  of  a  giddy  people,  who  were  ready  to  conclude 
that  Christianity  was  a  fable,  and  futurity  a  delusion.  This  revival 
has  done  it.  It  has  confounded  infidelity,  and  brought  numbers  be- 
yond calculation  under  serious  impressions." 

In  the  year  1802,  in  answer  to  long-continued  and  fervent  prayer, 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out  in  a  remarkable  manner  on  Yale 
College,  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  D wight, 
D.D.     As  a  work  of  this  kind,  in  a  seat  of  learning,  will  naturally  be 
regarded  with  peculiar  interest,  I  shall  here  transcribe  (with  some 
slight  abridgement)  an  account  of  this  revival,  drawn  up  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  writer  by  the  Rev.  Noah  Porter,  D.D.,  who  was  then  a 
member  of  the  institution.     "  The  gracious  work  which  some  of  the 
students  had  witnessed,  and  of  which  they  were  all  informed,  in 
churches  abroad,  they  longed  to  see  in  the  college.    That  God  would 
pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  it  was  an  object  of  distinct  and  earnest  desire, 
and  of  their  fervent  and  united  prayers.    For  many  months  they  were 
accustomed  to  meet  weekly  '  in  an  upper  room,'  and  '  with  one  ac- 
cord,' for  prayer  and  supplication.     Those  meetings  are  still  remem- 
bered by  survivors  who  attended  them,  as  seasons  of  unwonted  ten- 
derness of  heart,  freedom  of  communication,  and  wrestling  with  God. 
Early  hi  the  spring  of  1802,  indications  of  a  gracious  answer  to  their 
prayers  began  to  appear.     It  soon  became  obvious  that  quite  a  num- 
ber were  especially  impressed  with  Divine  truth ;  that  a  new  state  of 
things  had  commenced  in  the  seminary ;  that  God  had  indeed  come 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS   OF   RELIGION.  403 

to  it  in  the  plenitude  and  power  of  His  grace.  Some  who,  not  know- 
ing that  there  were  any  to  sympathize  with  them,  had  concealed  their 
convictions,  were  now  encouraged  to  speak  out,  and  others,  anxious 
to  share  in  the  blessing,  joined  them ;  so  that  in  the  last  ten  days  of 
the  college  term,  not  less  than  fifty  were  numbered  as  serious  inquir- 
ers, and  several,  daily,  and  almost  hourly,  were  found  apparently  sub- 
mitting themselves  to  God.  These  were  truly  memorable  days. 
Such  triumphs  of  grace  none,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  witness  them, 
had  ever  before  seen.  So  sudden  and  so  great  was  the  change  in  in- 
dividuals, and  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  college,  that  those  who  had 
been  waiting  for  it  were  filled  with  wonder  as  well  as  joy,  and  those 
who  knew  not  '  what  it  meant'  were  awe-struck  and  amazed.  "Wher- 
ever students  were  found — in  their  rooms,  in  the  chapel,  in  the  hall, 
in  the  college-yard,  in  their  walks  about  the  city — the  reigning  im- 
pression was,  *  surely  God  is  in  this  place.'  The  salvation  of  the  soul 
was  the  great  subject  of  thought,  of  conversation,  of  absorbing  inter- 
est. The  convictions  of  many  were  pungent  and  overwhelming,  and 
the  peace  in  believing  which  succeeded  was  not  less  strongly  marked. 
Yet,  amid  these  overpowering  impressions,  there  was  no  one,  except 
a  single  individual  (who,  having  resisted  former  convictions,  yielded 
for  a  time  to  dangerous  temptations),  in  whose  conduct  any  thing 
of  a  wild  or  irrational  character  appeared.  But  the  vacation 
came,  and  they  were  to  be  separated.  This  was  anticipated  with 
dread.  It  was  to  be  feared  that  their  dispersion,  and  the  new 
scenes  and  intercourse  attendant  on  their  going  home,  would  ef- 
face the  incipient  impressions  of  the  serious,  and  break  up  the  hope- 
ful purposes  of  the  inquiring  and  anxious.  Such,  however,  was  not 
the  result.  It  may  even  be  doubted  whether  the  number  of  sound 
conversions  was  not  greater,  and  more  good  was  not  done  to  the  cause 
of  the  Redeemer  generally,  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 
Wherever  they  went,  they  carried  the  tidings  of  what  God  was  doing 
for  this  venerated  seat  of  learning ;  they  engaged  simultaneously  the 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  of  the  Church  in  its  behalf;  and  many  of 
them  came  directly  under  the  guidance  and  coimsel  of  deeply-affected 
parents,  ministers,  or  other  Christian  acquaintances.  By  epistolary 
commimications  and  personal  visits  to  each  other,  also,  as  had  been 
agreed  on  at  their  separation,  special  means  were  employed  to  sus- 
tain the  feelings  which  had  been  excited,  and  to  conduct  them  to  a 
happy  result ;  and  it  was  so  ordered  by  God  that,  when  they  again 
assembled,  the  revival  immediately  resumed  its  former  interest,  and 
proceeded  with  uninterrupted  success.  It  was  generally  understood 
at  the  time,  that  out  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  students  then  in  col- 


404  THE  CHTTKCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

leo-e,  about  one  third,  in  the  course  of  this  revival,  were  hopefully 
converted  to  God." 

During  the  forty  years  which  have  since  elapsed,*  there  have  been 
fifteen  similar  works  of  grace  in  the  institution,  one  of  them  more 
extensive,  and  the  others  less  so,  than  the  one  here  described.  At  a 
later  period,  Princeton  College,  which  belongs  to  the  Presbyterians, 
was  favored  with  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  effusions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  ever  experienced  by  any  of  our  seats  of  learning.  The  younger 
colleges  have  also  shared  richly  in  these  visitations  of  Divine  grace. 
The  consequence  has  been,  that  the  number  of  pious  students  has 
been  very  greatly  increased.  In  Yale  College,  not  long  before  the 
revival  of  1802,  there  were  only  four  members  of  the  church  among 
the  under-graduates ;  for  some  years  past  they  have  exceeded  two 
hundred,  being  more  than  half  the  number.  In  other  colleges  there 
has  been  a  correspondent  increase ;  though  in  all  these  cases  it  is  to 
be  ascribed,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  general  advance  of  spiritual 
religion  in  our  churches. 

From  the  period  we  have  now  reached  it  is  unnecessary,  and,  in- 
deed, impossible,  to  trace  distinctly  the  progress  of  our  revivals. 
They  have  become,  if  I  may  so  speak,  a  constituent  part  of  the  relig- 
ious system  of  our  country.  Not  a  year  has  passed  without  numer- 
ous instances  of  their  occurrence,  though  at  some  periods  they  have 
been  more  powerful  and  prevalent  than  at  others.  They  have  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  great  body  of  evangelical  Christians  through- 
out our  country.  There  exists,  indeed,  a  diversity  of  opinion  as  to 
the  proper  means  of  promoting  them,  some  regarding  one  set  of 
measures,  and  some  another,  as  best  adapted  to  this  end.  But,  while 
these  differences  exist  as  to  what  constitutes  a  well-conducted  revival, 
all,  or  nearly  all,  agree  that  such  a  revival  is  an  inestimable  blessing : 
so  that  he  who  should  oppose  himself  to  revivals,  as  such,  would  be 
regarded  by  most  of  our  evangelical  Christians  as,  ipso  facto,  an 
enemy  to  spiritual  religion  itself. 

In  the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  our  revivals,  I 
have  confined  myself  chiefly  to  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
Churches  (which  are  substantially  one),  and  have  described  these 
works  of  grace,  particularly  as  they  exist  in  New  England.  I  have 
done  so  because,  having  their  origin  in  those  Churches,  it  was  proper 
to  trace  them  forward  in  the  line  where  they  commenced ;  and  be- 
cause I  was  best  acquainted  with  their  history,  and  the  character  they 
assumed,  in  the  communion  to  which  I  belong.  It  is  of  such  revivals 
that  I  shall  continue  to  speak,  and,  without  disparagement  to  others, 

*  This  was  written  in  1842.    There  have  been  several  revivals  of  religion  in  Yale 
College  since  that  year. 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  405 

I  may  be  permitted  to  express  my  preference  for  that  mode  of  con- 
ducting revivals  which  has  generally  prevailed  in  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England.  These  churches  have  had  a  longer  expe- 
rience on  this  subject  than  any  others ;  they  have  enjoyed  more  re- 
vivals in  proportion  to  their  numbers;  and,  what  I  deem  of  the 
highest  importance  is,  that  they  have  uniformly  kept  them  under  the 
guidance  and  control  of  a  learned  ministry,  whose  habits  and  princi- 
ples led  them  to  repress  all  undue  excitement,  to  check  every  thing 
extravagant,  coarse,  or  disorderly,  and  to  guard  the  supposed  subjects 
of  the  work,  by  the  severest  tests,  against  self-deception.  Nearly  all 
the  objections  against  revivals,  which  have  any  show  of  reason,  have 
been  occasioned  by  a  want  of  caution  in  these  respects.  The  things 
to  which  they  apply  are  mere  adjuncts  and  excrescences,  forming  no 
part  of  a  genuine  revival.  They  are  passing  away  just  in  proportion 
as  the  ministry  where  they  exist  becomes  more  thoroughly  educated, 
which,  I  rejoice  to  say,  is  continually  more  and  more  the  case. 

The  view  of  revivals  which  we  have  now  taken,  limited  and  imper- 
fect as  it  is,  suggests  many  interesting  topics  of  inquiry  and  remark. 
I  have  time,  however,  to  touch  on  only  two.  First,  What  mode  of 
presenting  truth,  in  these  seasons  of  religious  interest,  has  been  found 
most  effectual  to  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  sinners  ?  Secondly, 
What  is  the  advantage  of  such  seasons  ?  What  is  there  in  the  fact 
that  many  are  awakened  at  once,  and  are  pressing  together  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  which  is  peculiarly  adapted  (under  the  Divine  bless- 
ing) to  secure  the  desired  result  ? 

In  entering  upon  the  first  of  these  subjects,  I  would  remark,  that 
the  ordinary  strain  of  preaching  in  the  Congregational  churches  of 
New  England,  where  revivals  have  prevailed  with  great  frequency, 
is,  to  an  uncommon  degree,  doctrinal  in  its  character.  A  prepara- 
tion is  thus  made  to  give  the  Gospel  its  full  effect  whenever  a  season 
of  religious  interest  arrives.  The  mind  is  preoccupied  with  clear  and 
discriminating  views  of  Divine  truth.  The  argument,  upon  every 
point,  has  been  gone  over  again  and  again  in  its  full  extent.  Those 
humbling  doctrines,  especially,  which  men  so  love  to  misrepresent 
and  abuse,  are  dwelt  upon  much,  explained  fully,  and  argued  out  at 
large ;  and  great  pains  are  taken  so  to  state  them  as  to  show  their 
perfect  consistency  with  the  dictates  of  right  reason  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  every  honest  mind.  In  seasons  of  revival,  the  most 
effective  preaching  is  of  the  same  general  character,  though,  of 
course,  more  fervent  and  urgent.  It  does  not  consist,  to  any  great 
extent,  in  exhortation,  in  any  appeals,  however  forcible  or  just,  to 
mere  excited  sensibility  or  feeling.  Its  object  still  is  to  pour  truth 
upon  the  sinner's  mind ;  to  make  him  see,  under  his  new  circumstan- 


406  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

ces  of  awakened  interest,  the  evidence  of  those  doctrines  which  he  has 
admitted,  perhaps,  in  speculation,  all  his  life,  and  yet  never  once  truly 
believed ;  to  anticipate  all  his  objections ;  to  strip  him  of  every  plea 
and  pretence  for  delay ;  to  fill  and  occupy  his  whole  soul  with  reasons 
for  immediate  right  action,  and  thus  shut  him  up  to  "  the  obedience 
of  the  truth."  Such  preaching,  though  it  be  plain,  and  even  homely, 
if  it  flows  from  a  full  heart  and  large  experience,  is  ordinarily  much 
blessed  of  God  in  seasons  of  revival. 

The  leading  doctrine  at  such  seasons  is  that  of  "  the  new  birth" — 
of  the  sinner's  entire  dependence,  for  a  change  of  heart,  on  the  di- 
rect interposition  of  God.  And  yet,  for  this  very  reason,  the  other 
doctrine  implied  above,  of  duty,  of  obligation  to  immediate  right  ac- 
tion, is  urged  with  redoubled  force.  Without  feeling  this,  the  sinner 
can  not  feel  his  guilt,  for  there  is  no  consciousness  of  guilt  without 
consciousness  of  having  violated  duty  ;  and  where  guilt  is  not  felt, 
the  influences  of  the  Spirit  are  not  given  to  renew  the  heart.  And 
here,  at  this  precise  point,  is  the  great  difficulty  in  dealing  with 
the  impenitent.  They  do  not  believe  that  God  requires  them,  in 
their  present  state,  to  become  instantly  holy.  It  is  not  possible,  they 
think,  that  He  should  command  them  to  do  that  very  thing  without 
the  influences  of  His  Spirit,  which,  if  ever  done,  will  be  the  result  of 
those  influences.  They,  therefore,  feel  that  there  must  be,  some- 
where at  this  stage  of  their  progress,  a  kind  of  neutral  ground — a 
resting-place,  where,  having  done  their  part  in  "  awaking  out  of 
sleep,"  they  are  allowed  to  "  wait  God's  time"  (in  the  customary 
phrase),  until  He  has  done  His  part,  and  renewed  their  souls.  Nor 
are  these  views  confined  to  the  impenitent.  They  have  been  openly 
avowed  by  some  theological  writers,  and  have  exerted  a  secret  but 
most  powerful  influence  upon  far  greater  numbers  who  never  main- 
tained them  in  form.  There  has'  been,  extensively,  a  feeling  that  all 
that  the  unconverted  are  bound  to  do  is  diligently  to  use  the  means 
of  grace  ;  that  if  they  do  this,  it  would  be  hard  in  God  to  withhold 
the  renewing  influence  of  His  Spirit ;  and  that  He  has  promised  that 
influence  to  their  prayers  and  exertions,  if  sincere — meaning,  of 
course,  a  kind  of  sincerity  in  which  there  is  no  true  holiness.  These 
views  prevailed  in  New  England  previous  to  the  revival  of  1735,  and 
were  one  cause  of  the  great  decline  in  religion  which  preceded  that 
event.  Mr.  Edwards  was  therefore  called  upon,  when  that  work 
commenced,  to  take  his  ground  on  this  subject,  and  the  principles 
which  guided  him  in  that  revival  have  been  the  great  controlling  prin- 
ciples in  all  our  revivals  ever  since.  They  are  thus  stated  by  his 
biographer  :  "  To  urge  repentance  on  every  sinner  as  his  immediate 
duty ;  to  insist  that  God  is  under  no  obligation  to  any  unrenewed 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  407 

man  ;  and  that  a  man  can  challenge  nothing,  either  in  absolute  justice 
or  by  free  promise,  on  account  of  any  thing  he  does  before  he  repents 
and  believes."      The   celebrated  Whitfield,  when  he  first  visited 
America,  in  1740,  was  much  struck  with  the  power  imparted  to  our 
preaching  by  these  principles.     "  How  can  they  possibly  stand,"  says 
he  in  a  letter  to  an  English  friend,  "  who  were  never  brought  to  see, 
and  heartily  confess,  that  after  they  had  done  all,  God  might,  not- 
withstanding, deny  them  mercy  !     It  is  for  preaching  in  this  man- 
ner that  I  like  Messrs.  Tennents.     They  wound  deeply  before  they 
heal.     They  know  there  is  no  promise  made  but  to  him  that  believ- 
eth,  and,  therefore,  they  are  careful  not  to  comfort  overmuch  those 
that  are  convicted.     I  fear  I  have  been  too  incautious  in  this  respect, 
and  often  given  comfort  too  soon.     The  Lord  pardon  me  for  what  is 
past,  and  teach  me  more  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  life  in  future." 
Against  this  disposition  to  "  comfort  too  soon" — to  allow  the  impeni- 
tent some  resting-place  short  of  instant  submission,  the  following  very 
pointed  cautions  were  once  given  by  Dr.  Nettleton,  who  has  had 
great  experience  in  the  conduct  of  revivals.     "  Now  what  do  you 
mean  by  this  ?    Do  you  mean  to  encourage  the  sinner  in  his  sins,  and 
take  his  part  against  God  ?     You  are  attempting  to  ease  and  soothe 
him  while  he  is  in  rebellion  against  God.     When  the  sinner  is  in  this 
distress,  there  are  two  things  that  press  heavily  upon  him — a  sense  of 
his  obligation  to  repent,  and  a  fearful  apprehension  that  he  never  will 
repent.     Now,  if  you  tell  him  to  c  wait  God's  time,'  and  the  like,  you 
take  off  this  obligation  at  once.     You  remove  all  anxiety,  and  most 
probably  cause  him  to  sink  down  into  a  state  of  stupidity  and  indif- 
ference on  the  subject.     You  take  away  the  apprehension,  also  ;  and 
the  danger  is  that  he  will  sink  down  into  a  state  of  stupidity,  or  mis- 
take the  relief  he  feels  for  a  change  of  heart.     Now,  instead  of 
quieting  him  in  his  sins  by  such  language,  you  should  endeavor  to  in- 
crease his  distress  as  much  as  possible.     You  should  press  him  down, 
and  tell  him  he  must  submit  to  God,  and  generally  he  will.     I  know 
some  have  been  brought  out  truly  regenerated  after  all  this  flattery, 
but  it  was  not  in  consequence,  but  in  spite  of  it.    Again,  you  say, 
1  Look  to  the  promises.'    Now,  there  is  no  promise  to  the  impenitent, 
and  how  can  you  expect  him  to  look  to  the  promises  while  he  is  in 
his  sins  ?     I  distinguish  between  promises  and  invitations.     Men  are 
invited  to  repent,  but  there  is  no  promise  to  them  till  they  do  re- 
pent."    Such  has  been  the  uniform  mode  of  exhibiting  this  subject. 
The  promises  of  God  are  a  part  of  His  covenant,  and  the  indispen- 
sable conditions  of  the  covenant  are  repentance  and  faith. 

But  the  impenitent,  when  thus  pressed  with  the  duty  of  at  once 
giving  their  hearts  to  God,  are  extremely  apt  to  say  (or  at  least  to 


408  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

feel),  "I  cannot/  Christ  has  declared  it  to  be  beyond  my  power. 
It  can  not,  therefore,  be  my  immediate  duty;  I  am  authorized  to  wait 
till  power  is  given  me  from  on  high."  Here,  as  in  the  former  case, 
the  New  England  clergy  are  guided  by  the  principles  of  Edwards. 
They  apply  that  familiar  distinction  of  common  life  which  he  made  so 
clear  and  palpable  in  theological  science,  the  distinction  between 
natural  and  moral  ability  and  inability.  You  are  not  unable  in  the 
sense  you  claim.  You  have  all  the  faculties  which  constitute  a 
moral  being.  He  who  is  capacitated  to  do  wrong,  must,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  be  capacitated  to  do  right.  Your  can  not,  there- 
fore, is  only  will  not.  Christ,  who  has  spoken  of  the  inability  you 
plead,  has  explained  its  nature :  "  Ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye 
might  have  life  !"  "  O,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gath- 
ered thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not."  These  views  have  formed  the  basis  of 
New  England  preaching  for  nearly  a  century.  Dr.  Dwight,  speaking 
of  this  subject,  says,  "  The  nature  of  this  inability  to  obey  the  law 
of  God  is,  in  my  view,  completely  indicated  by  the  word  indisposi- 
tion, or  the  word  disinclination.  A  child  is  equally  unable  to  obey 
a  parent,  against  whom  his  will  is  as  much  opposed,  as  to  obey  God. 
In  both  cases  this  inability,  I  apprehend,  is  of  exactly  the  same  nature. 
Indisposition  to  come  to  Christ,  therefore,  is  the  true  and  the  only 
difficulty  which  lies  in  our  way."*  Nor  are  these  views  confined  to 
New  England.  A  distinguished  Scottish  divine,  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
afterward  president  of  Princeton  College,  speaking  of  the  alleged 
impossibility,  says,  "  Now  consider,  I  pray,  what  sort  of  impossibility 
this  is.  It  is  not  natural,  but  moral.  It  is  not  want  of  power,  but 
want  of  inclination." 'f  I  am  far  from  saying  that  no  preacher  is 
favored  with  revivals  of  religion  who  does  not  thus  explicitly  assert 
man's  power  as  a  moral  agent  to  give  his  heart  to  God.  Men  see 
their  way  with  very  different  degrees  of  clearness  and  confidence, 
through  the  numerous  questions  that  arise  out  of  such  a  statement. 
I  only  say  that  the  views  of  Dwight  and  Witherspoon,  given  above, 
prevail  almost  universally  among  the  New  England  clergy,  and  to  a 
great  extent  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  that  those  who  main- 
tain them  consider  those  views  as  lying  at  the  foundation  of  all  their 
successful  efforts  to  promote  revivals.  When  they  can  go  to  the  im- 
penitent sinner  and  treat  him  (after  the  manner  of  Dr.  Dwight)  just 
as  they  would  treat  a  child  in  rebellion  against  an  earthly  parent,  and 
can  make  him  feel  that  the  whole  difficulty  in  his  case  is  a  reluctance 
to  duty,  they  find  the  great  impediment  removed  out  of  the  way. 
They  feel  an  unembarrassed  freedom  in  pressing  obligation,  and  a 
*  Theology,  Sermon  cxxxiii.  f  "Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  219. 


CHAP.  VII.]  EEVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  409 

power  of  fastening  conviction  of  sin  npon  the  conscience,  which 
they  never  possessed  before.  A  writer  of  great  experience  in  re- 
vivals has  remarked,  "Whatever  may  be  the  speculative  opinions 
of  ministers  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  depravity,  inability,  regen- 
eration, etc.,  it  is  a  fact,  that  where  their  ministry  is  successful,  as  it 
is  in  revivals,  they  preach  to  sinners  as  if  they  believed  them  to  be 
possessed  of  all  the  powers  of  moral  agency,  capable  of  turning  to 
God,  and  on  this  account,  and  no  other,  inexcusable  for  not  doing  so. 
Some  have  seen  these  points  more  clearly,  and  have  explained  them 
more  philosophically,  and  more  scripturally  than  others,  but  there 
has  always  been  a  substantial  agreement  in  their  mode  of  preaching 
among  those  who  have  been  blessed  in  turning  sinners  to  righteous- 
ness."* 

But  it  may  be  said,  granting  (as,  indeed,  we  must  on  some  ground) 
the  duty  of  the  unconverted  to  turn  instantly  to  God,  still  they  will 
never  succeed  in  doing  it  without  an  influence  from  on  high.  Why, 
then,  press  them  so  urgently  to  the  act  ?  Why  multiply  motives,  as 
if  you  expected  to  produce  the  change  by  the  force  of  moral  sua- 
sion ?  Is  it  not  true,  after  all,  that  both  you  and  they  must  "  wait 
God's  time  ?"  It  would  be  enough  to  answer  that  God  himself  has 
set  us  the  example  :  "  Make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit,  for 
why  will  ye  die  ?"  Christ  and  His  apostles  urged  to  repentance  by 
argument  and  persuasion,  just  as  they  did  to  any  of  the  ordinary  acts 
of  life.  The  whole  Bible  is  filled  with  warnings,  expostulations, 
and  entreaties,  pressing  a  fost  race,  with  every  motive  that  two 
worlds  can  offer,  to  immediate  right  action.  Nor  is  it  diflicult  to  see 
at  least  some  of  the  reasons.  First :  Let  the  sinner  really  put  himself 
to  the  act  of  giving  his  heart  to  God,  and  he  will  learn,  as  he  can 
never  learn  in  any  other  way,  the  depth  of  his  depravity,  the  utter 
and  hopeless  destitution  of  all  spiritual  sensibility  within  him.  Noth- 
ing can  so  effectually  crush  his  pride  and  self-reliance.  This p)*actical 
demonstration  of  his  entire  helplessness,  in  himself  considered,  may 
be  just  the  thing  that  was  necessary  to  bring  him  to  that  point  where 
it  would  be  proper  for  God  to  grant  him  the  renewing  influences  of 
His  grace.  Secondly  :  The  Spirit,  in  sanctifying,  operates  "  through 
the  truth  ;"  and  the  presence  of  that  truth  upon  the  mind  as  an  in- 
strumental cause  is,  therefore,  just  as  necessary  to  the  result  (at  least 
in  the  case  of  adults)  as  the  renewing  influence  itself. 

While  it  was  the  uniform  doctrine  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  that  the 
redeemed  are  "  begotten  of  God,"  he  thought  it  no  arrogance  to  say, 
"  Jhave  begotten  you  through  the  Gospel."    Without  aflirming  that 

*  Views  and  Feelings  requisite  to  Success  in  the  Gospel  Ministry.  By  W.  Gr. 
Walton. 


410  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN   AMEEICA.  [BOOK  V. 

the  influences  of  the  Spirit  are  granted  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
wisdom  and  power  with  which  truth  is  urged  upon  the  conscience, 
we  may  safely  say  that  such,  to  a  very  great  and  prevailing  extent,  is 
the  fact.  It  is,  at  least,  all  that  man  can  do ;  and  if  the  doctrine  of 
the  sinner's  dependence  leads  us  to  do  this  with  one  particle  of  dimin- 
ished force,  if  we  do  not  ply  him  with  truth  and  motive  just  as  earn- 
estly as  if  we  expected  to  convert  him  by  our  own  efforts  alone,  it 
is  a  serious  question  whether  our  orthodoxy  has  not  lost  its  true  bal- 
ance. Is  there  not  reason  to  fear  that  very  excellent  men  sometimes 
err  on  this  subject  from  the  best  of  motives,  the  desire  to  exalt  the 
grace  of  God  ?  "  How  often,"  says  a  writer  quoted  above  (W.  G. 
Walton),  "  do  we  hear  the  preaching  of  the  Word  compared  to  the 
blowing  of  rams'  horns  around  the  walls  of  Jericho !  The  man  who 
preaches  has  certainly,  in  himself  considered,  no  more  power  to  con- 
vert the  souls  of  his  hearers,  than  was  possessed  by  the  Jewish  priests 
to  demolish  the  bulwarks  of  that  city.  But  are  the  instruments  used 
in  the  two  cases  equally  impotent  ?  Are  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  no 
more  adapted  to  the  conversion  of  the  soul  than  the  blast  of  a  horn 
to  the  destruction  of  a  city  ?"  No  honor  is  done  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
by  exalting  His  influences  in  conversion,  at  the  expense  of  the  Truth 
which  He  has  Himself  revealed.  It  is  the  glory  of  that  blessed 
Agent,  that  hi  turning  the  soul  to  God,  He  does  it  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  our  moral  constitution.  "Sanctify  them 
through  Thy  truth,"  was  the  prayer  of  Christ  Himself;  and  I  believe 
it  will  be  found  that  the  most  successful  preachers  are  those  who  have 
the  most  exalted  views  of  the  power  of  Divine  truth  in  turning  the 
soul  to  God.  Such  views  give  a  peculiar  solemnity,  and  earnestness, 
and  authority  in  preaching,  by  which  attention  is  secured,  and  con- 
viction wrought  in  the  minds  of  the  hearers.  Thirdly :  The  result 
produced  by  renewing  grace  is  right  action.  "  God,"  says  Edwards, 
"  produces  all,  and  we  act  all.  For  that  is  what  He  produces,  viz., 
our  own  actsP — [Efficacious  Gh'ace,  sec.  64.)  Is  it  not,  therefore, 
most  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  grace  (if  bestowed  at  all)  will  be 
granted  to  those  who  are  putting  themselves  to  the  act  of  giving 
their  hearts  to  God,  "  who  strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate ;"  and 
not  to  those  who  remain  in  the  attitude  of  mere  passive  recipients  ? 
Account  for  it  as  we  will,  there  is  no  fact  which  our  revivals  have 
taught  us  more  fully  than  this,  the  great  success  which  attends  the 
urging  of  sinners  to  turn  immediately  to  God,  as  though  we  expected 
them  to  do  it  at  once  and  upon  the  spot.  Among  the  numerous  cases 
in  point  which  occur  at  once  to  my  mind,  I  will  briefly  mention  one. 
A  young  man,  soon  after  joining  one  of  our  colleges,  called  on  a 
friend  one  evening,  and  stated  that  he  had  always  been  taught  to  re- 


CHAP.  VII.]  KEVTVALS   OF  EELIGION.  411 

gard  religion  as  the  highest  interest  of  life,  but  had  ever  shrunk  from 
making  it  a  personal  concern ;  that  his  change  of  residence,  separa- 
tion from  friends,  and  sense  of  loneliness,  had  made  him  desirous  to 
seek  salvation,  and  that  he  now  wished  to  learn  the  way.  A  long 
conversation  ensued,  in  which  the  object  was,  not  so  much  to  point 
out  what  he  should  do  when  he  returned  to  his  room,  as  to  lead  him 
(if  such  were  the  will  of  God)  to  embrace  the  Saviour  at  once,  even 
before  the  conversation  closed.  With  this  view,  the  character  of  God 
and  Christ  was  dwelt  upon  at  large ;  His  treatment  of  him  during 
years  of  past  rebellion,  and  his  ungrateful  conduct  under  the  con- 
tinued invitations  of  divine  mercy :  with  examples  taken  from  the 
case  of  those  whose  absence  had  produced  this  unwonted  tenderness, 
of  unwearied  assiduity  and  kindness  on  God's  part,  requited  with  in- 
sult, ingratitude,  and  rebellion  on  his.  The  design  was  to  show  him, 
in  this  familiar  way,  the  exact  state  of  mind  into  which  he  was  re- 
quired to  come;  the  ingenuous  sorrow,  heartfelt  confidence,  and 
grateful  love,  whose  nature  and  reasonableness  he  could  so  perfectly 
understand  in  respect  to  an  earthly  parent.  I  have  thus  dwelt  for  a 
moment  on  the  instructions  given,  for  the  sake  of  remarking  how  ex- 
tremely simple  and  elementary  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  make 
them.  Such  is  the  case  even  with  those  who,  like  this  young  man, 
have  been  most  religiously  educated.  As  these  views  of  the  subject 
were  seen  to  open  his  mind  with  continually  deepening  interest  and 
solemnity,  under  the  prolonged  exhibition  of  Divine  truth,  the  ques- 
tion was  at  length  proposed,  "  Can  there  ever  be  a  more  favorable 
moment  than  the  present  for  attempting  to  put  forth  the  feelings  now 
described  ?  You  will  not  do  it,  indeed,  without  an  influence  from  on 
high.  That  influence  may  justly  be  withheld,  but  it  may,  also,  be 
granted :  t  Peradventure,  God  may  give  you  repentance.'  Will  you, 
then,  go  with  me  to  the  throne  of  grace,  not  to  gain  more  conviction, 
not  to  do  any  preparatory  work  (for  this  will  defeat  the  object),  but 
to  put  yourself  at  once,  as  I  go  before  you  in  prayer,  to  the  exercise 
of  this  ingenuous  sorrow  for  sin,  and  grateful  trust  in  the  blood  of 
Christ !"  They  knelt  down  together  to  perform  this  duty,  and  closed 
with  a  solemn  dedication  of  the  soul  to  God.  They  rose  and  read 
over  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  the  fifty-fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  other 
appropriate  passages,  and  went  again,  with  increased  solemnity,  to  the 
throne  of  grace.  Four  hours  were  thus  spent,  and  they  separated  for 
the  night.  They  met  in  the  morning,  and  the  young  man  said,  "  I 
hope  I  have  given  my  heart  to  God ;  I  think  I  did  it  before  we  parted 
last  evening."  That  hope  he  has  never  relinquished,  and  during  a 
number  of  years  which  have  since  elapsed,  the  uniform  tenor  of  his 


412  THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

life,  as  an  active  and  devoted  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  has 
given  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  was  not  deceived. 

This,  then,  is  the  point  to  which  all  my  observations  are  directed — 
the  union  of  these  two  doctrines  of  activity  and  dependence,  which 
are  so  commonly  felt  to  be  subversive  of  each  other ;  the  bringing  of 
both  to  bear  with  undiminished  force  on  the  minds  of  the  impenitent. 
Establish  one  of  these  doctrines  to  the  exclusion  or  weakening  of  the 
other,  and  just  to  the  same  extent  is  the  Gospel  robbed  of  its  power. 
Inculcate  dependence  without  pressing  to  the  act  of  instantly  giving  up 
the  heart  to  Christ,  and  the  sinner  sits  down  quietly  to  "  wait  God's 
time."  Urge  him  to  duty  on  the  ground  of  his  possessing  all  the 
requisite  power,  while  (with  the  Pelagians)  you  do  away  his  depend- 
ence, and  his  reluctant  heart  will  lead  him  to  take  his  own  time,  and 
that  is  never.  Address  him  on  the  Arminian  scheme  of  gracious  aid, 
which  is  always  ready  at  his  call  (except  in  cases  of  extreme  contu- 
macy), and  how  strongly  is  he  tempted  to  put  off  to  a  more  "con- 
venient season"  what  he  feels  may  at  any  time  be  done !  But  place 
him  under  the  pressure  of  both  these  doctrines — the  necessity  of 
action  on  his  part  in  coming  to  God,  the  weighty  obligations  which 
urge  him  to  it,  the  crushing  sense  of  guilt  every  moment  he  delays, 
the  momentous  interests  which  seem  to  be  crowded  into  the  decision 
of  the  passing  hour,  the  encouragement  to  "  strive  as  in  an  agony"  af- 
forded by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit's  influences  to  others  around  him  (an 
encouragement  peculiarly  great  in  seasons  of  revival,  and  giving  them 
so  much  of  their  power),  the  feeling  that  God  may  justly  withhold 
those  influences,  and  that  every  moment  of  delay  increases  the  dan- 
ger of  this  fearful  doom — and  have  we  not  here,  most  perfectly  com- 
bined, all  the  elements  of  that  system  of  grace  which  is  emphatically 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  ? 

I  will  conclude  my  remarks  on  this  part  of  my  subject  in  the  words 
of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin,  formerly  a  professor  at  Andover,  and 
afterward  president  of  Williams'  College,  Massachusetts.  Being  re- 
quested to  account  for  the  prevalence  of  revivals  in  this  country,  he 
gave  the  following  as  the  principal  reason :  "  It  is  found  in  the  distinct 
apprehensions  which  prevail  in  New  England  about  the  instantaneous- 
ness  of  regeneration,  the  sinfulness  of  every  moral  exercise  up  to  that 
moment,  and  the  duty  of  immediate  submission.  Such  a  view  of 
things  leads  the  preacher  to  divide  his  audience  into  two  classes,  and 
to  run  a  strong  and  affecting  line  of  demarcation  between  them.  When 
one  feels  that  the  moral,  sober,  prayerful,  unregenerated  part  of  his 
audience  are  doing  pretty  well,  and  can  afford  to  wait  a  little  longer 
before  they  submit,  he  will  not  be  so  pressing,  nor  fall  with  such  a 
tremendous  weight  upon  their  conscience.     When  he  feels  that  they 


CHAP.  VII.]  EEYIVALS   OF   RELIGION.  413 

can  not  do  much  more  than  they  do,  but  must  wait  God's  time,  he 
will  not  annoy  and  weary  them,  and  make  them  sick  of  waiting,  and 
compel  them  to  come  in.  But  when  one  enters  the  pulpit  under  a  solemn 
sense  that  every  unregenerate  man  before  him,  however  awakened,  is 
an  enemy  to  God,  is  resisting  with  all  his  heart,  and  will  continue  to 
resist  till  he  submits ;  that  he  must  be  '  born  again'  before  he  is  any 
better  than  an  enemy,  or  has  made  any  approaches  toward  holiness ; 
when  one  looks  round  upon  the  unregenerate  part  of  his  audience, 
and  sees  that  they  are  under  indispensable  obligations  to  yield  at 
once,  that  they  have  no  manner  of  excuse  for  delaying ;  that  they 
deserve  eternal  reprobation  for  postponing  an  hour ;  when  one  feels 
from  the  bottom  of  his  heart  that  there  is  nothing  short  of  regenera- 
tion that  can  answer  any  purpose,  and  that  he  can  not  leave  his  dear 
charge  to  be  turned  from  enemies  of  God  to  friends  ten  years 
hence ;  delivered  from  condemnation  ten  years  hence ;  but  must  see 
it  now :  oh !  how  will  he  pray  and  preach !  He  will  give  God  no  rest, 
and  he  will  give  sinners  no  rest ;  and  he  will  bring  down  their  imme- 
diate, pressing,  boundless  obligations  upon  them  with  the  weight  of 
a  world.  Under  such  preaching  sinners  must  either  turn  to  God  or 
be  miserable.  There  is  no  chance  for  them  to  remain  at  ease  this 
side  of  infidelity  itself." 

We  pass  now  to  consider  the  second  question  proposed,  viz.,  What 
is  there  in  the  fact  that  many  are  awakened  at  once,  and  are  pressing 
together  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is  peculiarly  adapted  (under 
the  Divine  blessing)  to  secure  the  desired  result  ?  This  question  has 
been  virtually  answered  in  the  facts  stated  or  implied  in  the  preceding 
part  of  this  chapter.  I  will,  however,  briefly  advert  to  them  again, 
and  present  in  a  single  view  some  of  those  influences  which  unite  to 
give  extraordinary  power  to  a  well-conducted  revival  of  religion. 

As  far  as  human  instrumentality  is  concerned,  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners depends  on  two  things — the  clear  and  vivid  presentation  of  Divine 
truth  to  their  minds,  and  importunate  prayer,  on  the  part  of  Chris- 
tians, for  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  give  that  truth  effect. 
I  am,  therefore,  to  show  what  there  is  in  these  seasons  of  concentrated 
religious  interest,  that  is  peculiarly  adapted  both  to  animate  the 
prayers  and  efforts  of  the  people  of  God,  and  to  give  the  Gospel 
readier  access  to  the  hearts  of  the  impenitent,  and  superior  efficacy  in 
bringing  them  to  "  the  obedience  of  the  truth."  In  doing  so,  I  shall 
point  to  certain  original  principles  of  our  mental  constitution,  which 
have  confessedly  very  great  power  in  moving  the  minds  of  men,  and 
shall  endeavor  to  show  that  revivals  appeal  to  these  principles  or 
springs  of  human  action,  with  a  force  and  effect  altogether  greater 
than  can  ever  be  realized  under  any  other  circumstances.    I  shall 


414  THE   CHUECH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMEEICA.  [BOOK  V. 

thus  give  what  may  not  improperly  be  termed  a  theory  of  revivals, 
and  shall  show  that  they  are  not  seasons  of  mere  excitement  and 
fanaticism,  but  might  reasonably  be  expected,  from  their  consistency 
with  the  laws  of  human  action,  to  produce  those  great  and  lasting 
reformations  with  which  they  have  actually  blessed  the  American 
Churches.  In  pursuing  the  subject,  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  suspected 
of  losing  sight  for  one  moment  of  the  fact,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
author  of  all  the  good  produced  in  this  case,  both  in  the  hearts  of 
Christians  and  impenitent  sinners.  But  it  is  the  glory  of  that  blessed 
Agent,  that,  in  dispensing  His  sanctifying  influences,  He  does  not  set 
aside  or  destroy  the  established  laws  of  human  agency ;  and  it  is  not, 
therefore,  detracting  from  these  influences,  but  rather  doing  them 
honor,  to  point  out  their  perfect  consistency  with  the  great  principles 
of  our  mental  constitution. 

1.  The  first  of  these  principles  to  which  I  shall  now  advert, 
and  relating  particularly  to  Christianity,  is  strongly-awakened 
desire. 

The  scenes  presented  in  a  revival  are  eminently  adapted  to  create 
those  strong  spiritual  desires  which  express  themselves  in  fervent 
prayer,  and  are  indispensable  to  all  successful  Christian  effort.  Let 
any  church,  in  its  ordinary  state  of  feeling,  hear  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  poured  out  on  a  neighboring  town ;  let  some  of  its  members  visit 
the  spot,  and  bring  back  a  report  of  what  is  passing  there ;  that  the 
people  of  God  are  animated  with  all  the  zeal  of  their  first  love, 
fervent  in  prayers  and  labors  for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  full  of  joy 
and  hope ;  let  them  tell  of  the  crowded  assemblies,  the  deathlike  still- 
ness, the  solemnity  and  awe  depicted  on  every  countenance;  of  some 
who  but  a  few  days  before  were  thoughtless  and  even  abandoned  to 
sin,  now  bowed  down  under  a  sense  of  guilt,  and  of  others  rejoicing 
in  the  hope  of  having  found  the  Saviour,  and  reconciliation  through 
His  blood ;  let  it  appear  that  there  is  nothing  disorderly  or  extrava- 
gant in  this  movement,  nothing  but  the  natural  and  appropriate  effect 
of  Divine  truth  applied  to  the  conscience  by  the  Spirit  of  God :  and 
what  is  there  that  can  appeal  more  strongly  to  all  the  sensibilities  of 
a  Christian  heart  ?  What  more  natural,  under  the  impulse  of  the 
fervent  desires  thus  awakened,  than  to  "  put  away  all  their  idols,"  to 
bow  before  God  in  deep  self-abasement  for  their  past  backslidings,  to 
mourn  over  the  multitudes  around  them  who  are  in  danger  of  perish- 
ing in  their  sins,  and  to  pour  out  the  prayer  of  the  prophet  from 
overflowing  hearts,  u  O  Lord,  revive  thy  work  in  the  midst  of  the 
years,  in  the  midst  of  the  years  make  known ;  in  wrath  remember 
mercy."  And  if,  through  the  grace  of  God,  a  similar  dispensation 
of  the  Spirit  is  granted  in  answer  to  their  prayers,  how  much  more 


CHAP.  VII.]  EEVIVALS   OF  EELIGION.  415 

fervent  and  absorbing  do  those  desires  become  as  the  blessing  is 
brought  home  to  their  own  doors !  How  do  we  see  parents  pleading 
for  their  children,  wives  for  their  husbands,  friend  for  friend,  with  all 
the  importunity  of  the  patriarch  of  old,  "  I  will  not  let  Thee  go,  ex- 
cept Thou  bless  me."  How  is  all  reserve  laid  aside — all  the  ordinary- 
backwardness  of  Christians  to  speak  and  act  openly  on  the  side  of 
the  Redeemer  abandoned,  and  every  feeling  absorbed  amid  these 
triumphs  of  Divine  grace,  in  the  one  great  question,  "  Lord,  what  wilt 
Thou  have  me  to  do"  for  the  advancement  of  Thy  cause  ?  Faint  and 
feeble,  indeed,  when  compared  with  these,  are  the  spiritual  desires 
which  are  found  to  prevail  in  any  ordinary  state  of  the  church. 

2.  The  second  of  these  principles,  now  to  be  mentioned,  is  expecta- 
tion. 

If  I  were  asked  why  revivals  are  so  frequent  in  America,  and  so 
rare  in  Europe,  my  first  answer  would  be,  that  Christians  on  one  side 
of  the  Atlantic  expect  them,  and  on  the  other  they  do  not  expect 
them.  These  seasons  of  "  refreshing  from  on  high"  are  a  part  of  the 
blessing  that  rested  on  our  fathers  ;  and  the  events  of  the  last  forty 
years,  especially,  have  taught  us,  that  if  we  seek  their  continuance  in 
the  spirit  of  those  with  whom  they  commenced,  we  shall  never  seek 
in  vain.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  to  confine  them  within  our  own 
borders.  They  have  been  carried  by  our  missionaries  to  a  number 
of  Indian  tribes.  Our  stations  in  Ceylon  have  been  repeatedly  visited 
with  the  effusions  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
within  the  last  three  years,*  have  been  favored  with  one  of  the  most 
glorious  dispensations  of  Divine  grace  that  the  world  has  ever 
witnessed.  Similar  periods  of  "refreshing  from  on  high"  existed 
formerly  in  Scotland ;  and  there  are  cheering  indications  in  recent 
events,  that  God  may  even  now  be  ready  to  bring  down  again  the 
blessings  of  their  fathers  upon  the  churches  in  that  country.  In  all 
the  evangelical  churches  of  Europe,  indeed,  where  the  Gospel  is 
preached  with  plainness  and  power,  there  are  seasons  of  more  than 
ordinary  religious  interest,  which,  if  not  revivals  in  our  sense  of  the 
term  (and  they  sometimes  are),  would  undoubtedly  become  revivals 
if  the  same  expectation  of  this  result  could  only  pervade  those" 
churches  which  animates  their  brethren  of  America  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances. 

But,  leaving  this  more  general  view  of  the  subject,  it  is  obvious 
that  nothing  is  more  calculated  to  fill  the  hearts  of  Christians  with 
courage,  and  expectation,  and  hope,  than  the  feeling  that  God  is  in 
the  midst  of  them  with  the  peculiar  dispensation  of  His  grace.  One 
must  witness  the  scene,  indeed,  to  have  any  just  conception  of  the 

*  The  years  of  1839,  '40,  '41. 


416  THE   CHUECH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

power  of  a  revival  in  this  respect — of  the  multiplied  appeals  which  it 
makes  to  this  most  essential  element  in  all  the  successful  efforts  of  men. 
"  God  is  pouring  out  His  Spirit  in  a  neighboring  town !"  In  how 
many  hundreds  of  instances  has  this  thought,  and  the  encouragement 
it  afforded,  been  the  starting-point  of  those  exertions,  which  resulted, 
under  the  Divine  blessing,  in  the  commencement  of  one  revival 
more  !  "  God  is  here  with  the  effusions  of  His  Spirit !"  Who  does 
not  feel  the  thrill  of  joy,  of  hope,  of  confidence,  which  pervades  the 
heart  of  every  spiritually-minded  Christian!  What  can  be  more 
suited  to  revive  the  decaying  graces  of  backsliders,  and  to  bring  the 
whole  Church  to  harmonious  action,  to  fervent  prayer,  and  strenuous 
effort  ?  Where  the  confidence  thus  inspired  has  been  high,  and  yet 
humble,  resting  on  the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit  and  the  eflicacy  of 
Divine  truth,  when  has  God  ever  failed  to  bestow  a  signal  blessing  ? 
On  the  contrary,  if  the  work  of  grace  has  not  gone  forward,  as  was 
hoped,  how  uniformly  do  we  find  that  the  people  of  God  either  became 
faint-hearted  in  consequence  of  some  difficulty  or  delay,  and  did  not 
expect  to  succeed ;  or  that  their  confidence  was  misplaced,  that  they 
rested  on  some  favorite  instrument  or  system  of  measures,  and  not 
on  the  arm  of  the  Most  High !  Nor  is  the  influence  of  which  I  speak 
confined  to  Christians.  It  acts  on  the  minds  of  the  impenitent  in 
various  ways,  and  with  great  power.  "  God  is  calling  some  of  my 
companions  into  His  kingdom !"  This  thought  strikes  upon  the  hearts 
of  many  who  have  been  religiously  educated,  who  have  always  in- 
tended at  some  time  to  seek  eternal  life,  and  who  are  induced  by 
what  is  passing  around  them  to  do  it  now,  because  they  are  encour- 
aged to  hope  they  shall  succeed.  "  God  is  renewing  the  hearts  of 
many  others,  why  may  He  not  renew  mine  ?"  This  thought  to  the 
awakened  sinner,  writhing  under  conviction  of  sin,  crushed  by  a 
sense  of  his  utterly  helpless  condition  in  himself  considered,  tempted, 
under  repeated  failures,  to  give  up  all  in  despair — this  thought  affords 
him  an  encouragement  which  is  worth  to  him  more  than  worlds  be- 
sides; and,  as  I  before  remarked,  it  is  an  encouragement  which 
especially  abounds  in  a  season  of  revival.  "  God  is  causing  the  stout- 
hearted to  fall  before  Him !"  This  thought  often  awakens  in  the 
impenitent  another  kind  of  expectation,  mingled  with  dread,  as  a 
revival  goes  forward ;  it  is,  that  they  will  he  compelled  to  yield;  that 
they  can  not  stand  before  it.  Sometimes  it  disarms  opposition,  and 
sometimes  it  makes  men  flee.  An  instance  occurs  to  me,  which  I 
will  briefly  mention.  A  student  in  one  of  our  colleges,  during  a  pow- 
erful work  of  grace,  struggled  for  a  time  to  ward  off  conviction,  by 
argument  and  ridicule,  and  finding  that  he  could  not  succeed,  framed 
a  plausible  excuse,  and  obtained  liberty  to  return  home.  As  he  drove 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   EELIGION.  417 

into  his  native  village,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  rejoicing  at  the 
thought  of  having  escaped  from  the  revival,  he  saw  large  numbers  of 
people  returning  from  the  house  of  God.  "What  has  happened? 
What  is  going  on  ?"  was  his  first  inquiry  when  he  alighted  at  his 
father's  door.  "  A  revival  of  religion  has  just  commenced,',  was  the 
reply;  and  one  and  another  of  his  most  thoughtless  companions  were 
mentioned  as  under  conviction  of  sin.  He  felt  like  one  of  old,  that  it 
was  in  vain  to  flee  from  the  presence  of  God.  All  his  former  con- 
victions revived  at  once,  aggravated  by  a  sense  of  his  guilt  in  striving 
to  suppress  them.  He  gave  himself  to  the  pursuit  of  eternal  life, 
and,  through  the  grace  of  God  (as  he  hoped),  within  a  few  days 
found  the  Saviour  from  whom  he  had  attempted  to  flee.  He  re- 
turned at  once  to  college,  called  immediately  on  those  whom  he  had 
deterred  from  seriousness  by  his  influence  and  example,  and  invited 
them  to  his  room  that  evening,  telling  them  that  he  had  a  story  to 
relate.  When  they  met,  he  gave  them  a  full  account  of  the  efforts 
he  had  made  to  resist  the  strivings  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  conclusion 
to  which  (through  the  grace  of  God)  he  had  come,  and  ended  with 
the  exhortation,  "  Go  ye  and  do  likewise."  Such  are  some  of  the 
ways  in  which  revivals  appeal  to  this  powerful  principle  of  our  nature, 
with  a  force  never  to  be  expected  at  a  period  of  no  general  interest 
in  religion. 

3.  A  third  principle,  intimately  connected  with  this  subject,  is  sym- 
pathy. God,  in  establishing  public  worship,  has  decided  that  the 
social  and  sympathetic  feelings  of  our  nature  ought  to  be  enlisted  in 
the  cause  of  religion.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  it  were  other- 
wise ;  if  that  powerful  principle  which  binds  man  to  his  fellow  were 
yielded  up  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  unnumbered  millions  who 
"  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil,"  and  were  never  employed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  bringing  those  who  act  in  ,masses  on  every  other  sub- 
ject, to  act,  at  least  sometimes;  together  in  coining  to  the  "obedience 
of  the  truth."  That  strong  tendency  of  our  nature  to  be  moved  and 
excited  because  we  see  others  excited  around  us,  is  not  of  necessity 
a  blind  and  headlong  impulse ;  it  may  be  guided  by  reason,  and  made 
subservient  to  the  best  ends  of  our  intellectual  and  moral  existence. 
In  respect  to  every  subject  but  religion,  this  is  conceded  by  all ;  and 
he  would  be  thought  superlatively  weak  who  should  refuse  the  aid  of 
sympathy  in  any  other  enterprise  for  the  well-being  of  man.  But 
what  is  there  so  mysterious  or  unreasonable  in  the  fact,  that  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  impressed  one  mind  with  a  sense  of  its  responsibilities 
and  violated  obligations,  and  awakened  within  it  correspondent  feelings 
of  fear,  shame,  and  self-condemnation,  these  views  and  feelings  should 
spread  by  contact  into  other  minds  ;  that  this  blessed  Agent  should 

27 


418  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

make  use  of  sympathy  as  well  as  attention,  memory,  and  various 
other  principles  of  our  nature,  in  bringing  men  to  a  knowledge  of 
God  ?     That  he  does  so  operate  where  revivals  are  wholly  unknown, 
that  the  awakening  of  one  individual  is  frequently  made  the  occasion 
of  arresting  the  attention  of  a  number  of  his  associates,  and  fastening 
conviction  on  their  minds,  is  matter  of  familiar  observation  in  every 
religious  community.   When  such  cases  become  numerous,  and  other 
influences  unite  with  this  to  deepen  the  impression  of  Divine  truth, 
that  is,  when  there  is  a  revival,  this  principle  operates  with  still  greater 
power  and  much  wider  extent.     Hundreds  are  drawn  to  religious 
meetings  at  first,  simply  because  the  current  sets  that  way.     When 
there,  they  are  led  by  the  awe  and  solemnity  which  pervade  the  place 
to  listen,  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  with  fixed  attention 
and  impartial  self-application  to  the  word  dispensed.     Their  incipient 
conviction  of  sin  is  heightened  by  the  emotion  which  prevails  around 
them,  and  by  conversation  with  those  who  have  felt  longer  and 
more  deeply  than  themselves.    They  are  led  to  "strive  as  in  an 
agony,"  to  "  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  and  thus  "  the  kin  dom  of 
heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force."     As  the 
strong  images  I  have  used,  so  perfectly  descriptive  of  the  state  of 
things  in  a  revival,  are  borrowed  from  the  language  employed  by  our 
Saviour  himself,  with  evident  approbation,  in  describing  similar  scenes 
in  his  own  day,  it  is  certain  there  is  nothing  inconsistent  with  perfect 
soundness  of  mind,  or  the  presence  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit,  in  a  sea- 
son of  simultaneous  and  highly-awakened  interest  on  the  subject  of 
the  soul's  salvation.     That  such  seasons  are  liable  to  be  abused,  and 
have,  in  some  instances,  actually  degenerated,  under  the  guidance  of 
weak  and  rash  men,  into  scenes  of  disorder  or  mere  animal  excite- 
ment, is  no  more  an  argument  against  them,  than  a  similar  abuse  of 
any  of  the  great  powers  of  nature,  or  principles  of  our  mental  consti- 
tution, is  an  argument  against  their  legitimate  and  well-directed  use. 
We  should  remember,  too,  that  if  there  is  danger  on   one   side, 
there  is  danger,  also,  on  the  other.    Men  die  of  palsy  as  well  as  fe- 
ver.    And  when  so  many  millions  are  sunk  in  the  anticipated  slum- 
bers of  the  second  death,  we  ought  not  to  be  too  timid  or  fastidious 
as  to  the  means  employed  in  awakening  them  to  the  extremity  of 
their  danger.    The  fact,  however,  is  (as  more  and  more  fully  shown 
in  our  revivals),  there  can  be  in  very  powerful  operation  what  may  be 
called  moral  sympathy,  that  is,  the  action  of  one  mind  upon  another 
in  sober,  calm,  but  very  deep  emotion,  under  just  views  of  Divine 
truth,  without  any  of  that  animal  excitement  or  nervous  agitation 
which  lead  to  strong  and  sometimes  disorderly  exhibition  of  feeling. 
In  this  respect  a  very  important  change  has  taken  place  in  our  New 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  419 

England  revivals  in  the  progress  of  a  century.  During  the  remark- 
able work  of  grace  in  1735,  persons  were  often  so  agitated  under  the 
powerful  preaching  of  the  word,  as  to  groan  and  cry  out  in  the  midst 
of  religious  worship  under  the  anguish  of  their  spirit.  The  clergy 
did  not  encourage  these  strong  expressions  of  feeling,  but  they 
thought  them,  to  some  extent,  perhaps  unavoidable,  and,  therefore, 
to  be  tolerated.  In  the  progress  of  the  next  great  revival,  in  1740-43, 
this  practice  became  still  more  prevalent,  and  was  connected,  to  a 
great  extent,  with  other  forms  of  bodily  excitement,  such  as  trances, 
etc.,  which  produced  great  contention,  and  created  a  prejudice,  in  the 
minds  of  many,  against  the  entire  work.  This  led  our  Congrega- 
tional clergy,  when  revivals  commenced  on  a  broad  scale  at  the  close 
of  the  last  century,  to  unite  from  the  first  to  discountenance  this 
practice  ;  to  repress  mere  animal  excitement  of  every  kind ;  to  make 
their  religious  meetings,  especially  in  the  evening,  short  (not  gener- 
ally exceeding  an  hour  or  an  hour  and  a  half),  in  order  to  prevent 
exhaustion  and  nervous  agitation ;  and  to  impress  upon  their  people 
that  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ought  to  be  recognized  in  silence 
and  awe,  not  with  noise  and  confusion.  So  complete  was  their  suc- 
cess that,  although  I  have  been  much  conversant  with  revivals  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  I  have  never,  but  in  one  instance,  and  that  a 
very  slight  one  and  for  a  moment,  witnessed  any  audible  expression 
of  emotion  in  a  religious  assembly.  All  our  experience  has  shown 
that  it  is  wholly  unnecessary,  and  from  what  we  see  in  some  sects 
where  it  prevails  to  some  extent,  we  are  constrained  to  feel  that  it  is 
injurious,  not  only  as  creating  prejudices  against  revivals,  but  as  lead- 
ing many  to  mistake  nervous  excitement  for  the  influence  of  the  Holy 

Spirit. 

4.  A  fourth  of  these  principles  is  the  spirit  of  inquiry  awakened 
among  the  thoughtless  and  prejudiced  by  the  striking  scenes  of  a 

revival. 

When  crowds  are  seen  flocking  to  the  house  of  God,  many  persons 
are  drawn  thither  by  the  impulse  of  mere  curiosity,  and  when  thus 
brought  under  the  power  of  Divine  truth,  are  often  taught  of  the 
Spirit ;  like  the  Athenians  assembled  by  the  same  impulse  around 
Paul  on  Mars  Hill,  who,  we  are  told,  "  clave  unto  him  and  believed." 
Others,  who  have  always  doubted  or  denied  the  doctrines  of  grace,  are 
led,  by  what  is  going  on  around  them,  to  enter  into  the  argument  for 
the  first  time  with  candor  and  attention ;  until,  struck  by  the  blaze  of 
evidence,  not  only  from  the  word  preached,  but  from  the  lives  and 
conversation  of  Christians  in  their  revived  state,  like  the  man  de- 
scribed in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  they  are  "  convinced  of  all, 
are  judged  of  all,  and  so  falling  down  on  the  face,  shall  worship  God, 


420  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

and  report  that  God  is  in  you  of  a  truth."  Others  still,  who  were 
wholly  skeptical  as  to  the  existence  of  any  inward  principle  of  spir- 
itual life,  when  they  witness  the  amazing  change  produced  in  the 
character  of  many  around  them,  are  compelled  to  exclaim,  "  This  is 
indeed  the  finger  of  God."  Many,  too,  who  went  to  religious  meet- 
ings purposely  to  find  occasion  to  cavil  and  blaspheme,  have  had  the 
scales  fall  from  their  eyes  in  the  midst  of  their  iniquity,  and  been  led 
to  cry  out  with  the  persecutor  of  old,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me 
to  do  ?"  Thus  the  notoriety  given  to  religion  by  the  scenes  of  a  re- 
vival is  turned  with  great  effect  to  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel. 

5.  As  a  fifth  of  these  principles,  I  may  mention  the  influence  of  that 
prolonged  and  exclusive  attention  to  Divine  truth  which  prevails  in 
a  revival. 

The  power  of  fixed  and  continuous  attention  in  deepening  the  im- 
pressions of  any  subject  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  principles  of  men- 
tal science.  To  nothing,  however,  does  it  apply  with  so  much  force 
as  religion,  whose  objects  are  at  once  so  vast,  so  remote,  and  so  re- 
pulsive to  the  natural  heart.  Men  must  look  at  their  condition  and 
ponder  it  deeply,  before  they  can  feel  the  extremity  of  their  wretched- 
ness and  guilt.  It  is  the  first  step  in  turning  to  God ;  and  one  reason, 
no  doubt,  why  so  many  sit  from  year  to  year  under  the  ordinary 
preaching  of  the  word,  moved  and  affected,  in  some  degree,  almost 
every  Sabbath,  and  yet  making  no  progress  in  Divine  things,  is,  that 
the  impressions  produced  are  not  folloiced  up  and  deepened  during 
the  subsequent  week.  On  the  contrary,  even  when  a  person  feels  but 
slightly  moved,  if  his  mind  can  be  held  to  the  subject  in  steady  and 
prolonged  attention,  while  every  object  is  excluded  that  can  divert 
his  thoughts,  and  the  whole  field  of  vision  is  filled  with  clear  and 
vivid  exhibitions  of  Divine  truth,  it  is  surprising  to  see  how  rapid,  in 
many  cases,  the  progress  of  conviction  becomes.  An  instance  has 
already  been  mentioned  (and  many  others  might  be  adduced)  of  a 
young  man  who  appeared  to  be  brought  in  this  way,  through  Divine 
grace,  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  in  a  conversation  of  a  few  hours. 
The  period  was  still  shorter  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles ;  and  whether 
it  be  the  will  of  God  to  make  it  long  or  short,  the  best  means  cer- 
tainly that  a  man  can  use  is,  to  hold  the  mind  fixed  in  the  solemn 
contemplation  of  Divine  truth. 

But  the  impenitent,  to  a  great  extent,  are  very  imperfectly  qualified 
for  such  a  task.  Their  minds  are  so  wandering,  so  unused  to  dwell 
on  spiritual  objects,  so  estranged  from  the  throne  of  grace,  so  entirely 
in  the  dark  as  to  the  nature  of  those  feelings  with  which  they  must 
come  to  God,  that  most  of  the  time  they  give  to  contemplation  is 
wasted  in  chaotic  thought ;  and  they  are  often  led  to  relinquish  the 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  421 

attempt  in  despair.  It  is  not,  therefore,  sufficient,  when  their  atten- 
tion is  awakened,  to  send  them  to  their  Bibles  and  their  closets.  In 
addition  to  this,  they  need,  at  every  step,  the  assistance  of  an  expe- 
rienced mind  to  hold  them  to  the  subject,  to  remove  obstacles  out  of 
the  way,  and  throw  light  on  the  path  before  them.  Here,  then,  is  the 
great  principle  of  revivals.  At  certain  seasons  which  seem  peculiarly 
to  promise  a  Divine  blessing,  an  extraordinary  effort  is  made  (such  as 
can  not  from  its  nature  last  many  months)  to  bring  the  impenitent 
completely  under  the  power  of  Divine  truth.  Religious  meetings  are 
made  so  frequent,  as  not,  on  the  one  hand,  to  weary  and  distract  the 
mind,  nor,  on  the  other,  to  leave  the  impression  made  at  one  meeting 
to  be  effaced  or  much  weakened  before  the  next  arrives ;  but  to  keep 
the  impenitent  constantly,  as  it  were,  in  an  atmosphere  of  Divine 
truth,  brightening  continually  around  them,  and  bringing  their  minds 
more  and  more  perfectly  under  "  the  power  of  the  world  to  come." 
There  is  preaching,  perhaps,  an  hour  every  evening,  but  the  subject 
is  not  left  there.  At  the  close  of  the  service,  all  who  are  willing  to 
be  considered  as  serious  inquirers  are  invited  to  remain  for  a  half 
hour  longer,  to  receive  more  familiar  and  direct  instruction  suited  to 
their  case;  while  the  members  of  the  church  withdraw  to  the  vestry, 
or  some  other  convenient  room,  to  implore  the  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  the  meeting  to  be  continued  under  these  new  and  more  in- 
teresting circumstances.  There  is  much  to  awaken  deep  emotion  in 
the  separation  thus  made ;  as  parent  and  child,  husband  and  wife, 
friend  and  friend,  part  from  each  other,  the  one  to  be  prayed  for  and 
the  other  to  pray.  The  great  object  of  the  meeting  with  inquirers, 
as  thus  continued,  is  to  bring  them  at  once  to  the  point;  to  an- 
ticipate and  remove  objections;  to  draw  them  off  from  resting  in  any 
mere  preparatory  work ;  to  set  before  them  the  great  objects  in  view  of 
which,  if  at  all,  they  will  (through  Divine  grace)  exercise  right  affec- 
tions, and  then  call  them  to  do  it  /  leading  them  to  the  throne  of 
grace  in  the  fervent  expression  of  repentance  for  sin,  faith  in  Christ, 
and  deliberate  consecration  to  the  service  of  God.  The  inquirers  are 
then  invited  to  assemble  again  at  some  convenient  hour  the  next  day 
or  the  next  evening,  if  there  is  preaching  only  every  other  night — 
at  what  is  called  the  meeting  for  inquiry.  Here  the  pastor  converses 
for  a  few  moments  with  each  individual  separately  as  to  the  peculiar 
state  of  his  feelings,  and  then  addresses  them  collectively,  as  before, 
on  the  one  great  subject  of  coming  at  once  to  Christ.  An  hour  is 
also  appointed  at  which  he  will  meet  those  who  are  desirous  to  see 
him  alone.  Those  who  entertain  hopes  are  strictly  examined,  formed 
into  praying  associations,  encouraged  to  judicious  effort  for  the  salva- 
tion of  others,  and  frequently  assembled  as  a  body  to  receive  instruc- 


422  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

tion  in  the  evidences  of  genuine  piety.  The  members  of  the  church, 
in  the  mean  time,  if  they  do  their  duty,  are  actively  engaged,  ac- 
cording to  their  ability,  in  similar  labors  in  their  own  families  and 
neighborhoods.  Their  efforts,  if  well  directed,  present  religion  in  a 
new  and  striking  form.  It  is  brought  home  to  "  the  business  and 
bosoms  of  men,"  as  it  can  never  be  by  mere  preaching.  Thus,  in  a 
great  variety  of  ways,  Divine  truth  is  made  to  bear  on  the  impenitent 
during  the  progress  of  a  revival,  with  a  directness,  force,  and  con- 
tinuity of  impression,  which  can  never  be  attained  under  any  other 
circumstances ;  while  the  people  of  God  are  pleading  before  Him  to 
give  that  Truth  effect,  with  a  fervor  of  supplication  corresponding  to 
the  interest  of  the  scene  around  them. 

6.  Another  principle  involved  in  revivals  is,  the  removal  of  many 
causes  %chich  prevent  the  access  of  Divine  truth  to  the  mind  under 
ordinary  circumstances. 

I  can  barely  glance  at  a  few  of  these.  In  a  season  of  general  re- 
ligious interest,  much  of  that  reserve  is  laid  aside  which  ordinarily 
prevails  in  respect  to  close  conversation  on  personal  religion,  and 
which  forms  so  effectual  a  guard  for  backsliding  Christians  and  im- 
penitent sinners,  against  the  intrusion  of  this  unwelcome  subject. 
Men  are  expected,  at  such  times,  to  speak  freely ;  and  if  they  do  it 
with  kindness  and  a  little  tact,  they  can  converse  with  almost  any 
one  on  the  state  of  his  spiritual  concerns  without  wounding  his  pride 
or  awakening  his  resentment. 

The  sense  of  shame,  the  reluctance  to  be  singular — one  of  the 
strongest  impediments  (especially  with  the  young)  to  entering  on  a 
religious  course — loses,  at  such  times,  almost  all  its  power.  In  an  ex- 
tensive revival,  the  singularity  lies  on  the  other  side. 

Those  changes  in  business  or  family  arrangements,  which  must 
often  be  made  as  the  result  of  becoming  religious,  are  regarded  at 
such  seasons  with  diminished  dread  and  repugnance.  Is  a  man  en- 
gaged in  some  dishonorable  or  sinful  employment,  as,  for  instance,  the 
making  or  vending  of  ardent  spirits  ?  The  sacrifice  is  less  when  he 
is  only  one  among  many  who  are  called  to  make  it.  Has  the  subject 
of  family  prayer  been  an  impediment  to  his  entering  on  a  religious 
course  ?  Such  are  the  habits  and  feelings  of  our  churches,  that  no 
one  can  be  recognized  as  a  consistent  Christian  who  refuses  to  lead 
his  household  statedly  to  the  throne  of  grace.  Has  a  feeling  of  diffi- 
dence or  awkwardness  as  to  commencing  this  duty  been  one  reason 
for  shrinking  from  the  service  of  Christ  ?  How  entirely  does  this 
obstacle  disappear  when  so  many  around  are  erecting  the  family 
altar,  when,  as  I  once  knew  in  a  single  small  neighborhood,  twelve 


CHAP.  VII.1  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  423 

plain  and  uneducated  men  in  one  week  are  seen  entering  on  the  duty 
of  family  worship. 

The  ordinary  amusements  of  life,  which  interest  the  feelings  and 
divert  the  attention,  are  at  such  periods  wholly  laid  aside  among  those 
who  are  friendly  to  revivals. 

The  concerns  of  business  are  made  to  yield  on  such  occasions  to 
^the  higher  interests  of  eternity.  The  people  of  God  will  find  or  make 
time  for  the  numerous  seasons  of  prayer  and  preaching  which  demand 
their  presence ;  and  will  so  arrange  that  their  children  and  dependents 
shall  enjoy  every  facility  that  is  requisite  to  the  effectual  pursuit  of 
eternal  life. 

Such,  without  dwelling  further  on  the  subject,  are  some  of  the 
ways  in  which  the  impediments  to  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  are  re- 
moved out  of  the  way,  by  extraordinary  seasons  of  attention  to  re- 
ligion. 

7.  The  next  principle  which  I  shall  mention  is,  the  tendency  of  re- 
vivals to  bring  men  to  a  decision,  and  to  make  them  decide  right  on 
the  subject  of  religion. 

"Hell,"  says  a  quaint  old  writer,  "is  paved  with  good  inten- 
tions"— intentions  never  carried  into  effect,  because  the  time  for  their 
execution  never  quite  arrived.  On  these  dreams  of  the  future  a  re- 
vival breaks  in  with  startling  power,  and  calls  men  to  instant  decision : 
"  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve."  Those  who  believe  in  re- 
ligion at  all,  believe  and  know  that  they  can  never  enjoy  a  more  favor- 
able season  to  secure  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  Every  thing,  at 
such  a  time,  presses  upon  them  with  united  force  to  make  them  decide 
at  once,  and  decide  right.  The  well-known  shortness  of  such  a  season, 
to  them,  perhaps,  the  end  of  their  day  of  grace — the  uncommon 
clearness  and  pungency  with  which  the  truth  is  preached — the  solici- 
tude of  Christian  friends — the  importunity  of  young  converts  who 
have  just  "  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious" — the  impulse  of  the 
mass  of  mind  around  them,  moving  in  one  direction,  with  all  the  mul- 
tiplied influences  that  concentrate  in  a  revival,  unite  to  impress  the 
truth  with  irresistible  force,  "  Now  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation."  In  the  mean  time,  one  step  prepares  the  way  for 
another ;  a  decision  on  one  point  braces  up  the  mind  for  further  and 
more  important  decisions  in  the  onward  progress.  "  Shall  I  yield  to 
the  urgency  of  my  friends,  and  regularly  attend  religious  meetings?" 
The  effort  costs  perhaps  but  little.  "  Shall  I  remain  after  the  service 
^closes,  and  thus  acknowledge  myself  an  inquirer  ?"  The  struggle  is 
far  greater,  but  if  the  victory  be  gained  over  this  backwardness  and 
pride,  he  is  still  more  likely  to  go  on.  "  Shall  I  attend  the  meeting  for 
inquiry  ?"     "  Shall  I  go  to  my  pastor,  lay  open  my  heart,  and  tell 


424  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

him  of  the  world  of  iniquity  which  I  find  within  ?"  In  addition  to 
the  other  happy  consequences  of  taking  such  a  step,  the  strength  of 
purpose  gained  by  the  effort  is  one  security  against  his  going  back : 
he  is  now  committed,  and  a  sense  of  consistency  unites  with  higher 
motives  to  urge  him  forward.  Thus  the  multiplied  exercises  of  a  re- 
vival bring  the  sinner  continually  to  the  trial;  press  him  to  in- 
stantaneous decision ;  and  prepare  the  way,  through  Divine  grace,  for 
his  entering  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

8.  Another  principle  involved  in  revivals  is  the  tendency  of  that 
lively  joy  which  prevails  among  Christians  and  especially  young  con- 
verts, to  render  religion  attractive  to  the  unconverted. 

At  ordinary  seasons,  a  life  of  piety  too  often  appears  to  the  impeni- 
tent, and  especially  to  the  young,  under  a  forbidding  aspect.  Chris- 
tians find  but  little  in  the  state  of  things  around  them  to  call  forth 
their  affections,  before  the  unconverted,  in  lively  expressions  of  spir- 
itual joy.  If  they  do  not  decline  in  the  warmth  of  their  feelings  (as 
they  too  often  do),  they  are  apt  at  least  to  retire  within  themselves, 
and  to  seek  their  chief  enjoyment  in  secret  communion  with  God. 
But  in  times  of  revival  every  thing  is  changed.  Their  hearts  naturally 
flow  forth  in  warm  expressions  of  thankfulness  and  joy,  as  they  witness 
again  the  triumphs  of  Divine  grace.  They  renew  the  fervors  of  their 
first  love.  In  their  intercourse  with  the  unconverted,  they  naturally 
assume  an  unwonted  tenderness  of  manner,  as  they  seek  to  bring  them 
by  their  faithful  admonitions  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  effect  is 
often  most  striking.  The  impenitent  look  at  religion  under  a  new  as- 
pect, as  they  see  the  kindness  and  solicitude  of  so  many  around  them 
for  their  spiritual  good.  A  lady,  during  a  recent  revival,  as  she  en- 
tered the  shop  of  a  tradesman  of  infidel  principles,  recollected  that, 
though  she  had  dealt  with  him  for  some  years,  she  had  never  spoken 
to  him  on  the  subject  of  religion.  She  alluded  at  once  to  the  scenes 
which  were  then  passing  in  the  town ;  to  the  surprising  changes  that 
had  taken  place  in  some  of  her  acquaintance ;  and  inquired  whether 
any  of  those  whom  he  employed  were  interested  in  the  work.  The 
man  was  deeply  affected  as  the  conversation  went  on,  and  at  last, 
wiping  his  eyes,  he  said,  with  much  emotion,  "  I  know  not  why  it  is 
that  the  ladies  who  deal  with  me  are  so  anxious  for  my  good.  A 
number  have  spoken  to  me  on  the  subject  before,  and  one  or  two 
have  conversed  with  some  of  my  workmen.  Religion  must  be  some- 
thing very  different  from  what  I  had  supposed." 

But  the  effect  on  the  impenitent  is  still  more  striking,  when  they 
witness  the  joy  that  is  manifested  in  the  countenance  and  conversa- 
tion of  the  new  converts  to  religion.  Every  natural  man  bears  in  his 
bosom  a  testimony  that  he  is  in  the  wrong.     He  has,  too,  a  sense  of 


CHAP.  VII.]  REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION.  425 

want,  an  insatiable  desire  of  some  good  which  he  has  never  yet  ob- 
tained ;  and  when  he  sees  multitudes  around  him  who  have  found 
that  good,  where  he  knows  it  can  alone  exist,  in  the  favor  of  God, 
how  strong  is  the  appeal  to  one  of  the  deepest  principles  of  our  na- 
ture, especially  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  already  somewhat  con- 
vinced of  sin,  and  of  the  unsatisfying  nature  of  all  worldly  enjoy- 
ment !  It  is  the  very  appeal  so  beautifully  set  forth  in  the  parable  of 
the  prodigal  son.  It  was  the  reflection  that  there  was  bread  enough 
and  to  spare  in  his  father's  house,  while  he  perished  with  hunger,  that 
made  him  exclaim,  "I  will  arise  and  go  unto  my  father."  Some  years 
ago,  two  young  ladies,  under  deep  conviction  of  sin,  went,  after  an 
evening  meeting,  to  the  house  of  their  pastor  for  further  instruction. 
As  the  preacher  conversed  with  them  much  at  large,  and  was  urging 
them,  by  motives  drawn  from  the  love  of  Christ,  instantly  to  accept 
the  offered  salvation,  one  of  them  was  observed  to  rest  her  head 
upon  her  hand,  as  in  deep  abstraction,  till  her  face  sank  at  last  on  the 
table,  in  solemn  and  overpowering  emotion.  After  a  few  moments  of 
entire  silence,  she  looked  up  with  a  countenance  of  serene  joy,  dropped 
upon  one  knee  before  her  companion,  and  said,  with  the  simplicity  of 
a  child,  "  Julia,  do  love  Christ.  He  is  so  beautiful.  Do  come  with 
me  and  love  Him !"  This  led  Julia  to  the  reflection,  "  She  has  entered 
in  while  I  remain  out."  "  One  shall  be  taken  and  another  left."  It 
was  this  which  seemed  to  be  the  means  (under  God)  of  bringing 
her  also  to  Christ  before  she  laid  her  head  that  night  upon  the 

pillow. 

9.  The  last  of  these  principles  to  which  I  shall  advert  is,  the 
solemnity  and  awe  inspired  by  a  sense  of  the  pemliar  presence  of 
God,  the  sanctifying  Spirit. 

The  feeling  of  the  supernatural  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
subduing  emotions  of  the  human  heart.  It  has  been  used  by  the  ad- 
versary of  souls  to  convert  unnumbered  millions  into  bond-slaves  of 
the  most  degrading  superstition ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  being  employed 
by  the  Spirit  of  all  grace,  as  an  instrument  of  bringing  the  chosen  of 
God  to  that  liberty  wherewith  Christ  shall  make  them  free.  It  is  the 
great  distinctive  sentiment  of  a  revival  of  religion.  "  How  dreadful 
is  this  place  :  it  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of 
heaven."  Such  is  the  feeling  with  which  those  who  believe  in  the 
reality  of  Divine  influence  move  amid  the  scenes  winch  are  hallowed 
by  the  especial  presence  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit.  In  the  children  of 
God,  as  they  are  employed  in  bearing  forward  the  triumphs  of  His 
grace,  it  awakens  that  mingled  awe  and  delight  which  we  may  im- 
agine filled  the  breasts  of  those  who  bore  before  the  armies  of  Israel 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  on  which  rested  the  Shechinah  of  the  Most 


426  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

High.  To  the  enemies  of  God  it  comes  with  a  solemnity  of  appeal 
second  only  to  that  of  the  bed  of  death  and  the  scenes  of  approach- 
ing judgment,  as  they  see  around  them  the  striking  manifestations 
of  His  presence  who  "will  have  mercy  on  whom  He  will  have  mercy, 
and  whom  He  will  He  hardeneth."  "  Grieve  not  the  Spirit,"  is  the 
admonition  continually  impressed  upon  them  by  the  messengers  of 
the  Most  High.  "  Grieve  not  the  Spirit,"  is  the  argument  urged 
especially  by  those  who  have  recently  tasted  the  sweetness  of  His 
renovating  grace.  "  Grieve  not  the  Spirit,"  is  the  admonition  which 
comes  to  them  at  times  from  those  who  feel  that  they  have  wasted 
their  day  of  grace.  A  striking  instance  of  this  kind  occurred  within 
my  own  knowledge.  A  lady  who  had  passed  unsubdued  through 
more  than  one  of  these  seasons  of  visitation  from  on  high,  and  who 
had  deliberately  stifled  her  convictions  and  delayed  repentance,  was 
lying  on  the  bed  of  death  when  another  revival  commenced.  When 
entreated  to  avail  herself  of  this  last  period  (to  her)  of  the  Spirit's  in- 
fluences, she  replied  that  it  was  utterly  in  vain ;  that  she  had  deliber- 
ately resisted  His  grace,  and  now  felt  that  the  curse  of  abandonment 
was  upon  her.  Nothing  could  change  her  views.  She  went  down 
to  the  grave  with  the  admonition  continually  upon  her  lips,  to  those 
who  stood  around  her  bedside,  "  Grieve  not  the  Spirit."  These  were 
the  last  words  she  uttered  as  she  entered  the  eternal  world. 

Thus  have  I  given  a  brief  sketch  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  our 
revivals;  of  the  mode  of  presenting  Divine  truth  which  has  been 
found  most  effectual  at  such  periods ;  and  of  those  principles  in  our 
mental  constitution  which  are  appealed  to  with  peculiar  power  by 
these  seasons  of  concentrated  religious  interest.  As  the  limits  as- 
signed me  have  already  been  exceeded,  I  must  here  leave  the  subject, 
commending  the  very  imperfect  exhibition  which  has  now  been  made 
to  the  candor  and  prayers  of  the  Christian  reader. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY   REMARKS    ON   REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION. 

I  will  add  but  a  few  words  to  the  full  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
Religious  Revivals  contained  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

That  chapter,  as  the  reader  will  have  perceived,  treats  particularly 
of  the  revivals  that  have  taken  place  in  New  England,  that  being  the 
part  of  the  United  States  with  which  its  author  is  most  intimately  ac- 
quainted.   But  as  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  be  conversant  with  the 


CHAP.  Vin.J    SUPPLEMENTARY  REMARKS  ON  REVIVALS  OF  RELIGION.  427 

different  evangelical  denominations  of  all  parts  of  the  country,  dur- 
ing several  years  devoted  to  religious  and  philanthropic  enterprises, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  that  I  should  give  the  result  of  that  experience. 

I  should  say,  then,  that  the  same  blessed  influences  so  signally 
manifested  in  the  churches  and  many  of  the  literary  institutions  of 
New  England,  have  been  experienced,  perhaps  in  no  less  measure, 
among  the  evangelical  churches  of  all  denominations  throughout  the 
United  States.  I  have  been  witness  to  these  blessed  movements  in 
a  large  number  of  those  States,  and  have  ever  found  their  effects  to 
be,  in  all  essential  respects,  the  same. 

It  may  be  fairly  remarked  that  under  a  permanent,  well-instructed 
minister,  revivals  are  usually  less  alloyed  with  unnecessary,  and,  on 
the  whole,  injurious  accompaniments,  such  as  great  physical  excite- 
ment, manifesting  itself  in  sobbing,  or  crying,  or  other  forms  of 
violent  agitation.  Still,  it  is  not  the  case  that  a  preacher  has  it  in 
his  power  to  repress  all  such  indications.  Much  depends  on  the  kind 
of  people  with  whom  he  has  to  do.  Among  the  rude  and  uneducated, 
who  are  accustomed  to  boisterous  expressions  of  feeling,  there  will 
always  be  found  more  visible  and  irrepressible  excitement  than  in 
other  cases. 

It  is  not  very  wonderful,  however,  that  when  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  persons  who  have  been  spending  all  their  lives  in  rebellion 
against  God,  and  in  the  neglect  of  their  souls,  become,  as  it  were, 
suddenly  awakened  out  of  a  profound  sleep,  they  should  be  ready,  in 
the  distress  into  which  they  are  thrown  by  a  view  of  the  jeopardy  in 
which  they  stand,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  to  exclaim,  "  Lord !  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  I  have  seen  times  when  under  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  such  pungent  distress  has  been  produced  by  pressing 
the  truth  on  plain  and  comparatively  ignorant  minds,  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  maintain  the  calmness  to  be  found  in  a  congregation  of 
educated  and  refined  persons,  among  whom,  nevertheless,  there 
might  be  quite  as  much  real  contrition  of  heart  for  sin. 

That  some  excellent  men,  who  have  been  eminently  useful  in  the 
ministry,  are  not  sufficiently  careful  in  repressing  unnecessary  mani- 
festations of  feeling  is  certain,  and  they  are  to  be  found  in  all  denom- 
inations. Some,  even,  are  so  much  wanting  in  prudence  as  rather  to 
encourage  such  outbursts  of  feeling.  But  among  so  many  ministers, 
widely  different  from  each  other  in  education,  intellectual  acquire- 
ments, and  modes  of  thinking  on  almost  every  subject,  entire  agree- 
ment as  to  the  best  ways  of  conducting  a  revival,  so  far  as  human 
agency  is  concerned,  is  not  to  be  expected. 

It  is  delightful  to  think  that  revivals  of  religion  have  really  occur- 
red, and  do  every  year  occur,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  all  our 


428  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  EST  AMERICA  [BOOK  V. 

States,  and  among  all  the  evangelical  denominations.  And  although 
they  may  not  always  be  so  quietly  and  judiciously  conducted  as 
might  be  desired,  in  the  newer  parts  of  the  country,  and  where  the 
population  is  somewhat  rude,  yet  they  have  certainly  exerted  a 
happy  influence  upon  the  churches  and  upon  society,  wherever  they 
have  occurred. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ALLEGED   ABUSES   IN   REVIVALS    OF   RELIGION. 

It  was  my  first  intention  not  to  add  any  thing  to  what  has  been 
said  in  the  chapter  on  revivals  respecting  the  abuses  alleged  to  have 
been  connected  with  them ;  but,  on  further  reflection,  I  consider  that 
a  few  words  more  on  that  point  will  not  be  amiss. 

No  man,  certainly,  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with  human  nature, 
should  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the  greatest  blessings  bestowed  on 
mankind  are  liable  to  be  abused,  and  even  the  purest  and  noblest 
qualities  to  be  counterfeited.  Where,  then,  is  there  any  matter  for 
astonishment  should  we  find  that  abuses  mingle  with  religious  re- 
vivals, through  man's  imprudence  and  the  malignity  of  the  great  ad- 
versary, or  even  should  we  discover  some  revivals  which  deserve  to 
be  called  spurious  ? 

Whatever  abuses,  notwithstanding,  may  at  any  time  have  taken 
place  in  the  revivals  in  America,  or  whatever  spurious  ones  may  have 
occurred,  it  can  not  be  disputed  that  our  truly  zealous,  intelligent, 
and  devoted  Christians  believe  firmly  in  the  reality  of  revivals  ;  and 
consider  that,  when  wisely  promoted,  they  are  the  greatest  and  most 
desirable  blessings  that  can  be  bestowed  upon  the  churches.  There 
are,  I  admit,  persons  among  us  who  oppose  religious  revivals,  and  it 
would  be  sad  evidence  against  them  if  there  were  not.  There  are 
the  openly  wicked,  the  profane,  Sabbath-breakers,  enemies  of  pure  re- 
ligion in  every  form,  and  avowed  or  secret  infidels.  These  form  the 
first  category,  and  it  is  not  a  very  small  one.  They  may  be  found  in 
our  cities  and  large  towns,  and  sometimes  in  our  villages,  and  are 
the  very  persons  whom  strangers  are  most  likely  to  meet  about  our 
hotels  and  taverns.  Next,  there  are  Roman  Catholics,  Unitarians, 
Universalists,  and  others  whose  Christianity  is  greatly  marred  with 
errors  and  heresies.  These,  too,  almost  without  exception,  hate  re- 
vivals, nor  can  we  wonder  that  they  should.  A  third  class  consists 
of  those  members  of  our  evangelical  churches  who  conform  too  much 


CHAP.  IX.]  ALLEGED   ABUSES   IN   EEVIVALS    OF   EELIGION.  429 

to  the  opinions  and  practices  of  the  world ;  are  so  much  afraid  of 
what  they  call  enthusiasm  and  fanaticism  as  to  do  nothing,  or  nothing 
worthy  of  mention,  for  the  promotion  of  the  Gospel ;  and  would 
never  be  known  to  be  Christians,  either  by  the  world  or  by  their 
fellow-Christians,  were  they  not  occasionally  seen  to  take  their  places 
at  the  communion-table.  Some  such  there  are  in  all  our  evangelical 
churches,  and  in  one  or  two  of  those  whose  discipline  is  more  lax 
than  it  should  be,  they  constitute  a  considerable  party. 

Now  it  is  natural  that  European  travelers  in  the  United  States, 
when  not  decidedly  religious  themselves,  should  chiefly  associate 
with  one  or  all  of  these  three  classes ;  and  that,  taking  up  their  no- 
tions from  them,  they  should  have  then*  note-books  and  journals  filled 
with  all  sorts  of  misrepresentations  with  respect  to  our  religious  re- 
vivals. Hence  many,  who  have  never  visited  America,  owe  all  their 
ideas  on  that  subject  to  writers  whose  own  information  was  partial 
and  incorrect,  and  who,  as  their  very  books  show,  know  nothing  of 
true  religion,  and  would  never  have  touched  upon  the  subject,  but 
that  they  wished  to  give  piquancy  to  their  pages  by  working  up  for 
the  wonder  and  amusement  of  their  readers  every  false  and  exagger- 
ated statement,  and  foolish  anecdote,  which  had  been  poured  into 
their  ears. 

But  serious  and  worthy  people  in  Europe,  and  particularly  in  Great 
Britain,  have  been  prejudiced  against  revivals  in  another  way.  There 
have  been  excellent  men  among  us,  who,  apprehending  much  danger 
to  the  cause  of  revivals  from  certain  measures  taken  to  promote  them 
by  zealous,  but  injudicious  persons,  and  perceiving  the  mischievous 
results  of  such  measures,  have  faithfully  exposed  them,  and  warned 
the  churches  to  be  upon  their  guard.  This  they  have  done  in  the 
columns  of  our  religious  journals,  in  pamphlets,  and  in  books.  Their 
endeavors  have  met  with  much  success  against  the  enemy,  who,  fail- 
ing to  prevent,  had  been  seeking  to  pervert  these  blessed  manifesta- 
tions of  Divine  mercy.  But,  as  was  natural,  the  strong  language  in 
which  they  were  prompted  to  indulge  by  the  actual  view  of  some 
evils,  and  the  apprehension  of  worse,  have  impressed  foreigners  with 
very  exaggerated  ideas  of  those  evils.  This  result  was  perhaps  una- 
voidable, yet  it  is  much  to  be  deplored ;  for  injury  has  thus  been 
done  to  the  cause  abroad  by  men  who  would  be  the  last  to  intend  it. 

It  is  an  infelicity  to  which  all  endeavors  for  good  are  subject  in 
this  evil  world,  that  they  are  liable  to  be  marred  by  proffered  aid 
from  men  who,  notwithstanding  the  fairest  professions,  prove,  at 
length,  to  have  been  more  actuated  by  their  own  miserable  ambition 
than  by  a  true  zeal  for  God's  glory  and  man's  salvation.  Such  false 
friends  did  no  small  injury  to  the  great  revival  of  religion  in  1740-43, 


430  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

already  mentioned ;  and  so,  likewise,  did  the  successive  revivals  that 
took  place  in  the  West  in  1801-3  suffer  much  from  the  imprudence 
of  some  who  desired  to  be  leaders  in  the  work  of  God.  This  was  the 
case  particularly  in  Kentucky.  And  within  the  last  few  years,  after 
a  blessed  period  marked  by  revivals  hi  many  parts  of  the  country,  the 
same  adversary  who,  when  "  the  sons  of  God  come  to  present  them- 
selves before  the  Lord,"  seldom  fails  to  obtrude  himself  among  them, 
and  who  can,  upon  such  occasions  assume  the  garb,  as  it  were,  of  "  an 
angel  of  light,"  contrived  for  a  while  to  do  no  little  damage  to  the 
work.  Some  good  men,  as  we  still  consider  the  greater  number  of 
them  to  have  been,  not  content  with  the  more  quiet  and  prudent 
character  which  had  hitherto  marked  the  revivals,  attempted  to  pre- 
cipitate matters  by  measures  which  many  worthy  and  experienced 
persons,  both  ministers  and  laymen,  deemed  unwise  and  mischievous. 
The  passions,  instead  of  the  judgment  and  the  conscience,  were  too 
much  appealed  to ;  too  much  stress  was  laid  on  the  sinner's  natural 
ability,  and  not  enough  on  the  needed  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
too  superficial  a  view  of  the  nature  and  evidences  of  conversion  was 
presented ;  in  a  word,  the  Gospel  was  not  held  forth  in  such  a  way 
as  to  lead  to  that  self-abasement  which  becomes  a  sinner  saved  wholly 
by  grace. 

One  of  the  measures  reprehended  was  the  practice  of  earnestly 
pressing  those  who  were  somewhat  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  sin 
and  danger,  to  come,  at  the  close  of  the  sermon,  to  seats  immediately 
before  the  pulpit,  called  "  anxious  seats."  These  were  seats  provided 
for  such  as  were  anxious  to  be  saved,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
specially  prayed  for,  and  receive  some  special  counsels.  This,  though 
perhaps  comparatively  harmless,  when  adopted  by  prudent  men 
among  certain  classes  of  people,  was  much  the  reverse  when  at- 
tempted in  large  congregations  by  men  not  gifted  with  extraordinary 
wisdom.  It  proved  a  poor  substitute  for  the  simpler  and  quieter 
method  of  meeting  such  as  chose  to  remain  after  the  public  services, 
in  order  to  receive  the  advice  that  their  case  might  require ;  or  for  the 
good  old  practice  of  holding  special  meetings  at  the  pastor's  house,  or 
in  the  church  vestry  or  lecture-room,  for  such  as  were  "  inquiring  the 
way  to  Zion." 

Another  measure,  hardly  deserving  to  be  called  new,  for  it  has  long 
existed  in  substance  in  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  interior,  and 
at  one  time,  I  understand,  in  Scotland  also — that  of  having  public  serv- 
ices during  three  or  four  days  on  sacramental  occasions — was  found 
hurtful,  when  carried  to  the  extent  encouraged  by  some,  in  the  shape 
of  what  are  called  "  protracted  meetings."  These,  when  transferred 
from  the  West  to  the  East,  and  held  more  frequently,  were  called 


CHAP.  IX.]  ALLEGED   ABUSES   IN  REVIVALS    OP   RELIGION.  431 

"  four  days'  meetings"  or  "  three  days'  meetings."  But  when  pro- 
longed, as  they  were  in  some  places— I  know  not  how  long,  some- 
times, I  believe,  for  a  month  or  forty  days— the  practice  was  regarded 
as  an  abuse,  and  as  such  it  was  resisted.  No  one,  perhaps,  would  con- 
demn such  meetings  when  called  for  by  particular  circumstances  ;  but 
when  people  seem  inclined  to  rely  more  upon  them  than  upon  the 
ordinary  services  of  the  sanctuary,  and  to  think  that  without  them 
there  can  be  no  revivals  and  conversions,  it  is  time  they  were  abol- 
ished, or  at  least  restored  to  their  proper  use. 

But  what  was  thought  worst  of  all  was  the  proposal,  for  it  hardly 
went  further,  of  an  order  of  "revival  preachers,"  who  should  go 
through  the  churches,  spending  a  few  weeks  here  and  there,  for  the 
sole  object  of  promoting  revivals.     This  was  justly  opposed  as  sub- 
versive of  the  regular  ministry,  for  it  is  easy  to  see  that  such  men, 
going  about  with  a  few  well-prepared  discourses  on  exciting  topics, 
and  recommended,  perhaps,  by  a  popular  delivery,  would  throw  the 
pastors  in  the  background,  give  the  people  "  itching  ears,"  and  in  a 
few  weeks  do  more  harm  than  good.   No  one  would  deny  that  "  evan- 
gelists" might  be  very  useful  in  the  new  settlements,  where  a  regular 
clergy  can  not  be  at  once  established,  and  even  in  building  up 
churches  in  the  older  parts  of  the  country,  or  preaching  to  churches 
without  pastors.    Few,  likewise,  would  deny  that  some  zealous,  able, 
and  judicious  ministers  might  render  important  services  in  going  from 
church  to  church  at  the  special  request  of  the  pastors  for  their  assist- 
ance.    Such  men  should  have  an  eminently  humble,  kind,  and  pru- 
dent spirit,  and  an  overruling  desire  to  seek  the  interests  of  their 
brethren  rather  than  to  promote  their  own,  and  some  such  we  have 
had  who  were  widely  useful.     But  should  it  be  thought  that  the 
churches  require  such  men,  they  ought  to  be  placed  under  the  special 
control  of  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  to  which  they  belong,  and  without 
whose  express  and  continued  approbation  they  ought  not  to  under- 
take or  continue  such  engagements.    Nothing  could  be  more  danger- 
ous to  the  peace  of  the  churches  than  that  every  man,  who  may  fancy 
himself  a  "  revivalist,"  or  "  revival  preacher,"  should  be  allowed  to 
go  wherever  people  desire  to  have  him,  with  or  without  the  consent 
of  their  pastors.     Accordingly,  the  institution  of  any  such  order  was 
opposed,  and  the  preachers  who  had  been  thus  employed  were  urged 
each  to  settle  at  some  one  spot,   which  they  did;   and  thus  the 
churches  hear  little  more  of  "revival  preachers,"  or  "revival  makers," 
as  some  deserved  to  be  called. 

I  have  said  more  on  this  subject  than  I  intended,  but  not  more, 
perhaps,  than  was  required.  Yet,  should  any  of  my  readers  have 
been  led  to  suppose  that  the  abuses  I  have  described  affected  our 


432  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

churches  generally,  he  is  mistaken.  They  began  to  manifest  them- 
selves about  the  year  1828,  and  lasted  some  ten  years,  without,  how- 
ever, having  ever  prevailed  widely ;  and  in  some  extensive  districts 
they  have  been  altogether  unknown.  Of  the  thrice  ten  thousand 
churches  of  all  denominations  among  us,  in  which  "  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus"  is  preached,  only  a  few  hundreds  are  believed  to  have  been 
affected  by  them,  and  even  these  have  now  become  pretty  well  rid 
both  of  the  abuses  and  of  their  consequences.  During  some  of  the  sub- 
sequent years  our  churches  were  more  extensively  blessed  with  revi- 
vals than  at  any  time  before,  and  all  well-informed  persons,  whom  I 
have  consulted,  agree  that  those  blessed  seasons  were  more  free  from 
whatever  could  offend  a  judicious  Christian.  For  these  things  we  are 
glad ;  they  demonstrably  prove  that,  though  our  sins  be  great,  the 
God  of  our  fathers  has  not  forsaken  us. 

Before  closing  the  subject  of  the  abuses  attending  religious  revi- 
vals, I  may  say  something,  although  there  be  no  special  connection 
between  them,  about  camp-meetings,  respecting  which  I  have  had 
many  questions  put  to  me  in  some  parts  of  Europe.  Most  foreigners 
owe  their  notions  of  these  meetings  to  the  same  sources  from  which 
they  have  taken  their  ideas  of  revivals — the  pages  of  tourists,  who 
have  woven  into  episodes  for  their  "  travels,"  all  the  stories  they  have 
chanced  to  meet  with.  Some  of  them,  possibly,  have  even  gone 
to  the  outskirts  of  one  of  these  assemblages,  and  looked  on  with  all 
the  wonder  natural  to  persons  who  had  never  entered  into  the  spirit 
of  such  scenes,  so  far  as  either  to  comprehend  their  nature  or  ascer- 
tain their  results. 

Camp-meetings,  as  they  are  called,  originated  in  sheer  necessity 
among  the  Presbyterians  of  Kentucky,  in  the  year  1801,  during  that 
great  religious  revival,  which,  after  commencing  in  the  western  part 
of  North  Carolina,  penetrated  into  Tennessee,  and  spread  over  all  the 
parts  of  the  West  then  settled.  It  so  happened  that,  on  one  occasion, 
in  the  early  part  of  that  revival,  so  many  people  had  come  from  a 
distance  to  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  a  particular 
church,  that  accommodation  could  nowhere  be  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood  for  all,  during  the  successive  days  and  nights  which  they  wished 
to  spend  at  the  place.  This  induced  as  many  as  could  to  procure 
tents,  and  form  something  like  a  military  encampment,  where,  as 
provisions  were  easily  to  be  had,  they  might  stay  till  the  meetings 
closed.  Such  was  the  origin  of  camp-meetings.  They  were  afterward 
held  at  various  points  during  that  extraordinary  season  of  religious 
solicitude.  The  country  was  still  very  thinly  settled,  and  as  a  jn-oof 
of  the  deep  and  wide-spread  feeling  that  prevailed  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  many  persons  attended  from  distances  of  thirty,  forty,  and 


CHAP.  IX.]     ALLEGED  ABUSES  IN  REVIVALS  OF  KELIGION.       433 

fifty  miles ;  nay,  on  one  occasion,  some  came  from  a  distance  of  even 
one  hundred  miles.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  meetings  should 
have  lasted  for  several  days,  since  many  who  attended  them  had  few 
opportunities  of  frequenting  public  worship  and  of  hearing  the  Gospel 
iu  the  wilderness  where  they  lived. 

These  meetings  were  held,  when  the  weather  permitted,  in  the 
midst  of  the  noble  forest.  Seats  were  made  of  logs  and  planks,  the 
under  rubbish  being  cleared  away ;  a  pulpit  was  erected  facing  the 
rows  of  seats ;  and  there,  in  the  forenoon,  afternoon,  and  evening, 
the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  made  known  the  "  words  of  eternal  life." 
Public  prayer  was  also  held  at  the  same  spot  early  in  the  morning, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  services  at  night.  Around,  at  proper  dis- 
tances, were  placed  the  tents,  looking  toward  the  seated  area  pre- 
pared for  the  great  congregation.  Lamps  were  suspended  at  night 
from  the  boughs  of  the  trees,  and  torches  blazed  from  stakes,  eight 
or  ten  feet  high,  in  front  of  each  tent.  In  the  rear  of  the  tents, 
morning  and  evening,  such  simple  cooking  operations  as  were  neces- 
sary went  on.  Each  tent  was  occupied  by  one  or  two  families, 
intimate  friends  and  neighbors  sometimes  sharing  one,  when  their 
families  were  not  too  large.  A  horn  or  trumpet  announced  the  hour 
for  the  commencement  of  the  public  services. 

Such  was  a  primitive  camp-meeting  in  the  sombre  forests  of  Ken- 
tucky more  than  fifty  years  ago.  Solemn  scenes  occurred  at  them, 
such  as  might  well  have  caused  many  that  scoffed  to  tremble.  Such, 
also,  both  as  respects  their  arrangements,  and  in  many  places  even 
as  respects  the  spirit  that  has  predominated  at  them,  have  been  the 
camp-meetings  held  since.  They  were  confined  for  years  to  the 
frontier  settlements,  as  they  ought,  perhaps,  always  to  have  been,  for 
there  they  were  in  some  measure  necessary.  I  have  attended  them 
in  such  circumstances,  have  been  struck  with  the  order  that  prevailed 
at  them,  and  have  seen  them  become  the  means  of  doing  unquestion- 
able good.  They  served  to  bring  together,  to  the  profit  of  immortal 
souls,  a  population  scattered  far  and  wide,  and  remaining  sometimes 
for  years  remote  from  any  regular  place  of  worship. 

The  reader  must  not  suppose  that  all  who  come  to  these  meetings 
encamp  there.  Only  families  from  a  great  distance  do  so.  Those 
within  a  circuit  of  even  five  miles,  generally  go  home  at  night  and 
return  in  the  morning,  bringing  something  to  eat  during  the  interval 
of  public  worship. 

In  the  remote  settlements  of  the  Far  West,  the  utility  of  camp- 
meetings  seems  to  be  admitted  by  all  who  know  any  thing  about 
them;  but  in  densely-settled  neighborhoods,  and  especially  near  cities 
and  large  towns,  whether  in  the  West  or  in  the  East,  they  are  apt  to 

28 


434  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

give  rise  to  disorder.  The  idle  rabble  are  sure  to  flock  to  them,  es- 
pecially on  the  Sabbath,  and  there  they  drink  and  create  disturbance, 
not  so  much  at  the  camp  itself,  for  the  police  would  prevent  them, 
but  at  taverns  and  temporary  booths  for  the  sale  of  beer  and  ardent 
spirits  in  the  neighborhood.  It  is  true  that  since  temperance  societies 
have  made  such  progress,  these  evils  have  much  diminished;  and 
even  in  more  populous  places,  good  is  undoubtedly  done  at  these 
meetings;  the  thoughtless,  who  go  to  them  from  mere  curiosity, 
being  made  to  hear  truths  that  they  never  can  forget.  Nor  are  these 
meetings  blessed  only  to  the  lower  classes,  as  they  are  called.  A 
young  man  of  the  finest  talents,  once  my  class-mate  at  college,  and 
afterward  my  intimate  friend,  having  gone  to  one  of  them  from  mere 
curiosity,  was  awakened  by  a  faithful  sermon  to  a  sense  of  his  need 
of  salvation  ;  his  convictions  never  left  him  until  he  found  peace  by 
u  believing  in  the  Son  of  God."  He  lived  to  become  a  most  popular 
and  eloquent  minister  of  the  Gospel.* 

Camp-meetings  are  occasionally  held  in  the  Far  West  by  the  Pres- 
byterians, especially  by  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  as  also  by 
some  of  the  Baptists,  possibly.  But  for  a  long  time  they  have  been 
held  mainly  by  the  Methodists  ;  and  I  understand  that  many  among 
these  have  the  impression  that,  except  in  the  frontier  and  new  settle- 
ments, they  might  with  propriety  give  place  to  "  Protracted  Meet- 
ings," which  is  the  course,  I  believe,  they  are  now  taking  in  some 
parts  of  the  country. 

Such  is  the  account  I  have  to  give  of  camp-meetings.  Wicked 
men  have  sometimes  taken  advantage  of  them  for  their  own  bad  pur- 
poses, and  such  abuses  have  been  trumpeted  through  the  world  with 
the  view  of  bringing  discredit  on  the  religion  of  the  country.  With- 
out having  ever  been  a  great  admirer  of  such  meetings,  I  must  say 
after  attending  several,  and  carefully  observing  the  whole  proceed- 
ings, that  I  am  satisfied  that  the  mischiefs  alleged  to  arise  from  them 
have  been  greatly  exaggerated,  while  there  has  been  a  failure  to  ac- 
knowledge the  good  that  they  have  done. 

In  some  parts  of  the  West  there  is  a  practice,  familiar  to  me  in 
early  life,  and  of  which  I  still  retain  very  tender  and  pleasing  recol- 
lections. It  consists  in  holding  the  services  of  the  sanctuary  in  a 
forest  during  summer,  both  to  accommodate  a  greater  number  of 
people,  and  also  for  the  sake  of  the  refreshing  shade  afforded  by  the 
trees.  Seats  are  prepared  in  rows  before  a  temporary  pulpit  made 
of  boards,  and  there,  from  a  temple  made  by  God  himself,  prayer  and 

*  The  late  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Christmas,  some  time  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
at  Montreal  in  Canada,  and  afterward  settled  in  New  York,  where  he  died.  An  in- 
teresting memoir  of  him  has  been  published. 


CHAP.  X.]  CONCLUDING  REMARKS.  435 

praise  ascend  unto  Him  "  who  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with 
hands,"  and  who  is  ever  present  where  contrite  and  believing  hearts 
are  engaged  in  worshipping  Him. 

In  such  scenes,  too,  it  is  now  common,  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  for  Sabbath-schools  to  assemble  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
if  the  weather  be  good,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  appropriate  ad- 
dresses, more  religious  than  political ;  of  uniting  in  prayer  for  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  the  country,  and  the  country's  hope,  the  rising 
generation  ;  and  of  praising  Him  from  whom  all  our  privileges,  civil 
and  religious,  have  been  received.  Temperance  meetings  on  the  same 
occasions  are  now  held  in  our  beautiful  forests,  and  something  better 
is  heard  than  the  boastful  and  unchristian  self-adulation,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  profaneness  and  ribaldry,  which  too  often  characterized 
such  scenes  in  the  "  olden  time,"  when  temperance  societies  and  Sun- 
day-schools were  unknown. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS  ON  THE  CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA. 

A  stranger  upon  visiting  extensively  our  evangelical  churches  of 
all  denominations,  would  be  struck,  I  am  sure,  with  the  order  that 
prevails  in  their  public  assemblies ;  and  this  applies  equally  to  the 
smaller  prayer-meetings  to  be  found  in  every  parish  and  congrega- 
tion that  possesses  any  vitality.  Foreigners  who  have  never  visited 
the  United  States,  seem  impressed  with  the  idea  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  disorder  and  lawlessness  in  that  country,  and  they  infer  that 
there  must  be  no  less  insubordination  in  the  religious  commonwealth 
than  they  ascribe  to  the  civil.  But  both  opinions  are  totally  un- 
founded. It  does  not  follow,  because  of  a  few  disgraceful  disturb- 
ances, arising  from  the  opposition  made  in  some  places  to  abolitionists, 
and  the  resentment  of  an  exasperated  populace  against  gangs  of 
gamblers  in  others,  that  the  whole  country  is  a  scene  of  continual  com- 
motion. In  no  part  of  the  world  have  there  been  so  few  dreadful 
riots,  attended  with  loss  of  life,  as  in  the  United  States,  during  these 
last  sixty  years.  There  are  bad  men  among  us,  and  there  are  crimes, 
but,  after  all,  life  is  quite  as  safe  among  us  as  in  any  country  I  have 
ever  visited. 

As  for  the  Church,  a  regard  for  law  and  order  reigns  to  a  degree 
not  surpassed  in  any  other  country.  There  is  no  confusion  of  the 
respective  rights  of  the  ministry  and  people.    The  duties  of  both  are 


436  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE  PULPIT   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  V. 

well  understood  everywhere.  Most  of  the  churches,  such  as  the 
Presbyterian  and  the  Episcopalian  in  all  their  branches,  possess  and 
maintain  a  strong  ecclesiastical  government,  and  even  the  Congre- 
gational, however  democratic  in  theory,  have  a  government  that 
exercises  a  hardly  less  powerful  control.  Seldom  do  we  hear  of  dis- 
order occurring  at  the  little  meetings  of  Christians  held  for  prayer 
and  the  reading  of  the  Word  of  God — meetings  so  numerous,  and 
very  often  conducted  by  pious  laymen.  Seldom  do  pious  church 
members  encroach  by  word  or  deed,  at  meetings  of  any  kind,  on  the 
proper  sphere  of  those  who  hold  office  in  the  churches.  Indeed,  on 
no  one  point  are  our  churches  more  perfectly  united  in  opinion  than 
with  respect  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining  due  order  and  subordin- 
ation. The  ministry  enjoys  its  full  share  of  influence.  No  one  ever 
hears  of  unauthorized,  unlicensed  persons  being  allowed  to  speak  in 
our  meetings  for  public  worship.  Those  leveling  doctrines,  now 
spreading  in  other  countries — doctrines  which  would  reduce  the  min- 
istry to  nothing,  and  encourage  "  lay-brethren"  to  take  it  upon  them 
to  preach  or  teach  in  the  churches — will,  I  dare  affirm,  make  small 
progress  among  us.  Attempts  to  introduce  something  of  this  sort 
have  often  been  made,  but  in  vain.  We  have,  indeed,  our  meetings 
in  which  debate  is  allowed,  and  there  the  laity  may  even  take  the 
lead,  but  these  meetings  relate  to  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  church, 
or  the  calling  of  a  pastor,  not  the  public  worship  of  God. 

Experience  has  also  taught  us  the  necessity  of  maintaining  order 
at  meetings  held  during  revivals — occasions  on  which,  in  consequence 
of  the  strong  excitement  of  the  most  powerful  feelings  of  the  human 
heart,  there  is  a  special  call  for  watchfulness  in  this  respect.  It  is  a 
sad  mistake  to  multiply  meetings  unnecessarily  during  revivals,  or  to 
prolong  them  to  unseasonable  hours  at  night,  to  the  exhaustion  of 
strength,  the  loss  of  needed  repose,  and  the  unnatural  and  dangerous 
irritation  of  the  nervous  system.  Yet  these  are  the  points  in  which 
the  experienced  are  most  liable  to  err.  This  is  sometimes  done  under 
the  idea  that  the  people  would  lose  their  serious  impressions  were 
the  services  to  be  short.  But  here  there  is  often  a  temptation  of  the 
adversary.  No  revival  has  ever  suffered  by  a  limitation  of  evening 
meetings  to  a  moderate  length.  The  people  should  be  almost 
compelled  to  leave  the  house,  rather  than  unduly  protract  such 
meetings. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  difficult  duties  of  a  minister  in  a 
revival  is  rightly  to  direct  awakened  souls.  Alas!  how  often  are 
even  good  men  found  to  fail  in  this.  Many,  whom  I  have  known, 
seem  to  me  to  excel  in  addressing  unawakened  sinners,  and  yet  to 
fail  when  called  to  give  clear,  intelligible,  and  Scriptural  directions  to 


CHAP.  X.]  CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  437 

those  who  are  awakened.   Many,  too,  fail  in  judging  of  the  evidences 
of  conversion,  and  "  heal  the  hurt  of  the  people  softly." 

But  on  no  point,  I  am  convinced,  from  what  I  have  seen  in  America, 
is  there  a  greater  call  for  the  exercise  of  a  sound  prudence,  than  in 
receiving  into  the  Church  persons  who  entertain  the  belief  that  they 
have  "  passed  from  death  unto  life."  While  they  may  possibly  be 
kept  back  too  long,  the  great  error  lies  on  the  other  side.  The  new 
convert  naturally  desires  to  join  himself  to  those  whom  he  now  con- 
siders to  be  the  children  of  God.  He  thinks  it  his  duty  to  do  so,  and 
he  may  be  right.  But  the  office-bearers  in  the  Church,  whose  duty  it 
is  to  see  that  none  but  proper  persons  be  admitted,  are  no  less  clearly 
bound  to  a  careful  ascertaining  of  the  fact,  that  the  candidate  for 
membership  gives  such  evidences  of  piety  as,  on  Scriptural  grounds, 
shall  be  deemed  satisfactory. 

I  consider  hasty  admission  to  our  churches  the  greatest  of  all  evils 
connected  with  revivals  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  and  among 
some  denominations  in  particular.  But  this  evil  is  not  peculiar  to  re- 
vivals. It  is  quite  as  likely  to  occur  when  there  is  no  revival.  With 
all  possible  care  it  is  difficult  to  keep  a  church  pure.  Experience 
shows  the  necessity  of  decided  views  on  this  subject,  and  of  firmness 
in  enforcing  them.  On  this  point,  as  well  as  on  all  others  relating  to 
the  discipline  and  government  of  the  Church,  too  much  care  can  not 
be  taken  to  avoid  latitudinarian  practices.  The  Church  must  be  kept 
a  living  body  of  believers — a  company  of  persons  who  have  come 
out  from  the  world,  and  are  determined  to  adorn  the  profession  which 
they  have  made.  In  their  organization  and  action,  order,  which  is 
said  to  be  "  heaven's  first  law,"  must  be  maintained.  In  this  opinion, 
I  am  sure,  Christians  of  all  denominations  in  the  United  States  sin- 
cerely and  entirely  concur. 


BOOK    VI. 

THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES  IN  AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PRELIMINARY   REMARKS   IN   REFERENCE  TO   THIS    SUBJECT. 

This  part  of  our  work  we  propose  to  devote  to  a  brief  notice  of 
the  doctrines,  organization,  and  history  of  each  of  the  evangelical 
denominations  in  the  United  States ;  nothing  beyond  a  sketch  of  these 
being  consistent  with  our  limits.  We  shall  endeavor,  of  course,  to 
confine  ourselves  as  much  as  possible  to  what  is  important,  omitting 
what  is  less  necessary. 

We  begin  with  the  five  most  numerous  evangelical  denominations 
in  the  United  States.  These,  in  the  order  of  their  establishment  in 
this  country,  are  the  Episcopalians,  the  Congregationalists,  the  Bap- 
tists, the  Presbyterians,  and  the  Methodists;  and  in  that  order  we 
shall  proceed  to  notice  them.  We  shall  then  consider,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  the  smaller  orthodox  denominations,  such  as  the  Moravians, 
the  Lutherans,  the  German  Reformed,  and  other  German  sects,  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  the  Protest- 
ant or  Reformed  Methodists,  the  Reformed  Presbyterians  or  Cov- 
enanters, the  Associate  Church,  the  Associate  Reformed,  the  Qua- 
kers, etc. 

Numerous  as  are  the  evangelical  denominations  in  the  United  States, 
yet  when  grouped  in  reference  to  doctrine  on  the  one  hand,  or  church 
government  on  the  other,  it  is  surprising  into  how  small  a  number 
they  may  be  reduced.  In  doctrine  we  have  but  two  great  divisions 
— the  Calvinistic  and  the  Arminian  schools ;  the  former,  with  its  va- 
rious peculiarities,  comprehending  the  Presbyterian,  usually  so  called, 
the  evangelical  Baptists,  the  Episcopalians  (though  they  generally 
consider  themselves  intermediate  between  the  two),  the  Congrega- 
tionalists, the  German  Reformed,  the  Dutch  Reformed,  the  Cov- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  439 

enanters,  the  Associate  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches ;  the 
latter,  with  its  variations,  comprehending  the  Methodists  of  all 
branches,  the  Lutherans,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  the  United 
Brethren  or  Moravians,  and  some  other  small  bodies. 

Considered  in  reference  to  their  forms  of  church  government,  they 
all  arrange  themselves  in  three  great  families.  The  Episcopal,  com- 
prehending the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal, 
and  the  Moravians ;  the  Presbyterian,  including  the  Presbyterians, 
usually  so  called,  the  Dutch  Reformed,  the  German  Reformed,  the 
Lutherans,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  the  Protestant  Methodists, 
the  Covenanters,  the  Associate,  and  the  Associate  Reformed;  the 
Congregational  (or  Independent,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  in 
England),  embracing  the  Congregationalists  and  the  Baptists. 

But  when  viewed  in  relation  to  the  great  doctrines  which  are  uni- 
versally conceded  by  Protestants  to  be  fundamental  and  necessary  to 
salvation,  then  they  all  form  but  one  body,  recognizing  Christ  as  their 
common  Head.  Then  they  resemble  the  different  parts  of  a  great 
temple,  all  constituting  but  one  whole ;  or  the  various  corps  of  an 
army,  which,  though  ranged  in  various  divisions,  each  having  an 
organization  perfect  in  itself,  yet  compose  but  one  great  host,  and  are 
under  the  command  of  one  Chief. 

This  suggests  the  observation  that  on  no  one  point  are  all  these 
Churches  more  completely  united,  or  more  firmly  established,  than  on 
the  doctrine  of  the  supremacy  of  Christ  in  His  Church,  and  the  un- 
lawfulness of  any  interference  with  its  doctrine,  discipline,  and  gov- 
ernment, on  the  part  of  the  civil  magistrate.  There  is  not  a  single 
evangelical  church  in  the  United  States  that  does  not  assert  and  main- 
tain this  glorious  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  Christ  in  His  Church, 
and  that  from  Him  alone  comes  all  just  and  lawful  authority  in  the 
same.  On  this  point  they  hold  unanimously  the  great  doctrine  for 
which  the  Church  of  Scotland  has  of  late  years  so  nobly  contended. 
If  the  civil  power  has  ever  referred  for  a  moment  to  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church,  it  has  only  been  in  courts  of  justice,  and 
that  solely  for  the  purpose  of  determining  which  of  two  parties  has  a 
legal  title  to  be  considered  the  church  in  question. 


•       CHAPTER  II. 

THE    PROTESTANT     EPISCOPAL     CHURCH. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  derives  its 
origin  from  the  Church  of  England,  of  which  it  is  not  only  an  offshoot, 


440  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUKCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

but  to  which  it  is  "  indebted,  under  God,  for  a  long  continuance  of 
nursing  care  and  protection."*  It  agrees  with  that  Church  in  doc- 
trine ;  and  its  ritual  and  formularies,  with  some  variations  introduced 
after  the  Revolution  by  which  the  Colonies  became  independent 
States,  are  the  same.  Unlike  the  mother  Church,  however,  it  is  in 
no  way  connected  with  the  State,  nor  do  its  bishops,  in  virtue  of  their 
office,  enjoy  any  civil  powers,  immunities,  or  emoluments. 

The  chief  particulars  in  which  the  Service-Book  differs  from  that 
of  the  Church  of  England  are  as  follows :  1.  A  shorter  form  of  abso- 
lution is  allowed  to  be  used  instead  of  the  English,  which  is,  however, 
retained,  and  frequently  used  in  the  public  service.  2.  The  Athanasian 
creed  is  omitted.  3.  In  the  administration  ofbaptism,  the  sign  of  the 
cross  may  be  dispensed  with,  if  requested.  4.  The  marriage-service 
has  been  considerably  abridged.  5.  In  the  funeral-service,  some  ex- 
pressions, considered  as  liable  to  misconstruction,  have  been  altered 
or  omitted.  6.  There  has  been  a  change,  of  course,  in  the  prayers  for 
rulers.  V.  It  is  allowed  to  omit  in  the  communion-sendee  the  prayer 
called  the  "  Oblation,"  and  the  Invocation.  8.  It  is  permitted  to  change 
the  words,  "  He  descended  into  hell,"  which  occur  in  the  Ap6stles' 
Creed,  into  "  He  descended  into  the  world  of  departed  spirits,"  or 
words  equivalent.  The  other  modifications,  being  of  less  importance 
and  chiefly  verbal,  need  not  be  specified. 

As  in  the  parent  Church  in  England,  there  are  three  ranks  or  orders 
in  the  ministry,  and  these  are  believed,  by  its  friends,  to  be  of  apos- 
tolical institution,  viz.,  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  The  churches 
choose  their  own  pastors,  but  their  installation,  or  induction,  requires 
the  consent  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese.f  The  regulation  of  the 
temporal  affairs  of  each  church  is  confided  to  a  board  of  church- 
wardens, and  vestry,  the  former  of  which  are  chosen  by  the  com- 
municants, the  latter  by  the  members  of  the  parish  generally.  The 
spiritual  rule  rests  mainly  with  the  pastor,  or  rector,  as  he  is  more 
commonly  called. 

The  increase  and  wide  diffusion  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  has  led  to  the  determination  that  each  State  shall  con- 
stitute a  diocese,  except  when  its  extent,  and  the  number  of  churches 
in  it,  may  require  its  being  divided,  like  that  of  New  York,  into  two 
dioceses.     In  some  instances,  however,  as  in  Virginia,  where  the 

*  Preface  to  the  American  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

f  "When  the  bishop  is  unable  to  preside  at  the  installation  or  institution  of  a  min- 
ister as  rector  or  pastor  of  a  church,  he  appoints  a  committee  of  neighboring  presby- 
ters to  act  as  institutors  on  the  occasion.  So,  also,  in  dioceses  that  have  no  bish- 
ops, if  the  services  of  a  neighboring  prelate  can  not  be  obtained,  a  self-constituted 
committee  of  neighboring  presbyters  may  give  institution. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  PROTEST  ANT  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  441 

State  is  extensive,  and  the  churches  not  very  numerous,  and  espe- 
cially where  the  principal  or  senior  bishop  does  not  enjoy  good 
health,  an  assistant  bishop  has  been  appointed. 

Each  diocese  has  its  affairs  directed  by  an  Annnal  Convention, 
composed  of  the  diocesan  clergy  and  one  or  more  lay  delegates  from 
each  parish,  elected  by  the  people,  or  appointed  by  the  wardens 
and  vestry ;  the  clergy  and  laity  forming  one  body,  but  voting  separ- 
ately whenever  this  is  demanded,  the  clergy  forming  one  house  and 
the  laity  another.  The  bishop  presides,  should  there  be  one ;  if  not, 
a  president  is  chosen  in  his  place.  A  concurrent  vote  of  both  orders, 
when  voting  separately,  is  necessary  before  any  measure  or  law  can  pass. 

Every  three  years  a  General  Convention  is  held ;  the  last  always 
appointing  the  place  of  meeting  for  the  next  after.  This  body  is 
composed  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates  from  each  State  or  Diocese 
Convention,  who  form  the  house  of  delegates,  and  of  the  bishops, 
who  form  the  house  of  bishops.  When  any  proposed  act  has  passed 
one  house,  it  is  sent  to  fche  other  for  its  concurrence,  the  consent  of 
both  houses  being  requisite  to  its  having  the  force  of  law.  The  Epis- 
copal Church,  throughout  the  country,  is  governed  by  the  canons  of 
the  General  Convention.  These  canons  regulate  the  election  of 
bishops,  declare  the  qualifications  necessary  for  obtaining  the  orders 
of  deacon  and  priest,  the  studies  to  be  previously  pursued,  the  ex- 
aminations to  be  undergone,  and  the  age  that  candidates  must  have 
attained  before  they  can  be  admitted  to  the  three  grades  of  the  min- 
istry. The  age  of  twenty-one  is  required  for  deacon's  orders,  twenty- 
four  for  those  of  priest,  and  before  a  priest  can  be  ordained  bishop  he 
must  have  completed  his  thirtieth  year. 

Candidates  for  ordination  do  not,  as  in  the  Church  of  England, 
subscribe  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  but  simply  the  following  declara- 
tion :  "  I  do  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  to  contain  all  things  necessary  to 
salvation ;  and  I  do  solemnly  engage  to  conform  to  the  doctrines  and 
worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  these  United  States." 
These  doctrines  are  understood  to  be  contained  in  the  articles  of  re- 
ligion printed  with  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  implied  in  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Church.  The  fall  of  man,  the  Trinity  of  Divine  Per- 
sons in  the  Godhead,  the  proper  Deity  and  humanity  of  the  Saviour, 
the  atonement  through  His  sufferings  and  death,  the  regenerating 
and  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  general  judgment,  the 
everlasting  reward  of  the  righteous  and  punishment  of  the  wicked — 
or,  in  other  words,  what  are  called  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation 
— are  fully  taught  in  these  formularies,  and  are  in  reality  professed 
by  those  who  subscribe  the  above  declaration. 


442  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

The  Episcopal  was  the  first  Protestant  Church  planted  on  the 
American  Continent,  and  the  reader  has  seen  how  it  was  the  favored 
Church  in  Virginia  from  the  earliest  settlement  of  that  State  until 
the  Revolution ;  how,  also,  it  came  to  be  established  in  the  colonies 
of  Maryland,  New  York,  and  the  Carolinas.  But,  notwithstanding 
all  the  aid  which  it  received  from  the  civil  government,  its  prosperity 
was  far  from  commensurate  with  these  external  advantages.  When 
the  Revolution  commenced,  it  had  not  more  than  eighty  ministers  in 
the  colonies  north  and  east  of  Maryland,  and  even  these,  with  the 
exception  of  such  as  were  settled  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  New- 
port, Boston,  and  a  few  other  of  the  most  important  cities  and  towns, 
were  supported  by  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts ;"  while  in  the  colonies  south  of  Virginia,  viz.,  the 
Carolinas  and  Georgia,  all  the  clergy  taken  together  were  but  few. 
The  number  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  amounting  to  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  greatly  exceeded  that  of  all  other  colonies. 

The  causes  of  this  ill  success  during  the  colonial  era  lay,  as  we 
have  stated,  in  the  entire  dej:>endence  of  the  Church  upon  England 
for  Episcopal  supervision,  and,  in  a  great  degree,  for  a  supply  of  min- 
isters ;  in  the  unfitness  of  many  that  were  sent  over  by  the  Bishoj)  of 
London,  to  whose  diocese  the  Episcopal  churches  in  America  were 
then  attached  ;  and  the  great  difficulties  attending  the  raising  up  of 
a  native  clergy,  and  sending  them  to  England  for  consecration, 
though  this  had  been  done  to  a  very  great  extent  in  the  colony  of 
Connecticut — and  it  was  in  that  colony  that  the  Episcopal  Church 
had  made  by  far  the  greatest  advance.  We  have  also  seen  how  dis- 
astrous was  the  Revolution,  with  the  changes  it  effected  on  the  Epis- 
coj)al  Church  in  all  the  colonies,  and  particularly  in  Virginia,  and 
that  it  was  many  years  before  it  could  rise  from  the  prostration  in 
which  the  return  of  peace  in  1783  found  it. 

One  of  the  first  measures  attempted  after  that  event  was  the  forma- 
tion of  an  ecclesiastical  constitution,  by  a  special  convention  of  the 
clergy  from  several  of  the  States,  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1785,  for 
the  purpose  of  uniting  all  the  Episcopal  churches  in  one  body.  An- 
other important  measure  was  the  ordination  of  American  bishops. 
For  this  purpose,  the  above  convention,  the  first  that  was  held, 
opened  a  correspondence  with  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and 
York.  This  was  followed  by  the  passing  of  an  act  in  the  British 
Parliament  authorizing  the  English  prelates  to  consecrate  bishops  for 
America.  The  Rev.  Drs.  White  and  Provoost,  the  former  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  latter  of  New  York,  were  thereupon  sent  over  to 
England,  and  received  ordination  to  the  Episcopal  office  from  the 
hands  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Archbishop  of  York, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  443 

the  Bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  of  Peterborough  assisting.  Upon 
their  return  to  America,  Bishops  White  and  Provoost  entered  upon 
the  discharge  of  their  Episcopal  duties  in  their  respective  dioceses. 

A  short  time  before  the  consecration  of  Bishops  White  and  Pro- 
voost, the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  had  gone  over  to  England  for 
consecration  to  the  Episcopal  office.  But  having  abandoned  all  hope 
of  success  from  that  quarter,  he  went  to  Scotland,  and  was  conse- 
crated by  three  of  the  non-juring  bishops  of  that  kingdom.  Upon 
his  return  he  became  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  In  the  Convention  of 
1789,  it  being  proposed  to  ordain  another  bishop,  that  body  re- 
quested Bishops  White  and  Provoost  to  unite  with  Bishop  Seabury 
in  performing  that  act,  the  presence  of  three  bishops  being  necessary. 
But  Bishop  White  having  some  doubts  whether  it  was  consistent 
with  the  faith  understood  to  have  been  pledged  to  the  English 
bishops,  to  proceed  to  an  act  of  consecration  without  having  first 
obtained  from  them  the  number  held  in  their  Church  to  be  canoni- 
cally  necessary  to  such  an  act,  the  difficulty  was  terminated  by  send- 
ing the  Rev.  James  Madison,  D.D.,  of  Virginia,  to  England,  and  his 
consecration  there.  At  the  next  triennial  convention,  held  in  the 
city  of  New  York  in  1792,  the  four  bishops,  Drs.  White,  Provoost, 
Madison,  and  Seabury,  ordained  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  John  Clagget 
to  the  Episcopal  office  in  the  diocese  of  Maryland. 

About  that  epoch  this  Church  may  be  said  to  have  passed  its 
apogee  of  depression,  occasioned  by  the  Revolution  and  its  effects. 
Its  subsequent  history  has  been  marked  by  an  ever-increasing  pros- 
perity. I  have  not  the  means  of  knowing  what  was  the  precise  num- 
ber of  its  clergy  in  1792,  but  I  am  sure  that  it  could  not  have  ex- 
ceeded two  hundred,  and  its  bishops  were  four  in  number.  Just 
forty  years  later,  in  1832,  according  to  the  Journal  of  the  General 
Convention  held  in  New  York  in  October  of  that  year,  the  number 
of  the  bishops  had  increased  to  fifteen,  and  that  of  the  clergy  to  five 
hundred  and  eighty-three.  In  1855,  we  find  the  number  of  bishops 
augmented  to  thirty-eight,*  the  clergy  to  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  fourteen,  while  the  communicants  were  reported  to  be  one 
hundred  and  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty. 

Nor  has  the  spiritual  prosperity  of  this  church  been  less  remarka- 
ble than  its  external  growth.  It  possesses  a  degree  of  life  and  energy 
throughout  all  its  extent,  and  an  amount  of  vital  piety  in  its  ministers 
and  members,  such  as  it  never  had  in  its  colonial  days.  It  is  blessed 
with  precious  revivals,  and  flourishes  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers 
of  water.     And  in  no  portions  of  the  country  does  it  possess  more 

*  Of  the  bishops,  two  are  not  in  service,  one  is  a  missionary  bishop  in  China,  one  in  Af- 
rica, and  another,  who  was  a  missionary  bishop  in  Turkey,  has  relinquished  his  diocese. 


444  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

spiritual  health  than  in  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  where, 
in  the  ante-revolutionary  era,  it  was  in  a  deplorable  state  as  regards 
piety,  both  in  its  ministry  and  its  laity.  Happier  days  have  dawned 
upon  it  in  those  States,  and,  indeed,  everywhere  else. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  societies  which  have  sprung  up  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  for  the  promotion  of  domestic  missions,  Sunday- 
schools,  the  education  of  poor  and  pious  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
and  the  publication  of  religious  tracts  and  books. 

I  have  also  taken  some  notice  of  the  theological  schools  or  semina- 
ries  connected  with  it,  viz.,  one  at  New  York,  another  in  Fairfax 
county,  Virginia,  a  few  miles  from  Alexandria,  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, and  a  third  at  Gambier,  Ohio,  in  connection  with  Kenyon 
College.  These  institutions  have  already  sent  forth  a  large  number 
of  young  men  into  the  ministry,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  or  fifty 
are  at  this  moment  pursuing  their  theological  studies,  under  the  in- 
struction of  able  professors. 

The  clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  like  those  of  the 
Established  Church  in  England,  are  divided  into  two  parties,  the  one 
termed  "High  Church"  and  the  other  "Low."  Sometimes  these 
parties  are  called  "  evangelical"  and  "  non-evangelical,"  but  not  with 
accuracy,  for  not  a  few  of  the  high- churchmen,  that  is,  men  charged 
with  carrying  their  preference  for  Episcopacy  to  an  extravagant 
length,  are  entirely  evangelical  in  their  doctrines  and  preaching.  But 
a  part  of  these  high-churchmen  are  not  considered  evangelical — not  so 
much  because  of  what  they  do  preach,  as  because  of  what  they  do  not 
preach.  Their  sermons  are  of  too  negative  a  character ;  an  efficacy  un- 
known to  the  Scriptures  is  ascribed  to  ceremonies  and  forms ;  neither 
are  the  sinner's  guilt  and  danger  as  fully  and  earnestly  set  forth  as 
they  should  be,  nor  is  the  glorious  sufficiency  of  Christ  unfolded,  and 
salvation  by  faith  alone  fully  and  clearly  presented.  Their  preaching, 
consequently,  does  not  reach  the  hearts  of  their  hearers  as  does  that 
of  their  evangelical  brethren,  nor  does  it  lead  the  members  of  their 
churches  to  renounce  the  "  world,  its  pomps  and  its  vanities,"  to  as 
great  an  extent  as  they  should.  Yet  they  are  not  to  be  classed  with 
the  fox-hunting,  theatre-going,  ball-frequenting,  and  card-playing 
clergy  of  some  other  countries.  They  are  an  infinitely  better  class  of 
men  and  ministers. 

I  know  not  the  comparative  numbers  of  the  evangelical  and  non- 
evangelical  clergy,  but  infer,  from  the  statements  of  some  well-in- 
formed ministers  of  that  Church,  that  they  are  in  the  proportion  of 
about  two  thirds  of  the  former  to  one  third  of  the  latter.  Of  the 
thirty-eight  bishops,  more  than  half  are  considered,  I  believe,  entirely 
evangelical.    But  all  are  laboriously  occupied  in  their  official  work ; 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCHES.  445 

and  I  believe  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  an  Episcopal  body  of  equal 
number,  in  any  other  country,  surpassing  them  in  talents,  zeal,  and 
piety.  To  be  a  bishop  with  us  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  holding 
that  office  where  bishops  live  in  palaces  and  have  princely  revenues. 
Our  bishops  are  frequently  parish  priests  also,  and  can  find  time  to 
visit  their  dioceses  only  by  employing  an  assistant  preacher,  or  rector, 
to  fill  their  places  when  they  are  engaged  in  their  visitations.  Their 
revenues  do  not  much  exceed,  in  some  instances  do  not  equal,  those 
of  many  of  their  clergy. 

As  for  the  Puseyite  or  Tractarian  doctrines,  or  whatever  they  may 
be  called,  three,  or  perhaps  four,  of  the  high-church  bishops  are  sup- 
posed to  have  embraced  them,  or  at  least  to  be  favorable  to  them,  as 
understood  in  America.  But  there  is  not  one  who  adopts  the  ex- 
treme views  put  forth  of  late  years  by  some  advocates  of  this  party  in 
England,  and  but  one  who  has  ever  declined  the  name  of  Protestant. 
Among  the  inferior  clergy  it  has  been  feared  that  these  sentiments 
have  made  considerable  progress ;  but  those  whose  situation  enables 
them  to  judge  with  a  good  deal  of  accuracy,  say  that  this  progress  is 
much  smaller  than  has  been  supposed.  Among  the  laity  there  is 
scarcely  any  sympathy  with  these  semi-popish  doctrines,  and  I  can  not 
believe  that  they  will  make  much  advance  in  the  country  at  large. 

The  prospects  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  are 
certainly  very  encouraging.  The  friend  of  a  learned  and  able  minis- 
try, to  form  which  she  has  founded  colleges  and  theological  institu- 
tions,* she  sees  among  her  clergy  not  a  few  men  of  the  highest  dis- 
tinction for  talents,  for  learning,  for  eloquence,  for  piety  and  zeal. 
A  large  number  of  the  most  respectable  people  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  are  among  her  friends  and  her  members,  especially  in  the 
cities  and  large  towns.  Under  such  circumstances,  if  she  be  true  to 
herself  and  her  proper  interests,  with  God's  blessing  she  can  not  but 
continue  to  prosper  and  extend  her  borders. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES. 

The  faith  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  America  is  common  to 
the  evangelical  churches  of  both  hemispheres,  but  their  organization 
and  discipline  are,  to  a  considerable  extent,  peculiar  to  themselves. 

*  The  founding  of  the  Theological  Seminary  of  this  Church,  at  the  city  of  New- 
York,  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  princely  gift  of  $60,000  by  a  Mr.  Jacob  Sherred. 
Such  beneficence  deserves  to  be  gratefully  commemorated. 


446  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

A  large  and  most  respectable  body  of  dissenters  in  Great  Britain,  for- 
merly known  as  Independents,  have  of  late  preferred  the  name  of 
Congregational,  but  the  differences  between  American  Congregation- 
alism and  that  which  bears  the  same  name  in  England  are,  in  some 
respects,  highly  important.  Some  of  these  differences,  as  well  as  the 
points  of  agreement,  will  appear  in  the  statements  that  follow. 

New  England  is  the  principal  seat  of  the  Congregational  churches 
in  America.  This  is  the  region  which  the  Puritans  planted  in  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  here  they  have  left  upon 
the  structure  and  institutions  of  society,  and  upon  the  opinions  and 
manners  of  the  people,  the  deepest  impression  of  their  peculiar  char- 
acter. In  all  these  States,  with  the  exception  of  Rhode  Island,  the 
Congregationalists  are  more  numerous  than  any  other  sect,  and  in 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  they  are  probably  more  numerous 
than  all  the  others  united. 

Out  of  New  England  the  Congregationalists  have  not  until  lately 
been  zealous  to  propagate  their  own  peculiar  forms  and  institutions. 
Of  the  vast  multitudes  of  emigrants  from  New  England  into  other 
States,  the  great  majority  have  chosen  to  unite  with  churches  of  the 
Presbyterian  connection,  rather  than  to  maintain  their  own  peculiari- 
ties at  the  expense  of  increased  division  in  the  household  of  faith.  In 
so  doing,  they  have  followed  the  advice  and  fallen  in  with  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  associated  bodies  of  Congregational  pastors  in 
New  England.  Yet  in  the  States  of  New  York,  Ohio,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  California,  many  congregations  retain 
the  forms  of  administration  which  have  descended  to  them  from  the 
New  England  fathers,  and  do  not  come  into  connection  with  any  of 
the  Presbyterian  judicatories.  Since  the  division  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  1838,  the  number  of  such  congregations  is  increasing. 

The  whole  number  of  Congregational  churches  in  the  United 
States  is  probably  not  far  from  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty, 
of  which  more  than  one  thousand  two  hundred  are  in  New  England. 
The  number  of  ministers  is  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven,  of  whom  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-eight  are  pas- 
tors, and  the  members  or  communicants  may  be  stated  at  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  thousand.  This  estimate  does  not  include  those  churches 
originally  or  nominally  Congregational,  which  have  rejected  what  are 
called  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  These  churches  are  better 
known  by  their  distinctive  title,  Unitarian.  The  churches  of  this  de- 
scription are  nearly  all  in  Massachusetts ;  a  few  are  in  Maine,  two  or 
three  in  New  Hampshire,  one  or  more  in  Vermont,  as  many  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  one,  in  a  state  of  suspended  animation,  in  Connecticut. 
Out  of  New  England  there  are  perhaps  fifteen  to  twenty  churches  of 


CHAP,  in.]         THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  447 

the  same  kind,  differing  very  little  in  their  principles,  or  in  their 
forms,  from  the  Unitarians  of  England. 

The  "  Pilgrims,"  as  they  are  called' — the  little  band  of  exiles  who, 
having  fled  from  England  into  Holland,  afterward,  in  1620,  migrated 
from  Holland  to  America,  and  formed  at  Plymouth  the  first  settle- 
ment in  New  England — were  separatists  from  the  Church  of  En- 
gland,* and  for  the  crime  of  attempting  to  set  up  religious  institutions 
not  established  by  law,  they  were  compelled  to  flee  from  their  native 
country,  embarking  by  stealth  and  at  night  as  fugitives  from  justice, 
as  we  have  related  in  detail  elsewhere.f     But  those  bodies  of  emi- 
grants far  more  numerous  and  far  better  prepared  and  furnished, 
which,  from  1628  onward,  planted  Salem  and  Boston,  Hartford,  and 
New  Haven — the  emigrating  Puritans,  who  were  the  actual  founders 
of  New  England,  and  whose  character  gave  direction  to  its  destiny — 
were  men  who  considered  themselves  as  belonging  to  the  Church  of 
England  till  their  emigration  into  the  American  wilderness  dissolved 
the  tie.     They  were  Puritans  in  England,  it  is  true,  but  the  Puritans 
were  a  party  within  the  Church  contending  for  a  purer  and  more 
thorough  renovation,  and  not  a  dissenting  body,  with  institutions  of 
their  own,  and  separated  from  the  Church.    The  ministers  who  ac- 
companied the  Puritan  emigrants,  or,  rather,  who  led  them  into  the 
wilderness,  and  who  were  the  first  pastors  of  the  churches  in  New 
England,  were,  before  their  emigration,  almost  without  exception, 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,  educated  at  the  universities, 
episcopally  ordained,  regularly  inducted  into  livings;  Nonconform- 
ists, it  is  true,  as  refusing  to  wear  the  white  surplice,  to  use  the  sign 
of  the  cross  in  baptism,  or  other  ceremonies  which  seemed  to  them 
superstitious,  but  yet  exercising  their  ministry  as  well  as  they  could 
under  many  disabilities  and  annoyances.     Cotton  and  Wilson,  of 
Boston ;  Hooker  and  Stone,  of  Hartford ;  Davenport  and  Hooke,  of 
New  Haven — not  to  extend  the  catalogue — were  all  beneficed  clergy- 
men before  their  emigration.    These  men  having  emigrated  to  what 
were  then  called  "  the  ends  of  the  earth,"  and  supposing  that  their 
expatriation  had  made  them  free  from  that  ecclesiastical  bondage  to 
which  they  had  been  "subjected  unwillingly,"  set  themselves  to 
study,  with  their  Bibles  in  their  hands,  the  Scriptural  model  of 
church-order ,  and  discipline,  and  to  form  their  churches  after  the 
pattern  thus  discovered.    The  result  was  Congregationalism— a  sys- 
tem which  differed  as  much  from  Brownism  on  the  one  hand,  as  it 

*  In  what  sense  they  were  Separatists  the  reader  will  have  perceived  from  what 
was  said  in  chapter  iv.  of  book  ii.  He  will  also  perceive  in  what  sense  they  were  not 
Separatists. 

f  See  book  ii.,  chap.  i. 


448  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUECHES   EST   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

did  from  Presbyterianism  on  the  other.  After  the  Puritans  in  Amer- 
ica had  set  up  their  church-order,  the  Puritans  in  England,  having 
become  a  majority  in  Parliament,  attempted  to  reduce  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  that  nation  to  the  Presbyterian  form ;  and  it  was 
not  till  a  still  later  period  that  Congregationalism,  or,  as  it  was  more 
generally  called  there,  Independency,  began  to  make  a  figure  under 
the  favor  of  Cromwell. 

Thus  it  appears  that  Congregationalism  in  America,  instead  of 
being  an  offshoot  from  that  in  England,  is  the  parent  stock.  No 
Congregational  church  in  England,  it  is  believed,  dates  its  existence 
so  far  back  as  the  Act  of  Uniformity  in  1662  ;  but  many  of  the  New 
England  churches  have  records  of  more  than  two  hundred  years. 

It  may  also  be  remarked  that  American  Congregationalists  are  not 
"  dissenters,"  nor  were  they  ever  such.  In  New  England  the  Con- 
gregational churches  were  for  a  long  time  the  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment of  the  country,  as  much  as  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  now  hi 
Scotland.  The  whole  economy  of  the  civil  State  was  arranged  with 
reference  to  the  welfare  of  these  churches ;  for  the  State  existed,  and 
the  country  had  been  redeemed  from  the  wilderness,  for  this  very 
purpose.  At  first  no  dissenting  assembly,  not  even  if  adopting  the 
ritual  and  order  of  the  Church  of  England,  was  tolerated.  After- 
ward dissenters  of  various  names  were  permitted  to  worship  as  they 
pleased,  and  were  not  only  released  from  the  obligation  to  contribute 
toward  the  support  of  the  established  religion,  but  were  so  incorpo- 
rated by  law  that  each  congregation  was  empowered  to  tax  its  own 
members  for  the  support  of  its  own  religious  ministrations.  But  still, 
until  the  principle  was  adopted  that  the  support  of  religion  is  not 
among  the  duties  of  the  civil  government,  the  Congregationalists 
maintained  this  precedence — that  every  man  who  did  not  prefer  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  public  worship  in  some  other  form,  was 
liable  to  be  taxed  as  a  Congregationalism  Thus,  though  some  of  the 
members  of  one  denomination  in  New  England  occasionally  aflect  to 
speak  of  the  Congregationalists  around  them  as  "  dissenters,"  those 
who  do  so  only  expose  themselves  to  ridicule.  Every  man  sees  that 
if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  "  dissent"  in  New  England,  the  Episcopal- 
ians, with  the  Baptists  and  the  Methodists,  and  all  the  other  sects 
who  have  at  different  times  separated  themselves  from  the  ecclesias- 
tical order  originally  established  on  the  soil,  and  still  flourishing  there, 
are  the  dissenters. 

The  Congregationalists  differ  from  most  other  communions,  in  that 
they  have  no  common  authoritative  standards  of  faith  and  order, 
other  than  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Yet  their  system  is  well  known 
among  themselves,  and  from  the  beginning  they  have  spared  no  rea- 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   CONGEEGATIONAL   CHUECHES.  449 

sonable  pains  to  make  it  known  to  others.  John  Cotton,  the  first 
teacher  of  the  first  church  in  Boston,  was  the  author  of  a  book  on 
u  the  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  published  as  early  as  1644, 
which,  in  its  time,  was  highly  esteemed,  not  only  as  a  controversial 
defence  of  Congregationalism,  but  also  as  a  practical  exposition  of  its 
principles.  John  Norton,  too,  teacher  of  the  church  in  Ipswich,  and 
afterward  settled  in  Boston,  gave  to  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Eu- 
rope, in  1646,  a  full  account  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  of  New  En- 
gland, in  a  Latin  epistle  to  Apollonius,  a  Dutch  minister,  who,  in  the 
name  of  the  divines  of  Zealand,  had  written  to  America  for  informa- 
tion on  that  subject.  In  1648,  a  synod  of  pastors  and  churches, 
called  together  at  Cambridge  (a  town  near  Boston)  by  the  invitation 
of  the  civil  authorities  of  Massachusetts,  drew  up  a  scheme  of  church 
discipline,  which,  from  the  place  at  which  the  synod  met,  was  called 
the  "  Cambridge  Platform."  This  platform,  however,  though  highly 
approved  at  the  time,  and  still  quoted  with  great  deference,  was 
never  an  authoritative  rule ;  and  at  this  day  some  of  its  principles 
have  become  entirely  obsolete.  In  1708,  a  synod,  or  council,  repre- 
senting the  pastors  and  churches  of  Connecticut,  was  assembled  at 
Saybrook  by  the  invitation  of  the  Legislature  of  that  colony.  By 
this  Connecticut  synod  a  system  was  formed,  differing  in  some  re- 
spects from  the  Cambridge  Platform,  and  designed  to  supply  what 
were  deemed  the  deficiencies  of  that  older  system.  The  Saybrook 
Platform  was  adopted  by  the  churches  of  Connecticut,  and  was  for 
many  years  in  that  colony  a  sort  of  standard  recognized  by  law.  Its 
application  was  gradually  modified,  and  its  stringency  relaxed  or  in- 
creased by  various  local  rules  and  usages,  and  by  successive  acts  of 
the  Legislature  ;  and  at  the  present  time  this  platform  alone  is  a  very 
inadequate  account  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  of  Connecticut. 

The  following  outline,  it  is  believed,  will  give  the  reader  some  idea 
of  the  system  of  New  England  Congregationalism  as  it  is  at  this 
day: 

1.  The  Congregational  system  recognizes  no  church  as  an  organ- 
ized body  politic  other  than  a  congregation  of  believers  statedly  as- 
sembling for  worship  and  religious  communion.  It  falls  back  upon 
the  original  meeting  of  the  Greek  word  txxltjcrla,  and  of  the  Latin 
ccetus. 

Popery  claims  that  all  Christians  constitute  one  visible,  organized 
body,  having  its  officers,  its  centre,  and  its  head  on  earth.  The  first 
Reformers  seem  to  have  supposed  that  each  national  church  has  its 
own  independent  existence,  and  is  to  be  considered  as  one  organic 
body,  which  has  somewhere  within  itself,  in  the  clergy,  or  in  the  peo- 
ple, or  in  the  civil  government  of  the  nation,  a  power  to  regulate  and 

29 


450  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

govern  all  the  parts.  Congregationalism  rejects  both  the  Universal 
Church  of  the  Papists,  and  the  National  Churches  which  the  Refor- 
mation established  in  England,  in  Scotland,  in  certain  States  of  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland,  and  attempted  to  establish  in  France. 

Hence  the  name  Congregational.  Each  congregation  of  believers 
is  a  church ;  and  exists  not  as  a  subordinate  part,  or  as  under  the 
sovereignty  of  a  National  Church,  nor  as  a  part,  or  under  the  sover- 
eignty of  an  organized  Universal  Church,  but  substantively  and  inde- 
pendently. 

Other  religious  communions  in  America  are  organized  under  the 
form  of  National  Churches,  and  are  named  accordingly.  Thus  we 
have  "  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,"  "  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,"  "  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States  ;"  but  no  intelligent  person  ever 
speaks  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  the  United  States,  or  of  the 
American  Congregational  Church.  Congregationalists  always  speak 
of  the  churches  of  America,  or  of  New  England,  or  of  Massachu- 
setts, except  when,  in  courtesy  to  other  denominations,  they  use 
their  forms  of  speech  in  speaking  of  them  and  of  their  affairs. 

2.  A  church  exists  by  the  consent,  expressed  or  implied,  of  its  mem- 
bers to  walk  together  in  obedience  to  the  principles  of  the  Gospel, 
and  the  institutions  of  Christ.  In  other  words,  a  church  does  not  de- 
rive its  existence  and  rights  from  some  charter  conceded  to  it  by 
another  church,  or  by  some  higher  ecclesiastical  judicatory.  When 
any  competent  number  of  believers  meet  together  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  agree,  either  expressly  or  by  some  implication,  to  com- 
mune together  statedly  in  Christian  worship,  and  in  the  observance 
of  Christ's  ordinances,  and  to  perform  toward  one  another  the  mutual 
duties  of  such  Christian  fellowship,  Christ  himself  is  present  with 
them  (Matt.,  xviii.,  20),  and  they  receive  from  Him  all  the  powers 
and  privileges  which  belong  to  a  church  of  Christ. 

At  the  orderly  formation  of  a  church,  the  neighboring  churches  are 
ordinarily  invited  to  be  present  by  their  pastors  and  delegates,  as 
witnesses  of  the  faith  and  order  of  those  engaged  in  the  transaction, 
and  that  they  may  extend  the  "  right  hand  of  fellowship,"  recogniz- 
ing the  new  church  as  one  of  the  sisterhood  of  churches.  The 
neglect  of  this,  though  it  might  be  deemed  a  breach  of  courtesy  and 
order,  would  not,  of  itself,  so  vitiate  the  proceedings  as  to  prevent 
the  new  church  from  being  recognized  ultimately  by  the  churches 
of  the  neighborhood. 

3.  The  officers  of  a  church  are  of  two  sorts — elders  and  deacons. 
When  the  Congregational  churches  of  New  England  were  first  or- 
ganized, two  centuries  ago,  the  plan  was  that  each  church  should 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCHES.  451 

have  two  or  more  elders — one  a  pastor — another  charged  with  similar 
duties  under  the  title  of  a  teacher — the  third  ordained  to  his  office 
like  the  other  two,  a  ruling  elder,  who,  with  his  colleagues,  presided 
over  the  discipline  and  order  of  the  church,  but  took  no  part  in  the 
official  authoritative  preaching  of  the  Word,  or  in  the  administration 
of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Thus  it  was  intended  that  each 
church  should  have  within  itself  a  presbytery,  or  clerical  body,  per- 
petuating itself  by  the  ordination  of  those  who  should  be  elected  to 
fill  successive  vacancies.  This  plan,  however,  soon  fell  into  disuse ; 
and  now,  except  in  the  rare  cases  of  colleagues  in  office,  all  the 
powers  and  duties  of  the  eldership  devolve  upon  one  whose  ordinary 
official  title  is  pastor.  The  office  of  deacons,  of  whom  there  are  from 
two  to  six  in  each  church,  is  to  serve  at  the  Lord's  Table,  and  to  re- 
ceive, keep,  and  apply  the  contributions  which  the  church  makes  at 
each  communion  for  the  expenses  of  the  Table,  and  for  the  poor 
among  its  own  members.  Originally,  the  deacons,  as  in  the  primitive 
churches,  received  on  each  Lord's  Day  the  contributions  of  the  whole 
congregation,  which  were  applied  by  them  for  the  support  of  the 
ministers,  and  for  all  other  ecclesiastical  uses.  But  at  an  early  period 
other  arrangements  were  adopted,  as  more  convenient. 

4.  Admission  to  membership  in  the  church  takes  place  as  follows  : 
The  person  desiring  to  unite  himself  with  the  church  makes  known 
his  wishes  to  the  pastor.  The  pastor  (or  in  some  churches  the  pastor 
and  deacons,  and  in  others,  the  pastor  and  a  committee  appointed  for 
the  purpose),  having  conversed  with  the  candidate,  and  obtained  by 
conversation  and  inquiry  satisfactory  evidence  of  that  spiritual  reno- 
vation, that  inward  living  piety  which  is  regarded  as  the  condition 
of  membership,  he  is  publicly  proposed  in  the  congregation,  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  as  a  candidate  ;  so  that  if  there  be  any  objection  in  any 
quarter,  it  may  be  seasonably  made  known.  At  the  end  of  a  week, 
or  more,  according  to  the  particular  rule  of  the  church,  a  vote  of  the 
"  brotherhood"  (or  male  members)  is  taken  on  the  question,  "  Shall 
this  person  be  admitted  to  membership  in  the  church  ?"  After  this, 
the  candidate  appears  before  the  congregation,  and  gives  his  assent  to 
a  formal  profession  of  the  Christian  faith  read  to  him  by  the  pastor, 
and  to  a  form  of  covenant,  by  which  he  engages  to  give  himself  up  to 
God  as  a  child  and  servant,  and  to  Christ  as  a  redeemed  sinner,  and 
binds  himself  to  the  church  conscientiously  to  perform  all  the  duties 
of  Christian  communion  and  brotherhood. 

5.  The  censures  of  the  church  are  pronounced  by  the  pastor  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  previous  vote  or  determination  of  the  brotherhood. 
The  directions  given  by  Christ  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  an 
offending  brother  (Matt,  xviii.  15-17)  are,  in  most  churches,  literally 


452  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUECHES   IN   AMEEICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

and  directly  adhered  to  in  all  cases.  First,  one  brother  alone  confers 
with  the  supposed  offender,  and  this  is  the  first  admonition.  Then, 
if  satisfaction  has  not  been  obtained,  the  same  brother  takes  with  him 
one  or  two  others,  and  the  effort  is  repeated :  this  is  the  second  ad- 
monition. If  this  effort  be  ineffectual,  the  whole  case  is  reported 
to  the  church,  i.  e.,  the  brotherhood  ;  and  if  the  church  do  not  obtain 
satisfaction,  in  other  words,  if  they  find  him  guilty  of  the  offence  al- 
leged against  him,  and  do  not  find  him  at  the  same  time  penitent  and 
ready  to  confess  his  fault,  they,  as  a  body,  admonish  him,  and  wait 
for  his  repentance.  If  he  refuses  to  hear  the  church,  that  is,  if  the 
admonition,  after  due  forbearance,  is  unsuccessful,  the  brethren,  by  a 
vote,  exclude  him  from  their  fellowship,  and  the  pastor,  as  Christ's 
minister,  pronounces  a  public  sentence  of  excommunication. 

In  some  churches  a  public  and  notorious  scandal  is  sometimes  taken 
up  by  the  church  as  a  body,  without  waiting  for  the  first  and  second 
admonition  in  private.  Yet,  in  such  cases,  the  church  commonly  acts 
by  a  committee,  who  follow  the  method  just  described ;  first  one,  and 
next  two  or  more  confer  with  the  offender  privately,  and  then  they 
report  to  the  church  what  they  have  done,  and  with  what  success. 

Some  churches  have  a  "  standing  committee,"  who,  with  the  pastor, 
prepare  all  business  of  this  nature  for  the  action  of  the  church. 
Every  complaint  or  accusation  against  a  brother  is  brought  first  to 
this  committee,  and  an  attempt  is  made  by  them  to  adjust  the  difti- 
culty,  and  to  remove  the  offence  without  bringing  the  matter  to  the 
church.  If  that  attempt  be  unsuccessful,  the  committee,  having  in- 
vestigated the  case,  having  heard  the  parties  and  the  witnesses,  report 
to  the  church  the  facts  of  the  case,  with  their  own  opinion  as  to  what 
ought  to  be  done.  The  committee  are  never  invested  with  the  power 
of  inflicting  any  church  censures. 

6.  The  arrangements  among  the  Congregationalists  of  New  En- 
gland for  the  support  of  public  worship  are  in  some  points  peculiar. 
The  church,  of  which  we  have  thus  far  spoken  exclusively,  is  entirely 
a  spiritual  association.  But  it  exists  in  an  amicable  connection  with 
a  civil  corporation  called  the  parish,  or  the  ecclesiastical  society,  which 
includes  the  congregation  at  large,  or,  more  accurately,  those  adult 
members  of  the  congregation  who  consent  to  be  a  civil  society  for 
the  support  of  public  worship.  This  civil  corporation  is  the  proprietor 
of  the  house  of  worship,  of  the  parsonage,  if  there  be  one,  and  some- 
times of  other  endowments,  consisting  of  gifts  and  legacies  which 
have  from  time  to  time  been  made  for  the  uses  for  which  the  society 
exists.  It  can  raise  funds  either  by  voluntary  subscription,  or  by  the 
sale  or  rent  of  the  pews  in  its  house  of  worship,  or  by  assessing  a  tax 
upon  the  estates  of  its  members,  in  which  last  case  the  funds  raised 


CHAP.  HI.]         THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  453 

can  be  applied  only  to  the  current  expenses  of  the  society.  It  enters 
into  a  civil  contract  with  the  pastor,  and  becomes  bound  in  law  to 
render  him  for  his  services  such  compensation  as  is  agreed  upon  be- 
tween him  and  them. 

A  stranger  may  not  easily  understand  the  difference  between  the 
church  and  the  society,  and  the  relations  of  each  to  the  other,  with- 
out some  further  explanation.  The  church,  then,  is  designed  to  be  a 
purely  spiritual  body.  The  society  is  a  secular  body.  The  church 
consists  only  of  such  as  profess  to  have  some  experience  of  spiritual 
religion.  The  society  consists  of  all  who  are  willing  to  unite  in  the 
support  of  public  worship — it  being  understood  only,  that  no  person 
can  thrust  himself  into  its  ranks,  and  obtain  a  voice  in  the  administration 
of  its  affairs,  without  the  express  or  implied  consent  of  those  who  are 
already  members.  The  church  watches  over  the  deportment  of  its 
members,  they  being  all  bound  to  help  each  other  in  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  life ;  and  on  proper  occasions  it  censures  or  absolves  from 
censure  those  under  its  care.  The  society  has  nothing  to  do  with 
church  censures.  To  the  church  belong  the  ordinances  of  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  society  has  no  concern  with  the  admin- 
istration of  either  ordinance.  The  church  has  no  property  except  its 
records,  and  its  sacramental  vessels,  and  the  eleemosynary  contribu- 
tions received  and  dispensed  by  its  deacons.  The  society  is  a  body 
incorporated  by  law  for  the  purpose  of  holding  and  managing  any 
property  necessary  for  the  support  of  public  worship,  or  designated  by 
donors  for  that  use.  The  church  has  its  pastor  and  deacons,  and  some- 
times its  committees,  for  the  management  of  particular  departments  of 
the  church  business.  The  society  has  its  clerk,  its  treasurer,  and  its  pru- 
dential committee,  elected  every  year ;  and  the  pastor  of  the  church 
is  also  the  minister  and  religious  teacher  of  the  society ;  and  every 
family  of  the  congregation  is  considered  as  belonging  to  his  charge. 

The  great  advantage  of  this  part  of  the  system  is,  that  it  gives  to 
every  member  of  the  congregation  an  interest  in  its  prosperity,  and  a 
voice  in  the  management  of  its  affairs,  while  at  the  same  time  it  gives 
to  the  church  every  desirable  facility  for  keeping  itself  pure  in  doc- 
trine and  in  practice.  There  is  nothing  to  secularize  the  church ;  no 
temptation  to  admit  irreligious  or  unconverted  men  as  members  for 
the  sake  of  causing  them  to  take  an  interest  in  the  support  of  public 
worship ;  and  no  temptation  inducing  such  men  to  seek  admission  to 
the  church.  The  pastor  and  the  place  of  worship  are  as  much  theirs 
as  if  they  were  communicants. 

The  pastor,  it  has  been  already  remarked,  is  not  only  the  president 
or  bishop  of  the  church,  but  also  the  religious  teacher  and  minister 
of  the  society.     Of  course  he  is  elected  by  a  concurrent  vote  of  the 


454  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

two  bodies.  In  this  the  church  generally  takes  the  lead.  The  candi- 
date is,  to  some  extent,  known  to  the  people,  for  he  has  already 
preached  to  them  on  probation.  His  fitness  for  the  place  has  been 
the  subject  of  colloquial  discussion  in  families  and  among  neighbors. 
The  church  meets,  under  the  presidency  of  a  neighboring  minister, 
or  perhaps  of  one  of  its  own  deacons,  and  decides,  sometimes  by  bal- 
lot, and  sometimes  by  the  lifting  up  of  hands  (xeiQ0T0Pia),  to  call  him 
to  the  pastoral  office,  if  the  society  shall  concur.  The  society,  in  like 
manner,  meet,  and  by  a  vote  express  their  agreement  with  the  church 
in  calling  this  candidate  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church 
and  society.  After  this  the  society  determines  by  vote  what  salary 
shall  be  offered  to  the  candidate  on  the  condition  of  his  accepting  the 
call,  and  proposes  any  other  stipulations  as  part  of  the  contract  be- 
tween the  people  and  their  pastor.  Committees  are  appointed  by  the 
church  and  by  the  society  to  confer  with  the  pastor  elect,  and  to  report 
his  answer;  and,  then,  if  his  answer  be  favorable,  to  make  arrangements 
for  his  public  induction  into  office.  Sometimes  the  society  leads  in  the 
call  of  a  pastor,  and  the  church  concurs.  If  either  of  these  two  bodies 
does  not  concur  with  the  other — which  very  rarely  happens — the  elec- 
tion fails,  of  course,  and  they  wait  till  another  candidate  shall  unite  them. 

7.  The  pastors  of  neighboring  churches  form  themselves  into  bodies 
for  mutual  advice  and  aid  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  This  body  is 
called  an  association.  It  has  its  stated  meetings  at  the  house  of  each 
member  in  rotation.  At  every  meeting  each  member  is  called  upon 
to  report  the  state  of  his  own  flock,  and  to  propose  any  question  on 
which  he  may  desire  counsel  from  his  brethren.  In  these  meetings 
every  question  which  relates  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  or  the  in- 
terest of  the  churches,  is  freely  discussed.  The  associations  of  each 
State  meet  annually  by  their  delegates  in  a  General  Association. 

But  the  most  important  part  of  the  duties  of  the  association  is  to 
examine  those  who  desire  to  be  introduced  to  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try. This  is  on  the  principle  that,  as  lawyers  are  to  determine  who 
shall  be  admitted  to  practice  at  the  bar,  and  physicians  determine  who 
shall  be  received  into  the  ranks  of  their  profession,  so  ministers  are 
the  fittest  judges  for  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
The  candidate,  therefore,  who  has  passed  through  the  usual  course  of 
studies,  liberal*  and  theological,  can  not  begin  to  preach — will  not  be 
recognized  by  any  church  as  a  candidate — till  he  have  received  from 
some  association  a  certificate  of  approbation,  recommending  him  to 
the  churches,  which  is  his  license  to  preach  the  Gospel  on  trial.  Such 
a  certificate  is  not  granted  without  a  close  examination,  particularly 

*  By  the  word  "liberal,"  as  applied  to  education,  is  meant  that  which  is  obtained 
in  making  the  curriculum  of  a  college.     It  is  synonymous  with  "classical." 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   CONGEEGATIONAL   CHUECHES.  455 

in  respect  to  his  piety,  soundness  in  the  faith,  and  acquaintance  with 
the  system  of  Christian  doctrines. 

8.  The  fathers  of  the  New  England  churches  seem  to  have  ac- 
knowledged no  minister  of  the  Gospel  other  than  the  pastor  or 
teacher  of  some  particular  church.    In  their  zeal  against  a  hierarchy, 
they  found  no  place  for  any  minister  of  Christ  not  elected  by  some 
organized  assembly  of  believers  to  the  work  of  ruling  and  teaching 
in  that  congregation.     The  evangelist  was  thought  by  them  to  be, 
like  the  apostle,  only  for  the  primitive  age  of  Christianity.    Accord- 
ingly, the  pastor,  when  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  was  no 
longer  a  minister  of  Christ,  or  competent  to  perform  anywhere  any 
function  of  the  ministry.     In  connection  with  this  view,  it  was  also 
held  that  the  power  of  ordination,  as  well  as  of  election  to  office,  re- 
sides exclusively  in  the  church,  and  that  if  the  church  has  no  elders 
in  office,  this  power  of  ordination  may  be  exercised  either  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  brethren,  or  by  some  neighboring  elders,  appointed  to 
that  function  by  the  church,  and  acting  in  its  name.   But  these  views 
were  very  early  superseded.     The  distinction  is  now  recognized  be- 
tween a  minister  of  the  Gospel  having  a  pastoral  charge,  and  a  min- 
ister who  sustains  no  office  in  any  church.     The  man  ordained  to  the 
pastoral  office  is,  of  course,  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and 
if  circumstances  occur  which  make  it  expedient  for  him  to  lay  down 
his  office  of  pastor,  he  does  not,  of  course,  lay  down  the  work  of  the 
ministry  to  which  he  was  set  apart  at  his  ordination.     Sometimes  a 
man,  having  no  call  from  any  church  to  take  the  office  of  pastor,  is 
set  apart  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  that  he  may  be  a  missionary  to 
the  heathen,  or  that  he  may  labor  among  the  destitute  at  home,  or 
that  he  may  perform  some  other  evangelical  labor  for  the  churches  at 
large.     Such  ordinations  are  rare,  except  in  the  cases  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries, or  of  missionaries  to  some  new  region  of  the  country  where 
churches  are  not  yet  organized. 

Ministers,  therefore,  whether  pastors  or  evangelists,  are  now  or- 
dained only  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  those  who  are  before 
them  in  the  ministry ;  for  though  it  belongs  to  the  church  to  make  a 
pastor,  it  belongs  to  ministers  to  make  a  minister. 

9.  The  reader  has  already  learned  that  the  American  Congrega- 
tional churches  disavow  the  name  Independent.  From  the  begin- 
ning they  have  held  and  practised  the  communion  of  churches.  Con- 
tinually, and  by  various  acts  of  affection  and  intercourse,  they  recog- 
nize each  other  as  churches  of  Christ,  as  bound  to  render  to  each 
other,  on  all  proper  occasions,  an  account  of  their  doings.  They  re- 
ceive each  other's  members  to  occasional  communion  in  ordinances. 
1  Members  of  one  church,  removing  their  residence  to  another  church, 


456  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

take  from  the  one  a  letter  of  dismission  and  recommendation,  and 
without  that,  are  not  received  to  membership  in  the  other.  The 
principle  that,  in  matters  which  concern  not  one  church  alone,  but 
all  the  churches  of  the  vicinity,  no  one  church  ought  to  act  alone, 
is  continually  regarded  in  practice.  The  ordination  or  installation  of 
a  pastor,  and  in  like  manner  his  dismission  from  his  office,  even  by 
the  mutual  consent  of  himself  and  his  flock,  never  takes  place  without 
the  intervention  of  a  council  of  pastors  and  delegates  from  neighbor- 
ing churches.  When  any  act  of  a  church  is  grievous  to  a  portion  of 
its  members — when  any  contention  or  difficulty  has  arisen  within  a 
church  which  can  not  otherwise  be  adjusted — when  a  member  ex- 
communicated deems  himself  unjustly  treated,  a  council  of  the  neigh- 
boring churches  is  called  to  examine  the  case,  and  to  give  advice ; 
and  the  advice  thus  given  is  rarely,  if  ever,  disregarded.  If  a  church 
is  deemed  guilty  of  any  gross  dereliction  of  the  faith,  or  of  Christian 
discipline,  any  neighboring  church  may  expostulate  with  it  as  one 
brother  expostulates  with  another,  and  when  expostulation  proves  in- 
sufficient, a  council  of  the  neighboring  churches  is  called  to  examine 
the  matter ;  and  from  the  church  which  obstinately  refuses  to  listen 
to  the  advice  given  by  such  a  council,  the  neighboring  churches 
withdraw  their  communion. 

In  Connecticut  the  communion  of  the  churches  has  been  practised 
for  about  one  hundred  and  forty-five  years,  in  "  consociations,"  or  vol- 
untary confederations  of  from  six  to  twenty  contiguous  churches, 
binding  themselves  to  call  upon  each  other  in  all  cases  of  difficulty 
which  require  a  council.  Elsewhere  councils  of  churches,  though 
ordinarily  selected  from  the  immediate  vicinity,  are  selected  at  the 
discretion  of  the  church  by  which  the  council  is  convened. 

Under  this  ecclesiastical  system  the  churches  of  New  England 
have,  it  is  believed  by  many,  enjoyed  for  two  centuries  and  a  quarter, 
a  more  continued  purity  of  doctrine,  and  fidelity  of  discipline,  and  a 
more  constant  prosperity  of  the  spiritual  religion,  than  has  been  en- 
joyed by  any  other  equal  body  of  churches,  for  so  long  a  time,  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles.  No  religious  communion  in  America  has 
done  more  for  religion  and  morals  among  its  own  people,  more  for 
the  advancement  of  learning  and  general  education,  or  more  for  the 
diffusion  of  the  Gospel  at  home  and  abroad.  None  has  been  more 
characterized  by  that  large  and  manly  spirit  which  values  the  com- 
mon Christianity  of  all  who  "  hold  the  Head,"  more  than  the  pecu- 
liar forms  and  institutions  of  its  own  sect. 

The  highest  ecclesiastical  bodies  by  which  the  Congregational 
churches  in  the  United  States  are,  in  a  sense,  united  or  associated,  are, 
the  General  Associations  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   KEGULAR   BAPTIST   CHURCHES.  457 

shire,  and  New  York ;  the  General  Convention  of  Vermont,  the  Gen- 
eral Consociation  of  Rhode  Island,  and  the  General  Conference  of 
Maine.  These  bodies  meet  annually,  and  they  maintain  the  "  bond 
of  fellowship"  by  sending  delegates  to  each  other.  It  must  not  be 
understood  that  all  the  evangelical  Congregational  churches  in  the 
States  just  named  are  "  associated,"  that  is,  connected  with  the  in- 
ferior associations,  and  through  them  with  the  "  general  association," 
"  general  convention,"  "  general  consociation,"  or  "  general  confer- 
ence" of  the  State  in  which  they  are  situated.  But  the  number  not 
thus  united  with  their  sister  churches  is  not  great.  The  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  Ohio,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  are 
not  yet  sufficiently  numerous  to  render  the  organization  of  general 
associations  convenient,  or  else  other  causes  have  prevented  this 
measure  from  being  adopted. 

The  Congregationalists  in  New  England  have  eight  colleges,  five 
theological  seminaries  and  faculties,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
students  in  theology.  In  the  other  States  where  they  exist,  they  give 
their  aid  to  the  Presbyterian  literary  and  theological  institutions. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     REGULAR     BAPTIST     CHURCHES. 

Next  to  the  Episcopalians  and  the  Congregationalists,  the  Baptists 
are  the  oldest  of  the  various  branches  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
United  States.  And  if  we  were  to  include  under  this  name  all  who 
hold  that  immersion  is  the  true  and  only  Scriptural  mode  of  baptism, 
without  reference  to  the  orthodoxy  of  their  faith,  we  should  proba- 
bly find  that  they  are  also  the  largest  denomination  in  this  country. 
But  if  we  separate  from  them  a  portion  at  least  of  those  minor  bodies 
which,  though  agreeing  with  them  on  that  point,  differ  from  them  on 
important,  and,  in  some  cases,  fundamental  doctrines,  we  shall  find 
that  they  are  not  equal  in  number  to  the  Methodists. 

In  their  church  government  the  Baptists  of  all  denominations  are 
Independents,  that  is,  each  church  is  wholly  independent,  as  respects 
its  interior  government,  even  of  those  other  churches  with  which  it 
may  be  associated  in  ecclesiastical  union.  Each  separate  church  pos- 
sesses and  exercises  the  right  of  licensing  or  granting  permission  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  of  ordaining  elders  or  presbyters  clothed  with 
all  the  functions  of  the  ministerial  office.  This  is  the  old  ground  at 
first  maintained  by  the  Independents.  The  Congregationalists,  spoken 


458  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

of  in  the  last  chapter,  seem  to  be  Independents  in  theory,  but  in 
spirit  and  practice  they  are  very  nearly  Presbyterians,  and  have  often 
been  called  "  Congregational  Presbyterians." 

Delegates  from  different  Baptist  churches  hold  public  meetings  for 
purposes  of  mutual  counsel  and  improvement,  but  not  for  the  general 
government  of  the  whole  body,  all  right  of  interference  in  the  con- 
cerns of  individual  churches  being  disclaimed  by  these  ecclesiasti- 
cal assemblies.  A  very  large  majority  of  our  evangelical  Baptist 
churches  are  associated  by  their  pastors  in  District  Associations  and 
State  Conventions,  which  meet  every  year  for  promoting  missions, 
education,  and  other  benevolent  objects.  A  general  convention, 
called  the  "  Baptist  General  Convention"  of  the  United  States,  form- 
erly existed  and  met  every  three  years,  the  last  always  appointing 
the  place  of  meeting  for  the  ne'xt  after.  The  General  Convention  was 
restricted  by  its  constitution  to  the  promotion  of  foreign  missions.  It 
held  its  first  meeting  in  1814.  But  there  are  now  two  General  Con- 
ventions, one  in  the  North,  and  the  other  in  the  South.  Within  the 
last  ten  years,  a  Home  Missionary  Society,  a  General  Tract  Society, 
a  Bible  Society,  and  several  societies  for  the  education  of  poor  and 
pious  youths  having  talents  adapted  for  the  ministry,  have  sprung  up 
in  each  of  the  two  great  branches  of  the  Baptist  body,  and  already 
exert  a  wide  and  happy  influence. 

The  Baptists,  like  the  Congregationalists,  make  it  a  fundamental 
principle  to  adopt  the  Bible  as  their  only  confession  of  faith.  Yet 
most,  if  not  all,  of  the  evangelical  churches  that  bear  the  name,  find 
it  convenient  in  practice  to  have  a  creed  or  summary  of  doctrine,  and 
these  creeds,  although  they  may  vary  in  expression,  all  agree  in  the 
main,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  among  the  Regular  and  Associated 
Baptists  are  decidedly  Calvinistic. 

Some  twenty  years  ago,  the  Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of 
New  Hampshire  adopted  a  Declaration  of  Faith,  consisting  of  sixteen 
articles,  and  a  form  of  church  covenant,  which  they  recommended 
to  the  Baptist  churches  of  that  State,  and  which  are  supposed  to  ex- 
press, with  little  variation,  the  general  sentiments  of  the  whole  body 
of  orthodox  Baptists  in  the  United  States.  The  subjects  of  these 
articles  are :  The  Scriptures ;  the  true  God ;  the  fall  of  man ;  the  way 
of  salvation;  justification;  the  freeness  of  salvation  ;  grace  in  regen- 
eration ;  God's  purposes  of  grace ;  perseverance  of  saints  ;  harmony 
of  the  law  and  Gospel ;  a  Gospel  church ;  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  the  Christian  Sabbath ;  civil  government ;  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  ;  the  world  to  come. 

On  all  these  subjects,  excepting  Baptism,  these  articles  express  the 
doctrines  held  by  the   Calvinistic  churches   of  all   denominations. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   REGULAR   BAPTIST   CHURCHES.  459 

The  Bible  is  pronounced  to  have  been  "  written  by  men  divinely  in- 
spired"— "  has  God  for  its  Author,  salvation  for  its  end,  and  truth, 
without  any  mixture  of  error,  for  its  matter" — "  is  the  true  centre  of 
Christian  union,  and  the  supreme  standard  by  which  all  human  con- 
duct, creeds,  and  opinions  should  be  tried."  The  "true  God,"  it  is 
affirmed,  is  "  revealed  under  the  personal  and  relative  distinctions  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  equal  in  every  Divine  per- 
fection, and  executing  distinct  and  harmonious  offices  in  the  great 
work  of  redemption."  "  The  salvation  of  sinners"  is  taught  to  be 
"  wholly  of  grace,  through  the  mediatorial  offices  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  took  upon  Him  our  nature,  yet  without  sin ;  honored  the  law  by 
His  personal  obedience,  and  made  atonement  for  our  sins  by  His 
death ;  being  risen  from  the  dead,  He  is  now  enthroned  in  heaven ; 
and,  uniting  in  His  wonderful  person  the  tenderest  sympathies  with 
Divine  perfections,  is  every  way  qualified  to  be  a  suitable,  a  compas- 
sionate, and  an  all-sufficient  Saviour."  "  Justification,"  it  is  affirmed, 
"  consists  in  the  pardon  of  sin  and  the  promise  of  eternal  life,"  and 
"is  bestowed  not  in  consideration  of  any  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  solely  of  His  (Christ's)  own  redemption 
and  righteousness." 

On  the  freeness  of  salvation  it  is  taught  "  that  the  blessings  of 
salvation  are  made  free  to  all  by  the  Gospel ;  lhat  it  is  the  immediate 
duty  of  all  to  accept  them  by  a  cordial  and  obedient  faith ;  and  that 
nothing  prevents  the  salvation  of  the  greatest  sinner  on  earth,  ex- 
cept his  own  voluntary  refusal  to  submit  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
which  refusal  will  subject  him  to  an  aggravated  condemnation." 
"  Regeneration  consists  in  giving  a  holy  disposition  to  the  mind,  and 
is  effected  in  a  manner  above  our  comprehension  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
so  as  to  secure  our  voluntary  obedience  to  the  Gospel ;  and  its  proper 
evidence  is  found  in  the  holy  fruit  which  we  bring  forth  to  the  glory 
of  God." 

On  the  subject  of  God's  purpose  of  grace  it  is  stated,  "That  elec- 
tion is  the  gracious  purpose  of  God,  according  to  which  He  regener- 
ates, sanctifies,  and  saves  sinners" — is  "consistent  with  the  free 
agency  of  man" — "  comprehends  all  the  means  in  connection  with  the 
end" — "  is  a  most  gracious  display  of  God's  sovereign  goodness" — 
"  utterly  excludes  boasting,  and  promotes  humility,  prayer,  praise, 
trust  in  God" — "  encourages  the  use  of  means  in  the  highest  degree" 
— "  is  ascertained  in  its  effects  in  all  who  believe" — "  is  the  founda- 
tion of  Christian  assurance" — and  that  "  to  ascertain  it  with  regard 
to  ourselves,  demands  and  deserves  our  utmost  diligence." 

On  the  subject  of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  it  is  affirmed, 
"  That  such  only  are  real  believers  as  endure  unto  the  end ;  that  their 


460  THE   EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

persevering  attachment  to  Christ  is  the  grand  mark  which  distin- 
guishes them  from  superficial  professors;  that  a  special  providence 
watches  over  their  welfare ;  and  they  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation." 

According  to  this  Confession  of  Faith,  "  a  visible  Church  of  Christ 
is  a  congregation  of  baptized  believers,  associated  by  covenant  in  the 
faith  and  fellowship  of  the  Gospel,  observing  the  ordinances  of  Christ ; 
governed  by  His  laws ;  and  exercising  the  gifts,  rights,  and  privileges 
invested  in  them  by  His  Word;  its  only  proper  officers  are  bish- 
ops or  pastors,  and  deacons,  whose  qualifications,  claims,  and  du- 
ties are  defined  in  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus."  And  "  Chris- 
tian Baptism  is  the  immersion  of  a  believer  in  water,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  to  show  forth  a  solemn  and 
beautiful  emblem  of  our  faith  in  a  crucified,  buried,  and  risen  Saviour, 
with  its  purifying  power,"  and  "  is  a  pre-requisite  to  the  privileges  of 
a  church  relation." 

The  "  Christian  Sabbath  is  the  first  day  of  the  week,"  and  "  is  to 
be  kept  sacred  to  religious  purposes ;"  "  civil  government  is  of  Divine 
appointment,  for  the  interests  and  good  order  of  society ;  and  mag- 
istrates are  to  be  prayed  for,  conscientiously  honored  and  obeyed, 
except  in  things  opposed  to  the  will  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  the  only  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth." 

And  finally,  on  the  subject  of  the  world  to  come,  it  is  taught, 
"  That  the  end  of  this  world  is  approaching ;  that  at  the  last  day 
Christ  will  descend  from  heaven,  and  raise  the  dead  from  the  grave 
to  final  retribution ;  that  a  solemn  separation  will  then  take  place ; 
that  the  wicked  will  be  adjudged  to  endless  punishment,  and  the 
righteous  to  endless  joy ;  and  that  this  judgment  will  fix  forever  the 
final  state  of  men  in  heaven  or  hell  on  principles  of  righteousness." 

The  covenant  which  follows  this  declaration  of  faith  expresses  in  a 
few  brief  articles  the  determination  of  those  who  enter  it :  "  to  walk 
in  brotherly  love ;"  "  to  exercise  a  mutual  care,  as  members,  one  of 
another,  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  whole  body  in  Christian  knowl- 
edge, holiness,  and  comfort ;"  "  to  uphold  the  public  worship  of  God, 
and  the  ordinances  of  His  house ;"  "  not  to  omit  closet  and  family  re- 
ligion," nor  the  "  training  up  of  children  and  those  under  their  care ;" 
to  "  walk  circumspectly  in  the  world,"  and  be  as  the  "  light  of  the 
world,  and  the  salt  of  the  earth ;"  and,  finally,  to  "  exhort"  and  "  ad- 
monish one  another." 

Such,  in  substance,  is  the  "  Declaration  of  Faith,  and  Covenant," 
adopted,  as  I  have  said,  by  the  Baptist  Convention  of  New  Hamp- 
shire about  twenty  years  ago,  and  no  doubt  substantially  exhibiting 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EEGULAR   BAPTIST   CHUECHES.  461 

the  doctrines  held  by  the  great  body  of  the  Regular  and  Associated 
Baptists  throughout  the  United  States.  It  will  be  perceived  that  it  is 
moderately  Calvinistic,  and,  indeed,  to  one  or  other  shade  of  Calvin- 
ism all  the  Regular  Baptists  in  America  adhere.  Part  of  their  body, 
particularly  in  the  Southern  and  South-western  States,  are  regarded  as 
Calvinists  of  the  highest  school.  Their  doctrinal  views  probably  coin- 
cide with  those  of  Dr.  Gill  more  than  with  those  of  any  other  writer. 
But  a  far  greater  number  of  their  ministers  follow  in  the  main  the 
views  of  Andrew  Fuller ;  views  which,  take  them  all  in  all,  form  one 
of  the  best  systems  of  theology  to  be  found  in  the  English  language. 

The  Baptist  churches  have  increased  in  the  United  States  with 
great  rapidity,  particularly  within  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years.  For 
although  they  commenced  their  existence  in  the  days  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams,* formerly  mentioned,!  who,  having  changed  his  sentiments  on 
the  subject  of  Baptism  a  few  years  after  his  arrival  in  Massachusetts 
Bay,  was  the  first  Baptist  preacher,  and  founded  the  first  Baptist 
church  in  America,  at  Providence,  in  1639;  it  was  long  before  this 
denomination  made  much  progress  beyond  Rhode  Island.  This  arose, 
it  would  appear,  from  their  being  violently  opposed  in  most  of  the 
other  colonies,  both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South.  In  Massachusetts 
they  were  at  first  "fined,"  "whipped,"  and  "imprisoned."  And 
though  they  afterward  obtained  liberty  of  worship  there,  they  had 
but  eighteen  churches  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary 
war.  In  Virginia,  where  they  also  met  with  much  opposition  and 
bitter  persecution^  they  had  scarcely,  at  that  epoch,  obtained  any 
footing  at  all.  In  fact,  with  the  exception  of  Rhode  Island,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Delaware,  they  almost  nowhere  enjoyed  perfect  freedom 
from  molestation,  until  the  country  had  achieved  its  independence  by 
a  struggle  in  which  the  Baptists  took,  to  say  the  least,  in  proportion 
to  their  numbers,  as  prominent  a  part  as  any  other  religious  body  in 
the  land. 

But  slow  as  was  their  progress  before  the  Revolution,  it  has  been 
much  otherwise  since.  This  will  be  seen  from  the  following  statement 
taken  from  the  very  complete  "  View  of  the  Baptist  Interest  in  the 
United  States,"  prepared  by  the  Rev.   Rufus   Babcock,  D.D.,  of 

*  The  reader  must  not  infer,  from  what  is  stated  above,  that  Soger  "Williams  is  to 
be  considered  as  the  founder  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in  America.  His  influence  was 
mainly  confined  to  Rhode  Island.  The  greater  part  of  the  Baptist  churches  with  us 
owe  their  origin  to  the  labors  of  Baptist  ministers  who  came  such  directly  from  En- 
gland. 

f  Book  ii.,  chap.  iv. 

\  It  happened  often  in  that  colony  that  their  preachers  were  cast  into  prison  for 
preaching  the  Gospel.  And  often  they  were  to  be  seen  addressing  from  the  jail  win- 
dows the  people  assembled  outside ! 


Ministers. 

Members. 

424 

35,101 

1150 

65,345 

1605 

172,972 

3618 

384,920 

5204 

570,758 

462  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMEEICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and  published  in  the  American  Quarterly 
Register,  in  the  years  1840  and  1841.  The  number  of  Baptist  minis- 
ters, churches,  and  members,  at  five  different  epochs,  are  stated  there 
as  follows  : 

Churches. 

In  1784 471 

1790-92 891 

1810-12 2164 

1832 5320 

1840 7766 

Dr.  Babcock  estimates  the  superannuated  ministers  and  others 
who,  from  various  causes,  are  not  actively  engaged  in  the  ministry, 
at  about  a  seventh  of  the  number  in  the  above  table.  Deducting 
these,  and  another  seventh  for  the  licentiates,  who  also  are  included, 
we  shall  have  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventeen  ordained 
ministers  actually  employed  in  1840;  which  is,  upon  an  average,  less 
than  one  minister  for  two  churches.  Including  the  licentiates,  who 
almost  all  preach  more  or  less  regularly,  and  many  of  them  in  vacant 
churches,  the  number  of  preachers  for  that  year  was  four  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty. 

In  the  "Almanac  and  Baptist  Register"  for  1844,  the  number  of 
the  Regular  Baptist  churches  hi  1843  is  stated  to  have  been  eight 
thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-two,  the  ordained  and  licensed 
ministers  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  communicants 
or  members  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand  four  hundred  and 
seventy-seven.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  had  the  returns  been 
complete,  the  last-mentioned  number  would  have  been  at  least  seven 
hundred  thousand.  According  to  Dr.  Babcock's  mode  of  estimating 
them,  the  ordained  and  active  ministers  were,  in  that  year,  four  thou- 
sand and  thirty-six. 

In  1854,  there  were  of  "Regular"  or  "Associated"  Baptists  in  the 
United  States,  five  hundred  Associations,  ten  thousand  one  hundred 
and  thirty-one  churches,  six  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
ordained  ministers,  and  eight  hundred  and  eight  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  communicants  or  members. 

Dr.  Babcock  makes  a  curious  estimate  of  the  probable  proportion 
of  the  inhabitants  in  each  State,  supposed  to  be  directly  under  the 
influence  of  Baptist  preaching.  Without  going  unnecessarily  into  his 
details,  we  find,  as  the  result  of  his  researches,  that  in  1840  these 
amounted  to  a  fifth  of  the  population  in  Massachusetts,  and  to  a 
fourth  in  Virginia,  being  the  two  provinces  in  which  the  Baptists 
were  most  persecuted;  whereas  in  Rhode  Island,  which  was  their 
asylum,  the  proportion  rises  to  two  fifths,  or  nearly  a  half. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE  REGULAR   BAPTIST   CHURCHES.  463 

In  this  enumeration  Dr.  Babcock  includes  some  of  the  smaller  Bap- 
tist sects,  such  as  those  of  the  Six  Principles,  who  hold  as  their 
creed  the  six  principles  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
(chap,  vi.,  ver.  1,  2).  These,  in  1841,  had  sixteen  churches,  ten  min- 
isters, and  two  thousand  and  seventeen  members.  But  the  shades  of 
difference  in  doctrine  are  not  of  much  consequence,  so  far  as  regards 
the  vital  interests  of  the  truth. 

Above  four  millions  five  hundred  thousand  souls,  being  between 
a  fifth  and  a  sixth  of  the  entire  population  of  the  United  States,  and 
embracing  a  respectable  share  of  the  wealth,  talent,  learning,  and  in- 
fluence of  the  country,  are  supposed  to  be  connected  with  the  Reg- 
ular Baptists.  This  estimate  is  probably  too  high.  It  would  be  true 
of  the  entire  body  of  Baptists.  A  large  and  important  part  of  their 
churches  lies  in  the  Southern  States,  and  includes  many  slaves  and 
slave-owners.  With  the  exception  of  the  Methodists,  they  form  by 
far  the  most  numerous  and  influential  body  of  Christians  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  country. 

A  strong  prejudice  against  learning  in  the  ministry  unhappily  pre- 
vailed at  one  time  in  this  body,  particularly  in  the  Southern  States, 
and  this  we  might  ascribe  to  several  causes.  In  the  religious  denom- 
ination, which  in  Virginia,  and  the  other  Southern  colonies,  they  con- 
sidered their  greatest  enemy,  learning  was  too  often  associated  with 
want  of  piety,  and  sometimes  with  open  irreligion.  The  effects  of 
this  prejudice  have  been  very  injurious,  and  are  felt  to  this  day  in  the 
Baptist  churches  throughout  the  Southern  and  South-western,  and  to 
a  considerable  extent  even  in  the  Middle  States.  But  a  brighter  day 
has  dawned.  Great  efforts  have  been  made  by  zealous  and  devoted 
men  among  them  to  establish  colleges  and  theological  seminaries, 
with  what  success  we  have  stated  elsewhere.  I  know  not  how  many 
young  men  are  preparing  for  the  ministry  in  theological  and  other 
institutions,  but  it  is  very  considerable. 

"We  have  already  spoken  of  the  efforts  of  the  Baptists  in  the  Bible, 
Tract,  Sunday-school,  and  Home  Missionary  causes,  and  shall  have 
yet  to  speak  of  what  they  are  doing  in  the  department  of  Foreign 
Missions. 

We  shall  conclude  by  remarking  that,  although  not  a  third,  per- 
haps, of  the  ministers  of  this  denomination  of  Christians  have  been 
educated  at  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  it  comprehends, 
nevertheless,  a  body  of  men  who,  in  point  of  talent,  learning,  and 
eloquence,  as  well  as  devoted  piety,  have  no  superiors  in  the  country. 
And  even  among  those  who  can  make  no  pretensions  to  profound 
learning,  not  a  few  are  men  of  respectable  general  attainments,  and 
much  efficiency  in  their  Master's  work. 


464  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

Notices  will  be  given  of  the  smaller  Baptist  denominations  in  their 
proper  place,  and  they  will  afterward  be  grouped  together,  when  we 
come  to  arrange  in  families  the  various  religious  bodies  constituting 
the  great  "  household  of  faith"  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

In  speaking  of  the  Congregational  Churches,  we  entered  into  a  full 
analysis  of  their  organization,  because  they  comprise  most  of  the  great 
features  of  all  the  churches  founded  on  what  are  called  Independent 
principles,  forming  the  basis  of  the  churches  of  several  other  denom- 
inations, particularly  the  Baptists.  For  a  like  reason,  in  speaking  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  we  shall  go  into  considerable  detail  in  re- 
gard to  its  principles  and  church  organization,  so  as  to  save  repetition 
when  we  come  to  notice  other  churches  having  the  same  principles 
and  essentially  the  same  organization. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  is  so  called  because  it  is  governed  by 
presbyters,  and  not  by  prelates.  The  name,  therefore,  applies  to  any 
church  organized  and  governed  on  that  principle.  Usage,  however, 
has  confined  it  in  America  to  one  of  several  Churches,  which  agree  in 
believing  that  the  government  of  the  Church  belongs  to  its  elders  or 
presbyters.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  the  German  Reformed, 
and  the  Scotch  Secession  Churches,  are  as  truly  Presbyterian  as  that 
denomination  to  which  the  name  is  now,  among  us,  almost  exclusively 
applied. 

Presbyterians  believe  that  the  apostles,  in  organizing  the  Church, 
were  accustomed,  in  every  city  or  place  where  a  congregation  was 
gathered,  to  appoint  a  number  of  officers  for  the  instruction  and  spir- 
itual government  of  the  people,  and  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  poor. 
The  former  class  of  these  officers  were  called  presbyters,  the  latter 
deacons.  Of  these  presbyters,  some  labored  in  word  and  doctrine, 
others  in  the  oversight  and  discipline  of  the  flock,  according  to  their 
gifts,  or  to  their  designation  when  ordained.  As  the  terms  bishop 
and  presbyter  were  indiscriminately  used  to  designate  the  spiritual 
instructors  and  governors  of  the  congregation,  in  every  church  there 
came  to  be  three  classes  of  officers,  who  are  denominated  the  bishops 
or  pastors,  or  teaching  presbyters,  the  ruling  presbyters,  and  the 
deacons. 

The  Presbyterian  Churches  with  us  are  organized  on  this  plan. 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  465 

Each  congregation  has  its  bishop  or  pastor,  its  ruling  elders,  and  its 
deacons,  except  in  cases  where  the  duties  of  the  last-mentioned  class 
are  assumed  by  the  elders.  The  duty  of  the  pastor  is  to  preach  the 
word,  to  administer  the  sacraments,  to  superintend  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  young,  and  to  have  the  general  oversight  of  his  flock 
as  to  their  spiritual  concerns.  He  is  always  chosen  by  the  people 
over  whom  he  is  to  exercise  his  office.  It  will  appear,  however,  from 
the  following  account  of  the  method  pursued  in  the  selection  and  in- 
stallation of  a  pastor,  that  the  choice  of  the  people  is  subject  to  sev- 
eral important  limitations.  When  a  congregation  is  vacant,  the 
people  assemble,  after  due  notice,  to  choose  a  pastor.  This  meeting 
must  be  presided  over  by  an  ordained  minister  invited  for  that  pur- 
pose, who  must  indorse  the  minutes  of  their  proceedings,  and  certify 
their  regularity.  If  a  majority  of  the  qualified  members  of  the  con- 
gregation, i.  e.,  of  those  who  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  minis- 
ter, agree  upon  a  candidate,  a  call  is  made  out  in  the  following  terms, 
viz.: 

"  The  congregation  of  A.  B.  being,  on  sufficient  grounds,  well  sat- 
isfied of  the  ministerial  qualifications  of  you,  C.  D.,  and  having  hopes, 
from  our  past  experience  of  your  labors,  that  your  ministrations  in 
the  Gospel  will  be  profitable  to  our  spiritual  interests,  do  earnestly 
call  and  desire  you  to  undertake  the  pastoral  office  in  the  said  congre- 
gation ;  promising  you,  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty,  all  proper  sup- 
port, encouragement,  and  obedience  in  the  Lord.  And  that  you  may 
be  free  from  worldly  cares  and  avocations,  we  hereby  promise  and 

oblige  ourselves  to  pay  to  you  the  sum  of in  regular  quarterly 

payments,  during  the  time  of  your  being  and  continuing  the  pastor 
of  this  church.  In  testimony  whereof  we  have  respectively  subscribed 
our  names." 

This  call  is  taken  to  the  Presbytery  under  whose  care  the  congre- 
gation is  placed,  and  the  Presbytery  decide  whether  it  shall  be  pre- 
sented to  the  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  If,  in  their  judgment, 
there  exists  any  sufficient  reason  for  withholding  it,  it  is  returned  to 
the  people,  who  must  then  proceed  to  a  new  election.  If  the  person 
called  belongs  to  the  same  Presbytery  to  which  the  congregation  is 
attached,  or  is  a  licentiate  under  their  care,  they  put  the  call  into  his 
hands  and  wait  for  his  answer  to  it.  But  if  he  belongs  to  a  different 
Presbytery,  they  give  the  congregation  leave  to  prosecute  it  before 
that  body,  who  have  the  right  to  decide  whether  it  shall  be  presented 
to  the  candidate  or  not. 

It  thus  appears  that  no  man  can  become  the  pastor  of  a  congrega- 
tion under  the  care  of  a  Presbytery,  whom  that  body  does  not  deem 
to  be  a  sound  and  competent  minister  of  the  Gospel.     And  in  order 

30 


466  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

to  enable  them  to  judge  intelligently  on  this  point,  before  proceeding 
to  his  ordination  they  examine  him  "  as  to  his  acquaintance  with  ex- 
perimental religion,  as  to  his  knowledge  of  philosophy,  theology, 
ecclesiastical  history,  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages,  and  such 
other  branches  of  learning  as  to  the  Presbytery  may  appear  requisite, 
and  as  to  his  knowledge  of  the  constitution,  the  rules,  and  discipline 
of  the  church."  Should  the  candidate  be  found  deficient  in  any  of 
these  particulars,  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  Presbytery  to  reject 
him.  But  if  they  are  satisfied  with  his  ministerial  qualifications,  they 
appoint  a  time  for  his  ordination  in  the  presence  of  the  people.  When 
the  time  appointed  has  arrived,  and  the  Presbytery  are  convened,  a 
member  appointed  for  the  purpose  preaches  a  sermon  suitable  for  the 
occasion,  and  then  proposes  to  the  candidate  the  following  questions, 
viz. : 

"  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
to  be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice  ? 

"  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of 
this  Church  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  ? 

"  Do  you  approve  of  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  these  United  States  ? 

"  Do  you  promise  subjection  to  your  brethren  in  the  Lord  ? 

"  Have  you  been  induced,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own  heart,  to 
seek  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry  from  love  to  God,  and  a  sincere 
desire  to  promote  his  glory  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son  ? 

"  Do  you  promise  to  be  zealous  and  faithful  in  maintaining  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  purity  and  peace  of  the  Church,  what- 
ever persecution  or  opposition  may  arise  unto  you  on  that  account  ? 

"  Do  you  engage  to  be  faithful  and  diligent  in  the  exercise  of  all 
private  and  personal  duties  which  become  you  as  a  Christian  and  as  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  in  all  relative  duties,  and  the  pub- 
lic duties  of  your  office ;  endeavoring  to  adorn  the  profession  of  the 
Gospel  by  your  conversation,  and  walking  with  exemplary  piety  be- 
fore the  flock  over  which  God  has  made  you  overseer  ? 

"  Are  you  now  willing  to  take  the  charge  of  this  congregation, 
agreeably  to  your  declaration  at  accepting  their  call  ?  And  do  you 
promise  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  pastor  to  them  as  God  shall  give 
you  strength  ?" 

The  presiding  minister  then  puts  the  following  questions  to  the 
congregation : 

"  Do  you,  the  people  of  this  congregation,  continue  to  profess  your 
readiness  to  receive ,  whom  you  have  called  to  be  your  min- 
ister ? 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH.  467 

"  Do  you  promise  to  receive  the  word  of  truth  from  his  mouth  with 
meekness  and  love,  and  to  submit  to  him  in  the  due  exercise  of  dis- 
cipline ? 

"  Do  you  promise  to  encourage  him  in  his  arduous  labors,  and  to 
assist  his  endeavors  for  your  instruction  and  spiritual  edification  ? 

"  And  do  you  engage  to  continue  to  him,  while  he  is  your  pastor, 
that  competent  worldly  maintenance  which  you  have  promised,  and 
whatever  else  you  may  see  needful  for  the  honor  of  religion  and  his 
comfort  among  you  ?" 

These  questions  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  the  Presbytery 
proceed  to  ordain  the  candidate  with  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of 

hands. 

The  elders  are  regarded  as  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and 
are  chosen  by  them  for  the  discipline  of  the  church  in  connection  with 
the  pastor.  They  must  be  male  members  of  the  church  in  full  com- 
munion, and,  when  elected,  are  required  to  profess  their  faith  in  the 
Scriptures  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  their  adop- 
tion of  the  Westminster  Confession  as  containing  the  system  of 
doctrine,  and  their  approbation  of  the  government  and  discipline  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  the  members  of  the  church  are  called 
upon  publicly  to  acknowledge  and  receive  them  as  ruling  elders,  and 
to  promise  to  yield  them  all  that  honor,  encouragement,  and  obedience 
in  the  Lord,  to  which  their  office,  according  to  the  Word  of  God  and 
the  constitution  of  the  Church,  entitles  them.  The  pastor  and  elders 
constitute  what  is  called  the  Session,  which  is  the  governing  body  in 
each  congregation.  They  are  authorized  to  inquire  into  the  knowl- 
edge and  Christian  conduct  of  the  members  of  the  church  ;  to  admit 
to  the  sacraments  those  whom,  upon  examination,  they  find  to  pos- 
sess the  requisite  knowledge  and  piety  ;  to  call  before  them  offenders, 
being  members  of  their  own  church ;  to  decide  cases  of  discipline  ; 
and  to  suspend  or  excommunicate  those  who  are  judged  deserving  of 
such  censure.  It  is  then-  duty,  also,  to  keep  a  register  of  marriages, 
of  baptisms,  of  those  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  of  the  death 
or  removal  of  church  members. 

All  the  proceedings  of  the  Session  are  subject  to  the  review  of  the 
Presbytery,  and  may  be  brought  before  that  body  in  several  different 
ways.  The  Session  is  required  to  keep  a  record  of  their  official  acts, 
and  this  record  is  laid  before  the  Presbytery,  for  examination,  twice 
every  year.  Should  any  thing  appear  on  the  record  which,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Presbytery,  is  irregular,  inexpedient,  or  unjust,  they 
have  authority  to  see  the  matter  rectified.  Or  if  any  one  feels  him- 
self aggrieved  by  a  decision  of  the  Session,  he  has  the  right  of  appeal 
to  the  Presbytery,  where  the  case  may  be  reviewed.     Or  if  any  mem- 


468  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

ber  or  members  of  the  inferior  court,  or  any  one  affected  by  their 
decision,  consider  their  action  irregular  or  unjust,  he  or  they  have 
the  right  of  complaint,  which  subjects  the  whole  matter  to  a  revision 
in  the  higher  judicatory. 

The  deacons  are  not  members  of  the  Session,  and,  consequently, 
have  no  part  in  the  government  of  the  church.  It  is  their  duty  to 
take  charge  of  the  poor,  to  receive  and  appropriate  the  moneys  col- 
lected for  the  support  or  relief  of  the  sick  or  needy. 

A  Presbyterian  church,  or  congregation,  has  thus  a  complete  or- 
ganization within  itself,  but  it  is  not  an  independent  body.  It  is  part 
of  an  extended  whole,  living  under  the  same  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion, and,  therefore,  subject  to  the  inspection  and  control  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, whose  business  it  is  to  see  that  the  standards  of  doctrine  and 
rules  of  discipline  are  adhered  to  by  all  the  separate  churches  under 
its  care. 

This  superior  body,  the  Presbytery,  consists  of  all  the  pastors,  or 
ordained  ministers,  and  one  elder  from  each  Session,  within  certain 
geographical  limits.  There  must  be  at  least  three  ministers  to  con- 
stitute a  Presbytery,  but  the  maximum  is  not  fixed.  Hence  our 
Presbyteries  vary  from  three  to  fifty  or  sixty  members.  It  is  the 
bond  of  union  between  the  ministers  and  churches  within  its  limits. 
Among  its  most  important  duties  is  the  examination  and  ordination 
of  candidates  for  the  holy  ministry.  Every  such  candidate  is  required 
to  place  himself  under  the  care  of  that  Presbytery  within  whose 
bounds  he  ordinarily  resides.  He  must  produce  satisfactory  testimo- 
nials of  his  good  moral  character,  and  of  his  being  in  full  communion 
with  the  church.  It  is  made  the  duty  of  the  Presbytery  to  examine 
him  as  to  his  experimental  knowledge  of  religion,  and  as  to  his  mo- 
tives in  seeking  the  sacred  office.  And  it  is  recommended  that  the 
candidate  be  required  to  produce  a  diploma  of  the  degree  of  bachelor 
or  master  of  arts,  from  some  college  or  university,  or  at  least  authentic 
testimonials  of  his  having  gone  through  a  regular  course  of  academic 
instruction.  The  Presbytery  itself,  however,  is  required  to  examine 
him  as  to  his  knowledge  of  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages, 
and  on  the  subjects  embraced  in  the  usual  course  of  study  pursued  in 
our  colleges.  He  must  also  present  a  Latin  exercise  on  some  point  in 
theology ;  a  critical  exposition  of  a  passage  of  Scripture,  as  a  test  of 
his  ability  to  expound  the  original  text ;  a  lecture  or  homiletic  ex- 
position of  some  portion  of  the  Word  of  God;  and  a  popular  sermon. 
If  these  exercises  and  examinations  are  passed  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Presbytery,  the  candidate  is  required  to  answer  affirmatively  the 
following  questions,  viz. : 

"Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  469 

to  be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice? 

"  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of 
this  Church,  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  ? 

"  Do  you  promise  to  study  the  peace,  purity,  and  unity  of  the 
Church? 

"  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  in  the  Lord,  to  the  govern- 
ment of  this  Presbytery,  or  of  any  other  Presbytery  in  the  bounds 
of  which  you  may  be  called  ?" 

The  Presbytery  then  proceed  to  his  licensure  in  the  following 
words,  viz. :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  that 
authority  which  He  has  given  to  His  Church  for  its  edification,  we  do 
license  you  to  preach  the  Gospel  wherever  God,  in  His  providence, 
may  call  you,  and  for  this  purpose,  may  the  blessing  of  God  rest  upon 
you,  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ  fill  your  heart.     Amen." 

This  licensure  does  not  confer  the  ministerial  office,  or  give  authority 
either  to  administer  the  sacraments,  or  to  take  part  in  the  government 
of  the  Church.  It  is  merely  a  declaration  that  the  recipient,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Presbytery,  is  qualified  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  to 
become  a  pastor.  It  is  from  this'  class  of  probationers  that  the  con- 
gregations select  and  call  their  ministers ;  and  when  a  licentiate  re- 
ceives a  call  to  a  particular  church,  he  is  examined  anew  on  all  the 
subjects  above  specified  before  he  is  ordained. 

It  is  by  means  of  these  examinations,  and  by  requiring  assent 
to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America 
has  endeavored  to  secure  competent  learning  and  orthodoxy  in  its 
ministry ;  and  it  is  an  historical  fact,  which  ought  to  be  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged, that  since  the  organization  of  the  Church  in  this  coun- 
try, more  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  the  great  body  of  its  minis- 
ters have  been  liberally  educated  men ;  and  it  is  also  a  fact  that  no 
man  who  has  avowedly  rejected  the  Calvmistic  system  of  doctrine, 
has  been  allowed  to  retain  his  standing  as  a  minister  of  that  Church. 
Its  history  contains  not  the  record  of  even  one  Arminian  or  Pelagian, 
much  less  Socinian,  as  an  approved  or  recognized  minister  in  its  con- 
nection. Some  few  instances  have  occurred  of  the  avowal  of  such 
sentiments,  but  they  have  uniformly  been  followed  by  the  ejection 
from  the  ministry  or*  those  who  entertained  them.  And  more  re- 
cently, the  promulgation  by  a  part  of  its  ministers  of  doctrines  sup- 
posed to  be  at  variance  with  its  standards,  though  those  doctrines 
were  not  considered  by  their  advocates  as  involving  a  rejection  of  the 
Calvinistic  system,  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  separation 
of  the  body  into  two  distinct  organizations.     So  also  with  regard  to 


470  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUECHES  IN  AMEEICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

learning,  when  a  portion  of  the  Church  in  the  western,  and  then 
more  recently-settled  parts  of  the  country,  insisted  on  introducing 
into  the  ministry  men  who  had  not  received  a  liberal  education,  they 
were  compelled  to  separate  and  form  a  denomination  of  their  own. 
From  their  peculiar  circumstances,  such  separations  involve  no  civil 
penalties  or  forfeitures.  If  any  set  of  men  think  that  the  interests  of 
religion  can  be  better  promoted  by  an  imperfectly  educated  and  more 
numerous  ministry,  than  by  a  smaller  body  of  better-educated  men, 
nothing  prevents  them  from  acting  on  their  convictions  and  organiz- 
ing on  their  own  principles.  By  so  doing,  however,  they  of  necessity 
separate  from  a  Church  which  makes  a  liberal  education  a  requisite  for 
admission  into  the  sacred  office.  In  like  manner,  if  any  man  or  set  of 
men  renounce  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  they  are 
at  perfect  liberty  to  preach  what  they  believe  to  be  true,  but  they 
must  not  expect  to  remain  ministers  of  a  Church  in  which  that  Con- 
fession is  the  standard  of  doctrine.  External  union  has,  indeed,  been 
sacrificed  by  acting  on  this  principle,  but  spiritual  fellowship  has  been 
rather  promoted  than  violated  thereby,  as  neither  party,  in  such  cases, 
have  excommunicated  the  other.  And  there  is  no  hardship  or  in- 
justice in  the  course  above  indicated,  since  the  Church  is  in  one  sense 
a  voluntary  society,  whose  terms  of  ministerial  communion  are  known 
to  the  world ;  and  those  who  disapprove  of  its  doctrines  need  not, 
and  in  general  do  not,  seek  admission  to  its  ministry.  There  are  other 
denominations  within  whose  pale  they  can  minister  without  objection 
or  difficulty. 

It  follows,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Pres- 
bytery to  exercise  a  watch  and  care  over  its  own  members.  Every 
minister,  at  his  ordination,  promises  subjection  to  his  brethren  in  the 
Lord ;  that  is,  he  promises  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  Presby- 
tery, and  the  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  as  exercised  agreeably  to  the 
constitution  of  the  Church,  and  to  submit  to  their  decisions.  He  re- 
ceives his  office  from  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery,  and  it  is  in  the 
power  of  that  body,  on  sufficient  grounds,  and  after  a  fair  trial,  to 
suspend  or  depose  him.  It  is,  however,  provided  that  no  charge  shall 
be  received  against  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  unless  on  the  responsi- 
bility of  some  competent  accuser,  or  on  the  ground  of  public  scandal. 
When  a  minister  is  accused,  either  of  error  in  doctrine  or  immorality 
of  conduct,  he  is  regularly  cited  to  answer  the  charge ;  he  is  informed 
of  the  witnesses  who  are  to  appear  against  him,  and  full  time  is 
allowed  for  the  preparation  of  his  defence.  In  short,  all  the  formali- 
ties which  are  the  safeguards  of  justice  are  scrupulously  regarded,  so 
as  to  secure  a  fair  trial  to  anv  accused  member. 

The  Presbytery,  then,  is  the  court  of  review  and  control  over  all 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PEESBYTEEIAN  CHTIECH.  471 

the  Sessions  of  the  several  churches  within  its  bounds.  It  is  the 
supervising  body,  bound  to  see  that  the  pastors  are  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty ;  having  also  authority  to  examine,  license,  and 
ordain  candidates  for  the  ministry ;  to  install  them  over  the  congre- 
gations to  which  they  may  be  called ;  to  exercise  discipline  over  its 
own  members ;  and,  in  general,  to  order  whatever  relates  to  the  spir- 
itual welfare  of  the  congregations  under  its  care. 

With  the  Presbytery  the  organization  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  is 
complete.  So  long  as  the  number  of  ministers  and  churches  is  so 
small  that  they  can  conveniently  meet  at  the  same  time  and  place, 
there  is  no  need  of  any  superior  body.  The  formation  of  Synods  and 
a  General  Assembly  becomes  necessary  only  when  the  Church  is 
too  large  to  be  comprised  under  one  Presbytery.  It  is  desirable 
that  the  governing  body  should  meet  at  least  twice  annually.  This 
can  not  be  done  when  the  members  of  that  body  are  very  numerous, 
and  scattered  over  a  great  extent  of  country.  To  remedy  this  in- 
convenience, instead  of  one  Presbytery  embracmg  all  the  ministers 
and  churches,  several  are  formed,  each  exercising  its  functions  within 
prescribed  limits,  and  all  meeting  annually  as  a  Synod.  A  Synod  is, 
therefore,  nothing  but  a  larger  Presbytery.  Agreeably  to  this  system, 
it  must  be  composed  of  at  least  three  Presbyteries.  All  the  ministers 
within  its  bounds,  and  one  elder  from  each  Session,  have  a  right  to 
act  as  members.  From  1705  to  1716  there  was  but  one  Presbytery, 
The  number  of  ministers  and  churches  had,  at  the  latter  date,  so  in- 
creased that  three  Presbyteries  were  formed,  which  continued  to 
meet  as  a  Synod  until  1787,  when  convenience  suggested  the  division 
of  the  body  into  four  Synods,  under  a  representative  assembly,  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  all  the  Presbyteries.  Under  the  present 
system,  the  Synod  is  a  body  that  intervenes  between  the  Presbytery 
and  General  Assembly.  It  has  power  to  receive  and  determine  all 
appeals  regularly  brought  up  from  the  Presbyteries ;  to  decide  all 
references  made  to  them ;  to  review  the  records  of  Presbyteries,  and 
to  approve  or  censure  them ;  to  redress  whatever  has  been  done  by 
the  Presbyteries  contrary  to  order ;  to  take  effectual  care  that  Pres- 
byteries observe  the  Constitution  of  the  Church ;  to  erect  new  Pres- 
byteries, and  unite  or  divide  those  which  were  before  erected ;  and, 
generally,  to  take  such  order  with  respect  to  the  Presbyteries,  Ses- 
sions, and  people  under  their  care,  as  may  be  in  conformity  with  the 
Word  of  God  and  the  established  rules,  and  which  tend  to  promote 
the  edification  of  the  Church ;  and,  finally,  to  propose  to  the  General 
Assembly,  for  its  adoption,  such  measures  as  may  be  of  common  ad- 
vantage to  the  whole  Church. 
I     The  General  Assembly  is  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  Presbyte- 


472  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN    AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

rian  Church,  and  the  bond  of  union  between  its  several  parts.  It  is 
composed  of  an  equal  delegation  of  ministers  and  elders  from  each 
Presbytery.  Every  Presbytery  sends  at  least  one  minister  and  one 
elder ;  if  it  consists  of  more  than  twenty-four  members,  it  sends  two 
ministers  and  two  elders,  and  so  on  in  like  proportion. 

The  Assembly  has  power  to  determine  all  appeals  and  references 
regularly  brought  before  it  from  inferior  judicatories ;  to  review  the 
records  of  the  several  Synods ;  \o  give  its  advice  and  instructions  in 
all  cases  submitted  to  it ;  and  constitutes  the  bond  of  union,  peace, 
correspondence,  and  mutual  confidence  among  all  the  churches  under 
its  care.  To  it  also  belongs  to  decide  all  controversies  respecting 
doctrines  and  discipline ;  to  reprove,  warn,  or  bear  testimony  against 
error  in  doctrine  or  immorality  in  practice ;  to  erect  new  Synods  ;  to 
superintend  the  whole  church ;  to  correspond  with  Foreign  Churches ; 
to  suppress  schismatical  contentions  and  disputations ;  and,  in  general, 
to  recommend  and  attempt  reformation  of  manners,  and  the  promotion 
of  charity,  truth,  and  holiness  through  all  the  churches  under  its  care. 

So  long  as  all  the  ministers  of  the  Church  were  united  in  one 
Synod,  that  body  had  a  right  to  make  rules  which  had  the  force  of 
constitutional  regulations  obligatory  on  all  the  Presbyteries.  This 
was  reasonable  and  safe  as  long  as  the  whole  Church  met  in  one  body, 
as  its  rules  were  the  voluntarily  imposed  conditions  of  membership. 
But  since  the  formation  of  the  General  Assembly,  composed  not  of 
all  the  ministers,  but  of  a  comparatively  small  delegation  from  each 
Presbytery,  this  power  no  longer  belongs  to  this  highest  judicatory. 
The  Assembly  can  not  alter  the  Constitution  of  the  Church.  Every 
proposition,  involving  such  change,  must  first  be  sent  down  to  the 
Presbyteries,  and  receive  the  sanction  of  a  majority  of  them,  before 
it  becomes  obligatory  on  the  churches. 

Having  given  this  brief  exhibition  of  the  principles  of  church  gov- 
ernment adopted  by  Presbyterians  in  the  United  States,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  advert  to  their  doctrinal  standards.  The  Confession  of  Faith 
and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  prepared  by  the  Assembly 
of  Divines  at  Westminster,  were,  as  is  well  known,  adopted  by  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  same  symbols  have  from  the  beginning 
constituted  the  creed  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country. 
The  formal  adopting  act  was  passed  by  the  Synod  in  1729.  In  that 
act  we  find  the  following  language,  viz. :  "  We  do  agree  that  all  the 
ministers  of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  into  this 
Synod,  shall  declare  their  agreement  in,  and  approbation  of,  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  As- 
sembly of  Divines  at  Westminster,  as  being,  in  all  necessary  articles, 
good  forms  of  sound  words  and  systems  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  and 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  473 

do  also  adopt  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  as  the  Confession 
of  our  Faith."  On  the  same  page  of  the  records  is  found  the  follow- 
ing minute,  viz. :  "  All  the  members  of  the  Synod  now  present,  ex- 
cept one  who  declared  himself  not  prepared  (but  who  at  a  subsequent 
meeting  gave  in  his  adhesion),  after  proposing  all  the  scruples  that 
any  of  them  had  to  make  against  any  of  the  articles  or  expressions  in 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  have  unanimously  agreed  in 
the  solution  of  those  scruples,  and  in  declaring  the  said  Confession 
and  Catechisms  to  be  the  confession  of  their  faith ;  except  only  some 
clauses  in  the  twentieth  and  twenty-third  chapters,  concerning  which 
the  Synod  do  unanimously  declare  that  they  do  not  receive  those 
articles  in  any  such  sense  as  to  suppose  the  civil  magistrate  hath  a 
controlling  power  over  Synods,  with  respect  to  the  exercise  of  their 
ministerial  autnority,  or  power  to  persecute  any  for  their  religion,  or 
in  any  sense  contrary  to  the  Protestant  succession  to  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain.  The  Synod,  observing  unanimity,  peace,  and  unity  in 
all  their  consultations  and  deliberations  in  the  affair  of  the  Con- 
fession, did  unanimously  agree  in  solemn  prayer  and  praise." 

It  appears  that  some  doubt  arose  whether  the  expression,  "  essen- 
tial and  necessary  articles"  in  the  above  acts,  was  to  be  understood 
of  articles  essential  to  the  system  of  doctrine  contained  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  or  of  articles  essential  to  Christianity.  To  remove 
this  ambiguity,  the  Synod,  the  following  year,  unanimously  adopted 
the  following  minute,  viz. :  "  Whereas  some  persons  have  been  dis- 
satisfied with  the  manner  of  wording  our  last  year's  agreement  about 
the  Confession,  supposing  some  expressions  not  sufficiently  obligatory 
upon  intrants ;  overtured  that  the  Synod  do  now  declare  that  they 
understand  those  clauses  which  respect  the  admission  of  intrants,  in 
such  a  sense  as  to  oblige  them  to  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession 
and  Catechisms,  at  their  admission,  in  the  same  manner  and  as  fully 
as  the  members  of  the  Synod  who  were  then  present ;"  that  is,  they 
were  to  adopt  it  without  exception,  save  the  clauses  relating  to  the 
powers  of  civil  magistrates  in  matters  of  religion. 

When  the  General  Assembly  was  formed  in  1787,  the  Confession 
of  Faith  and  Catechisms  were  revised,  and  those  parts  which  relate 
to  the  power  of  the  magistrates  modified,  and  ever  since  it  has  with- 
out alteration  been  the  standard  of  doctrine  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  every  minister,  as  already  stated,  is  required  at  his  or- 
dination to  declare  that  he  "  sincerely  receives  and  adopts  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  of  this  Church  as  containing  the  system  of  doc- 
trines taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures." 

We  have  elsewhere  stated  how  church  property  is  held;  how 


474  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

churches  are  erected ;  how  the  salaries  of  ministers  are  raised ;  and 
how  feeble  churches  are  aided  by  home  missionary  societies,  boards 
of  missions,  etc. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  The  first  Presbytery, 
consisting  of  seven  ministers,  and  representing  about  the  same  num- 
ber of  churches,  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  in  1705.  In  1855,  the 
number  of  ministers  in  the  two  great  bodies  into  which  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  was  divided  in  1838,  was  three 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  and  that  of  the  churches 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-eight.  This  extraordinary  in- 
crease can  only  be  explained  by  a  reference  to  the  settlement  of  the 
country.  The  New  England  States  were  settled  by  English  Puri- 
tans, many  of  whom,  especially  those  who  arrived  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Civil  War  in  England,  as  well  as  those  who  came 
after  the  Restoration,  were  Presbyterians.  New  York  was  settled  by 
the  Dutch,  who  were  also  Presbyterians ;  but  these  classes  have  re- 
tained their  own  separate  ecclesiastical  organizations,  though  both 
have  contributed  largely  to  the  increase  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  Germans,  also,  who  settled  in  great  numbers  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  in  the  northern  portions  of  Virginia,  have  m  like  manner  formed 
extended  Churches  of  their  own ;  yet  they  also  have,  in  many  cases, 
contributed  to  swell  the  number  of  American  Presbyterians.  The 
French  emigrants,  who  came  to  this  country  toward  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  were  almost  all  Protestants  and  Presbyterians. 
These  are  the  collateral  sources  whence  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
America  derived  the  materials  of  its  growth.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  there  was  a 
constant  current  of  emigration  of  Presbyterians  from  Scotland,  and 
still  more  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  These  emigrants  settled  prin- 
cipally in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  central  portions  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  North  and  South  Carolina.  Since  the  commencement 
of  the  present  century,  the  same  process  has  been  going  on.  The 
central  and  western  portions  of  the  State  of  New  York,  fifty  years 
ago,  were  a  wilderness ;  that  region  has  now  a  population  of  more 
than  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  people  of  European  descent. 
The  Western  States  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  then  in  the 
almost  exclusive  possession  of  the  Indians,  have  now  a  population  of 
more  than  twelve  millions.  The  progress  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
therefore,  although  rapid,  has  not  been  out  of  proportion  to  the  prog- 
ress of  the  country.  On  the  contrary,  the  widely-extended  denom- 
inations of  the  Methodists  and  Baptists  are,  to  a  great  extent,  com- 
posed of  persons  whose  ancestors  belonged  to  Presbyterian  churches. 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  475 

It  will  easily  be  believed  that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the 
midst  of  a  population  which  doubles  itself  every  twenty-four  years, 
felt  that  her  first  and  most  urgent  duty  was  to  supply  this  growing 
population  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  It  has  been  a  Mission- 
ary Church  from  the  beginning.  Its  first  pastors,  though  settled 
over  particular  congregations,  spent  much  of  their  time  in  traveling 
and  preaching  to  the  destitute  ;  and  as  soon  as  their  numbers  began 
to  increase,  they  adopted  a  regular  system  of  missions.  The  Synod, 
at  its  annual  meetings,  appointed  missionaries  to  go  to  the  destitute 
portions  of  the  country,  and  sustained  them  by  the  contributions  of 
the  churches.  Soon  after  the  formation  of  the  General  Assembly, 
that  body  appointed  a  "  Standing  Committee  of  Missions,"  whose  duty 
it  was  to  collect  information  as  to  the  wants  of  the  Church,  to  ap- 
point missionaries,  to  designate  their  field  of  labor,  to  make  provision 
for  their  maintenance,  and  to  report  annually  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly. In  1816,  this  committee  was  enlarged,  and  constituted  the 
Board  of  Missions,  and  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  the  benevo- 
lent work  of  sending  the  Gospel  to  the  destitute  parts  of  the  Church. 
For  some  years  past  the  number  of  missionaries  sent  out  by  this 
Board  has  ranged  from  four  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  and  its  income  from  $50,000  to  more  than  $70,000,  as 
has  been  shown  in  another  part  of  this  work.* 

As  many  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  preferred  voluntary 
societies  to  ecclesiastical  boards  for  conducting  missionary  and  other 
benevolent  operations ;  and  as  they  wished  different  evangelical  de- 
nominations to  unite  in  this  work ;  as,  moreover,  there  was  an  evi- 
dent necessity  of  doing  more  than  had  yet  been  done  to  meet  the 
constantly  increasing  demands  for  missionary  labor,  they  determined 
to  form  a  society  to  be  called  the  "  American  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety," already  spoken  of  elsewhere.f  The  Society  has  received  the 
support  of  nearly  one  half  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  the  whole 
body  of  the  Congregational  Churches  (one  of  the  most  efficient  bodies 
in  the  country),  and  to  some  extent,  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Churches. 
It  has,  therefore,  been  extensively  useful.  Its  income  has  varied  of 
late  years,  from  $150,000  to  $180,000,  and  its  missionaries  from  eight 
hundred  to  more  than  one  thousand. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  endeavored,  in 
some  measure,  to  keep  pace  with  the  demands  of  the  country  for 
ministerial  labor.  These  exertions  have  not,  indeed,  been  adequate 
to  the  necessity,  and  yet  the  fact  that,  sixty-five  years  ago,  this 
Church  had  less  than  two  hundred  ministers,  and  now  has  not  far  from 
four  thousand,  shows  that  it  has  not  been  entirely  wanting  in  its  duty. 
*  Book  iv.,  chap,  viil  \  Ibid.,  chap.  vii. 


476  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  great  demand  for  ministerial  labor  must  lead 
the  Church  to  look  anxiously  around  for  the  means  of  obtaining  an 
adequate  supply  of  educated  men.  In  the  first  instance,  the  attention 
of  its  members  was  naturally  directed  to  the  mother-country.  The 
necessities  of  the  numerous  settlements  were  frequently  urged  on  the 
Presbyteries  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  on  similar  bodies  in  En- 
gland. From  these  sources  a  large  proportion  of  our  early  ministers 
were  obtained ;  indeed,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  all  the  ministers 
connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  from  1705  to  1716,  with 
two  or  three  exceptions,  were  from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland.  The 
older  Provinces  of  New  England  subsequently  furnished  many  able 
and  faithful  men,  who  aided  efficiently  in  building  up  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  But  the  supply  from  these  sources  was  precarious 
and  inadequate.  From  an  early  period,  therefore,  measures  were 
adopted  to  secure  the  education  of  ministers  at  home.  About  the 
year  1717,  the  Rev.  William  Tennent,  who  had  been  a  presbyter  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Ireland,  opened  a  classical  academy  in  Penn- 
sylvania, familiarly  known  as  the  "  Log  College,"  where  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  early  native  ministers  received  their  educa- 
tion. Similar  institutions  were  soon  after  established  in  various  other 
places;  and  in  1738,  the  Synod,  in  order  to  secure  a  properly-edu- 
cated ministry,  passed  an  act  to  the  following  effect,  viz. :  "  That  all 
the  presbyteries  require  that  every  candidate,  before  being  taken  on 
trial,  should  be  furnished  with  a  diploma  from  some  European  or  New 
England  college  ;  or,  in  case  he  had  not  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  a 
college  education,  he  should  be  examined  by  a  committee  of  the  Sy- 
nod, who  should  give  him  a  certificate  of  competent  scholarship  when 
they  found  him  to  merit  it." 

In  1739,  the  Synod  determined  to  take  measures  to  establish  a  sem- 
inary of  learning,  under  its  own  care  ;  but  the  circumstances  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  Church  itself,  prevented  the  accomplishment  of 
anything  until  1744.  In  that  year  it  was  agreed,  1.  That  there 
should  be  a  school  kept  open,  where  all  persons  who  pleased  might 
send  their  children,  and  have  them  taught  gratis,  in  the  languages, 
philosophy,  and  divinity.  2.  In  order  to  carry  out  this  design,  that 
every  congregation  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  be  applied  to  for 
yearly  contributions.  3.  That  whatever  sum  of  money  could  be 
spared  from  that  which  was  necessary  to  support  a  master  and  tutor, 
should  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  books.  This  was  the  origin  of 
what  is  now  the  college  at  Newark,  in  the  State  of  Delaware. 

At  this  period  of  our  history  there  were  two  synods,  the  old  Synod 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Synod  of  New  York,  which  was  formed  in 
1745.    The  former,  at  this  time,  directed  their  efforts  to  the  support 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PEESBYTEEIAK  CHUKCH.  477 

of  the  Newark  academy,  and  of  the  academy  in  Philadelphia,  out  of 
which  has  sprung  the  University  of  Pennsylvania ;  the  latter  raised 
and  sustained  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton ;  and  after 
the  union  of  the  two  synods  in  1758,  the  united  body  concentrated 
their  efforts  upon  the  support  of  the  last-mentioned  institution. 
Though  the  college  at  Princeton  owes  its  origin  to  the  Synod  of  New 
York,  and  sprang  from  the  desire  of  furnishing  a  supply  of  educated 
men  for  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  has  always  been 
open  to  the  youth  of  all  denominations.  The  number  of  its  alumni  is 
more  than  three  thousand  five  hundred,  of  whom  about  seven  hundred 
became  preachers  of  the  Gospel. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  college  at  Princeton,  more  than  forty 
similar  institutions  have  been  formed  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
which  are  more  or  less  intimately  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church ;  that  is,  their  trustees,  officers,  and  patrons,  are  either  ex- 
clusively or  principally  Presbyterians.* 

For  a  long  time,  however,  after  the  organization  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  there  was  no  public  provision  for  the  theological  edu- 
cation of  candidates  for  the  sacred  office.  After  completing  their 
academical  studies,  such  candidates  were  accustomed  to  place  them- 
selves under  the  direction  of  some  experienced  pastor,  who  superin- 
tended their  studies,  and  assisted  them  in  preparing  for  their  examin- 
ations before  the  Presbytery.  Sometimes  a  pastor  whose  taste  or 
acquirements  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  the  task,  would  have  a  class  of 
such  pupils  constantly  under  his  care.  As  early,  however,  as  1760,  a 
proposition  was  introduced  into  the  Synod  for  the  appointment  and 
support  of  a  regular  professor  of  theology ;  and  a  few  years  after- 
ward the  trustees  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey  having  appointed 
such  a  professor,  the  Synod  took  measures  to  aid  in  sustaining  him. 

The  General  Assembly,  however,  in  1811,  determined  to  establish 
a  separate  institution  for  the  theological  education  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry;  and  in  1812  the  institution  was  located  at  Princeton, 
New  Jersey,  and  went  into  immediate  operation.  This  semiuary  is 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  a  board  of  directors,  who  meet  semi- 
annually to  examine  its  students  and  superintend  its  affairs.  This 
board  is  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  to  the  latter  body 
also  it  belongs  to  elect  the  professors,  and  determine  their  duties  and 
salaries.  Having  already  spoken  of  this  seminary,  as  well  as  all  the 
others  which  are  under  the  control  of  the  Presbyterians,  when  giving 
an  account  of  the  theological  seminaries  in  the  United  States,f  we 
say  no  more  of  it  in  this  place. 

*  The  whole  number  under  the  influence  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregation- 
alists  is  forty-five.  t  Book  iy->  chapter  xviii. 


478  THE   EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

In  a  former  part  of  this  work,  when  describing  the  development 
and  influence  of  the  voluntary  principle  (Book  iv.),  we  gave  an  ac- 
count of  the  American  Education  Society,  and  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  institutions 
which  have  done  so  much  to  increase  the  number  of  the  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  in  this  denomination.  We  spoke,  also,  of  the  Board  of 
Publication,  which  the  Assembly  of  one  of  the  great  divisions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  established,  and  the  good  which  it  is  doing. 
We  therefore  pass  over  these  operations,  which  have  so  intimate  a 
connection  with  the  history  of  this  Church.  We  also  say  nothing  at 
present  respecting  the  foreign  missions  of  this  Church,  inasmuch  as 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  these  hereafter. 

It  has  been  our  object  here  to  give  our  readers,  in  the  first  place,  a 
distinct  idea  of  the  organization  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  of  the 
manner  in  which  its  several  congregations  are  formed  and  governed ; 
what  provision  is  made  to  secure  the  orthodoxy,  learning,  and  fidelity 
of  their  pastors  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  briefly  to  state  the  means 
adopted  to  extend  the  Church,  and,  in  general,  to  promote  the  cause 
of  religion.  There  is  still  one  general  subject  which  should  not  be 
passed  over  :  it  is,  What  has  been  the  result  of  this  organization,  and 
of  these  means  ?  or,  What  has  been  the  character  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  ?  Has  it  been  a  pure,  enlightened, 
laborious,  and  harmonious  body  ?  Materials  for  an  answer  to  this 
question  may,  in  a  measure,  be  found  in  the  preceding  pages ;  we 
shall  therefore  say  but  little  in  reply  to  it. 

Purity  in  a  Church  may  be  understood  either  in  reference  to  ortho- 
doxy, or  adherence  to  the  truth  of  God  as  revealed  in  His  Word ;  or 
in  reference  to  the  manner  of  fife  of  its  ministers  or  members.  In 
reference  to  the  former  of  these  views,  we  think  it  may  safely  be  as- 
serted that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has,  by  the  grace  of  God,  been 
preserved  pure  to  a  very  uncommon  degree.  The  correctness  of  this 
statement  is  to  be  found,  not  so  much  in  the  early  adoption  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  requisition  of  an  assent  to 
that  Confession  on  the  part  of  all  candidates  for  ordination,  as  in  the 
fact  that  there  has  never  been  any  open  avowal  of  Pelagian  or  Ar- 
minian  doctrines  in  the  bosom  of  our  Church.  Cases  have  occurred 
of  ministers  being  censured,  or  suspended  from  office,  for  teaching 
such  doctrines,  but  no  case  has  occurred  where  a  Presbyterian  minister 
has  avowedly  rejected  the  Calvinistic  system,  and  yet  retained  his 
standing  in  the  Church  as  one  of  its  authorized  preachers.  Of  late 
years,  indeed,  there  has  been  much  discussion  on  doctrinal  subjects, 
and  many  sentiments  have  been  advanced,  which  many  excellent  men 
considered  as  virtually,  if  not  formally  implying  the  rejection  of  the 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH.  479 

Calvinistic  doctrines  of  original  sin,  election,  and  efficacious  grace. 
With  regard  to  these  controversies,  however,  there  are  two  remarks  to 
be  made.  The  first  is,  that  the  advocates  of  these  sentiments  stren- 
uously denied  that  they  were  inconsistent  with  the  doctrines  just 
mentioned  ;  and  the  second  is,  that  the  opposition  made  to  the  exer- 
cise of  discipline  on  account  of  these  sentiments,  was  the  principal 
cause  of  the  division  of  the  Presbyterian  tDhurch  into  two  portions  of 
nearly  equal  size.  It  therefore  remains  true,  as  stated  in  a  preceding 
page,  that  no  Presbyterian  minister  has  avowed  himself  either  a  Pe- 
lagian or  Arminian,  and  yet  been  allowed  to  retain  his  standing  as  one 
of  the  accredited  teachers  of  the  Church.  This,  indeed,  may  be  con- 
sidered by  many  as  great  bigotry.  But  the  very  thing  which  its 
friends  glory  in  is  the  fact  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America, 
having  a  Calvinistic  creed,  has  been  faithful  in  adhering  to  it. 

As  to  the  other  application  of  the  word  pure,  it  may  also  be  safely 
asserted  that  although  painful  cases  of  immorality  in  ministers  have 
occurred,  yet  we  know  of  no  case  in  which  it  has  been  overlooked ; 
in  which  either  drunkenness,  licentiousness,  or  any  similar  offence, 
has  been  proved  against  any  minister,  or  been  notoriously  true  with 
regard  to  him,  without  leading  to  his  suspension  or  deposition  from 
office.  If  such  instances  have  occurred,  they  have  been  exceedingly 
rare.  We  do  not  mention  this  as  any  thing  peculiar  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church  ;  the  same  remark,  as  far  as  we  know,  might  be  made 
with  equal  justice  of  any  of  the  evangelical  denominations  in  the 
country.  As  it  regards  the  private  members  of  the  Church,  since 
much  depends  upon  the  fidelity  of  the  several  Sessions,  we  can  only 
say  that,  according  to  the  rules  of  discipline,  no  person  chargeable 
with  immoral  conduct  can  be  properly  retained  in  communion  with 
the  Church ;  and  that  public  sentiment  is  in  accordance  with  these 
rules.  The  cases  are  certainly  rare  in  which  any  such  offence  as 
falsehood,  drunkenness,  fornication,  or  adultery  is  tolerated  in  any 
church  member.  Discipline  is  so  far  preserved  in  our  churches,  that 
it  would  be  a  matter  of  general  reproach  if  any  congregation  allowed 
the  name  of  a  man  of  known  immoral  character  to  remain  upon  its 
list  of  communicants. 

In  asserting  the  claim  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  to 
the  character  of  an  enlightened  body,  all  that  is  meant  is,  that  she 
has  successfully  endeavored  to  maintain  as  high  a  standard  of  literary 
qualifications  in  her  ministry  as  other  Christian  denominations  in  the 
United  States,  or  as  the  circumstances  of  the  country  rendered  ex- 
pedient or  possible.  From  the  beginning  she  insisted  on  the  neces- 
sity of  learning  in  those  who  intended  to  enter  the  sacred  office,  and 
early  endeavored  to  establish  institutions  for  their  suitable  education. 


480  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

Even  when  the  demand  for  ministers  was  so  great  as  to  present  a 
strong  temptation  to  relax  her  requisitions,  she  constantly  refused. 
The  proposition  was  more  than  once  introduced  into  the  old  Synod, 
that  in  view  of  the  pressing  necessity  for  ministerial  labor,  the  Pres- 
byteries might  be  permitted  to  license  men  to  preach  the  Gospel  who 
had  not  received  a  liberal  education ;  but  it  was  uniformly  rejected. 
It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  re- 
quires that  every  candidate  should  pass  repeated  examinations  before 
he  is  admitted  to  ordinances ;  that  he  must  give  satisfactory  evidence 
of  possessing  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  He- 
brew languages ;  of  his  acquaintance  with  the  subjects  usually  studied 
in  our  colleges ;  and  he  must,  after  completing  his  academical  studies, 
spend  at  least  two  years  in  the  study  of  theology  under  some  approved, 
teacher.  These  requisitions  have  been  enforced  with  a  good  degree 
of  fidelity.  For  a  long  time,  a  knowledge  of  Hebrew  was  not  gen- 
erally insisted  upon,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  compe- 
tent teachers ;  but  since  the  establishment  of  theological  seminaries, 
a  knowledge  of  that  language  has  become  with  the  Presbyterian  min- 
isters (and  many  others  also)  an  almost  uniform  attainment. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  Whether  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
had  a  laborious  and  active  body  of  clergy  ?  it  may  be  said  that,  if 
in  this  respect  she  has  fallen  behind  some  of  her  sister  Churches,  she 
has  kept  in  advance  of  others.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  Church  since 
its  organization  in  1705  ;  the  efforts  she  has  made  to  found  academies, 
colleges,  and  theological  seminaries ;  the  labor  and  money  contributed 
to  the  support  of  foreign  and  domestic  missions,  show  that,  although 
she  has  come  far  short  of  her  duty,  she  has  not  been  entirely  unmind- 
ful of  her  high  vocation. 

With  regard  to  the  last  question  proposed,  viz.,  Whether  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  has  been  a  harmonious  body?  the  answer  may  not 
appear  so  favorable.  The  existence  of  parties  seems  to  be  an  un- 
avoidable incident  of  freedom.  In  other  words,  liberty  gives  occa- 
sion for  the  manifestation  of  that  diversity  of  opinion,  feeling,  and 
interest,  which  never  fails  to  exist  in  all  large  communities,  whether 
civil  or  religious.  The  expression  of  this  diversity  may  be  prevented 
by  the  hand  of  power,  or  concealed  from  view  by  the  force  of  coun- 
teracting motives ;  but  where  no  power  exists  to  forbid  its  manifesta- 
tion, or  where  no  interests  are  endangered  by  its  avowal,  it  will  not 
be  slow  in  making  its  existence  known.  In  the  Romish  Church,  all 
expression  of  difference  of  opinion,  on  certain  subjects,  is  forbid- 
den; in  all  others,  where  there  is  liberty,  there  is  conflict.  In 
richly-endowed  and  Established  Churches,  there  is  so  much  to  be 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  481 

sacrificed  by  the  avowal  of  dissent,  that  conformity  must  ever  be  ex- 
pected to  be  more  general  than  sincere. 

Nothing  out  of  the  analogy  of  history,  therefore,  has  happened  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  occasional  conflicts  through  which  she 
has  passed.  As  the  Church  was  composed  of  men  sincerely  attached 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  it  was  not  disturbed  by 
any  doctrinal  controversy  for  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  its 
organization.  Before  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  there  arose  a 
great  religious  excitement  both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  America. 
In  England  this  excitement  was  produced  principally  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  Wesley ;  and  hi  this  country  by  that  of  Whitefield,  Ed- 
wards, the  Tennents,  Blairs,  and  other  distinguished  preachers  of  that 
day.  In  Scotland,  it  either  increased  or  occasioned  the  secessions 
from  the  national  Church  which  still  exist  in  that  country.  In  En- 
gland, it  led  to  the  formation  of  the  great  independent  body  of  the 
Methodists.  In  New  England,  it  gave  rise  to  great  controversy,  and 
to  separations  from  the  Established  Churches ;  and  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  it  caused  a  division  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  which  was 
its  highest  ecclesiastical  body,  into  two  independent  bodies,  which 
continued  separate  from  each  other  from  1741  to  1758.  To  any  one 
who  examines  this  period  of  its  history,  it  will  appear  that  it  was  not 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  religion,  or  as  to  its  doctrines, 
nor  as  to  church  government,  nor  as  to  the  necessity  of  learning  in 
the  ministry,  which  led  to  this  separation,  but  the  difference  of  opin- 
ion as  to  the  revivals  then  in  progress,  and  to  the  disorders,  mutual 
criminations,  and  consequent  alienation  of  feeling  which  are  so  apt  to 
attend  seasons  of  great  and  general  excitement.  The  terms  of  union 
adopted  by  the  two  Synods  in  1758  expressly  recognize  the  harmony 
of  the  two  bodies  on  all  the  points  above  specified,*  and  declare  their 
purpose  to  bury  all  remembrance  of  their  differences  respecting  the 
revival. 

From  the  time  of  the  union  just  mentioned,  in  1758,  until  within 
twenty-five  years,  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  constituted  as 
harmonious  and  united  a  body  of  ministers  and  members  as  could 
be  found  in  this  or  any  other  country.  The  causes  of  the  unhappy 
division  are  numerous,  many  of  them  of  long  standing  and  gradual 
operation ;  and  all  of  them  difficult  of  appreciation  by  those  who  are 
not  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  history  of  that  Church. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  before  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century,  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  in  a  great  measure 

*  There  was,  indeed,  some  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  nature  of  the 
evidence  of  a  proper  call  to  the  ministry  which  the  Presbyteries  should  require;  one 
party  held  higher  views  on  the  subject  than  the  other. 

31 


482  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

composed  of  those  European  Presbyterians  and  their  descendants 
who  were  settled  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  Since  the  year 
1 800,  there  has  been  going  on  a  constant  and  very  great  emigration 
from  the  New  England  States,  to  the  central  and  western  parts  of 
New  York,  and  to  the  North-western  States  of  the  Union.  These 
emigrants  had,  in  general,  been  accustomed  to  the  Congregational 
form  of  church  government  prevalent  in  New  England.  As  they 
met,  however,  in  their  new  locations  with  many  Presbyterians,  and 
as  their  ministers  generally  preferred  the  Presbyterian  form  of  gov- 
ernment, they  united  with  them  in  the  formation  of  churches  and  ec- 
clesiastical judicatories.  In  1 801,  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Gen- 
eral Association  of  Connecticut  agreed  upon  what  was  called  "  The 
plan  of  union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  in  the 
new  settlements."  Under  this  plan,  which  purports  to  be  a  temporary 
expedient,  a  great  number  of  churches  and  Presbyteries,  and  even 
several  Synods,  were  formed,  composed  partly  of  Presbyterians  and 
partly  of  Congregationalists.  Though  this  plan  seems  to  have  op- 
erated beneficially  for  a  number  of  years,  yet,  as  it  was  extended  far 
beyond  its  original  intention,  as  it  gave  Congregationalists,  who  had 
never  adopted  the  standards  of  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  who  were  avowedly  opposed  to  its  form  of  government,  as  much 
influence  and  authority  in  the  government  of  the  Church  as  an  equal 
number  of  Presbyterians,  the  scheme  naturally  gave  rise  to  dissatis- 
faction as  soon  as  the  facts  of  the  case  came  to  be  generally  known, 
and  as  soon  as  questions  of  discipline  and  policy  arose,  in  the  decision 
of  which  the  influence  of  these  Congregationalists  was  sensibly  felt. 

In  addition  to  this  source  of  uneasiness,  was  that  which  arose  out 
of  diversity  of  opinions  in  points  of  belief.  Certain  peculiarities  of 
doctrine  had  become  prevalent  among  the  Calvinists  of  New  En- 
gland, which  naturally  spread  into  those  portions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  settled  by  New  England  men.  These  peculiarities  were  not 
regarded,  on  either  side,  as  sufficient  to  justify  any  interruption  of 
ministerial  communion,  or  to  call  for  the  exercise  of  discipline,  but 
they  were  sufficient  to  give  rise  to  the  formation  of  two  parties,  which 
received  the  appellations  of  Old  and  New  School.  Within  the  last 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years,  however,  opinions  have  been  advanced 
by  some  of  the  New  England  clergy,  which  all  the  Old  School,  and 
a  large  portion  of  the  New  School  party  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
considered  as  involving  a  virtual  denial  of  the  doctrines  of  original 
sin,  election,  and  efficacious  grace,  and  which  were  regarded  as  in- 
consistent with  ministerial  standing  in  the  body.  Several  attempts 
were  made  to  subject  the  Presbyterian  advocates  of  these  opinions  to 
ecclesiastical  discipline.     These  attempts  failed,  partly  on  account  of 


CHAP.  V.]  THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH.  483 

deficiency  of  proof,  partly  from  irregularity  in  the  mode  of  proceed- 
ing, and  partly  from  other  causes. 

To  these  sources  of  uneasiness  was  added  the  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  the  best  mode  of  conducting  certain  benevolent  operations.   The 
Old  School,  as  a  party,  were  in  favor  of  the  action  of  the  Church,  in 
her  ecclesiastical  capacity,  by  means  of  Boards  of  her  appointment  and 
under  her  own  control,  conducting  the  work  of  domestic  and  foreign 
missions,  and  the  education  of  candidates  for  the  ministry.     The  other 
party  as  generally  preferred  voluntary  societies,  disconnected  with 
Church  courts,  and  embracing  different  religious  denominations,  for 
these  purposes.     It  might  seem,  at  first  view,  that  this  was  a  subject 
on  which  the  members  of  the  Church  could  differ  without  incon- 
venience or  collision.     But  it  was  soon  found  that  these  societies  or 
boards  must  indirectly  exert  a  great,  if  not  a  controlling  influence  on 
the  Church.     The  men  who  could  direct  the  education  of  candidates 
for  the  sacred  office,  and  the  location  of  the  hundreds  of  domestic 
missionaries,  must,  sooner  or  later,  give  character  to  the  Church.     On 
this  account,  this  question  was  regarded  as  one  of  great  practical  im- 
portance. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  differences  and  alienations  arising  from 
these  various  sources,  that  the  General  Assembly  met  hi  1837.  Both 
parties  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  a  separation  was  desirable ; 
but  though  they  agreed  as  to  the  terms  of  the  separation,  they  could 
not  agree  as  to  the  mode  in  which  it  should  be  effected.  The  General 
Assembly,  therefore,  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the  existing  difficul- 
ties in  another  way.  It  first  abolished  the  plan  of  union,  above  men- 
tioned, formed  in  1801 ;  and  then  passed  several  acts,  the  purport  and 
effect  of  which  were  to  declare  that  no  Congregational  church  should 
hereafter  be  represented  in  any  Presbyterian  judicatory ;  and  that  no 
Presbytery  or  Synod,  composed  partly  of  Presbyterians  and  partly 
of  Congregationalists,  should  hereafter  be  considered  as  a  constituent 
portion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  These  acts  were  defended  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  nothing  more  than  the  legitimate  exercise 
of  the  executive  authority  of  the  General  Assembly,  requiring  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church  should  be  conformed  to  by  all  its 
constituent  parts. 

Had  the  Synods  and  other  judicatories  affected  by  these  acts  seen 
fit  to  separate  from  the  Congregationalists,  with  whom  they  had  been 
united,  and  to  organize  themselves  as  purely  Presbyterian  bodies,  the 
General  Assembly  would  have  been  bound  by  its  own  acts  to  recog- 
nize them  as  constituent  parts  of  the  Church.  But  those  brethren 
having  assembled  in  convention  at  Auburn,  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
unanimously  resolved  that  they  would  consider  the  plan  of  union  as 


484  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

still  in  force,  its  abrogation  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding ;  that  they  would  not  separate  from  their  Congrega- 
tional brethren.  Accordingly,  in  1838,  the  delegates  from  the  Pres- 
byteries included  in  these  Synods  attended  the  General  Assembly, 
and  claimed  their  seats  as  members.  As  this  was  not  immediately 
granted  (though  it  was  not  refused),  they  rose,  nominated  a  moder- 
ator and  clerk,  and  being  joined  by  those  members  who  sympathized 
with  them,  they  declared  themselves  the  true  General  Assembly,  and 
withdrew  from  the  house. 

A  suit  was  immediately  brought  by  them  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  to  decide  which  Assembly  was  to  be  regarded 
as  the  true  one,  or  which  had  the  right  to  appoint  the  professors,  and 
administer  the  funds  belonging  to  the  theological  seminaries  under 
the  care  of  "  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America."  The  decision  of  the  judge  and  jury 
was  in  their  favor ;  but  when  the  cause  was  taken  before  the  "  court 
in  banc,"  that  is,  before  the  court  with  all  the  judges  present,  that 
decision  was  reversed,  and  the  way  left  open  for  the  New  School 
Assembly  to  renew  the  suit  if  they  should  think  proper.  There  the 
matter  has  rested,  leaving  what  is  called  the  Old  School  Assembly  in 
possession  of  the  succession,  and  in  the  management  of  the  semina- 
ries. It  may  be  remarked  that  this  decision  has  given  to  that  As- 
sembly, in  the  estimation  of  many,  very  little  more  than  what  was 
admitted  by  the  opposite  party  to  be  their  due ;  that  is,  in  the  terms 
of  separation,  agreed  upon  by  the  two  parties  in  1837,  but  which 
were  not  acted  upon,  it  was  admitted  that  the  seminaries  and  funds, 
having,  in  fact,  been  founded  and  chiefly  sustained  by  them,  should 
be  under  the  control  of  the  Old  School  body ;  and  these  funds  consti- 
tute almost  the  whole  sum  held  in  trust  by  the  General  Assembly. 

For  the  preceding  account  I  am  indebted  to  a  very  distinguished 
and  excellent  minister  in  one  of  the  bodies  into  which  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  was  divided  in  1838. 

To  one  who  takes  no  part  in  the  question,  and  looks  at  it  dispas- 
sionately, certain  positions,  I  conceive,  must  appear  manifestly  just. 
In  the  first  place,  the  compact  between  the  General  Assembly  and 
the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  in  1801,  though  made  with 
the  best  intentions,  was  decidedly  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
former  body.  It  was  a  measure  which  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the 
desire  of  its  authors  to  accomplish  a  present  apparent  good,  without 
taking  sufficient  time  or  pains  to  examine  all  its  probable  bearings. 
Its  immediate  result  was  the  building  up  of  a  large  number  of 
churches  of  a  mixed  character,  and  without  the  bench  of  ruling  elders 
which  is  essential  to  the  interior  organization   of  a  Presbyterian 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PEESBYTEEIAN  CHUECH.  485 

church.  But  granting  this — and  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  well  be  de- 
nied— the  measures  consequent  upon  the  dissolution  of  this  "  Plan  of 
Union,"  by  the  Assembly  of  1837,  seem  to  have  been  harsh,  abrupt, 
and  revolutionary.  Time  should  have  been  allowed  for  the  churches 
affected  by  it  to  adopt  the  Presbyterian  polity  in  its  whole  extent,  if 
they  had  a  mind  to  do  so,  before  having  recourse  to  so  severe  a 
measure. 

It  is  obvious,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
from  the  first,  or  nearly  so,  was  composed  of  diverse  elements,  which 
could  not  be  easily  assimilated.  This  diversity  had  been  increasing 
every  year,  especially  within  the  last  half  century.  Look  at  the  dif- 
ferent races  that  from  time  to  time  have  entered  into  the  composition 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  A  large  proportion  of  its  ministers,  on 
the  one  hand,  are  either  from  Presbyterian  churches  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  or  are  descended  from  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterians,  and 
these  naturally  feel  much  attached  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  and  to  the  catechisms  and  form  of  government  with  which 
they  have  been  familiar  from  their  childhood.  Another  large  propor- 
tion of  its  ministers  are,  on  the  other  hand,  from  New  England,  where 
they  received  all  their  early  impressions  from  the  Congregational 
churches ;  so  that,  however  much  they  may  have  respected  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  entering  it,  and  however  that  respect  may  have 
increased  since,  they  can  not,  from  the  nature  of  things,  feel  as  much 
attachment  to  all  the  details  of  its  doctrines  and  government  as  others 
who,  if  I  may  so  speak,  were  born  Presbyterians.  Hence  the  former 
have  been  more  readily  disposed  to  be  satisfied  with  a  general  con- 
formity with  its  doctrines  and  government.  This  led  to  a  variation, 
if  not  in  doctrines,  at  least  in  statements  of  doctrine,  perfectly  toler- 
able in  Congregational  churches,  where  extended  creeds  are  un- 
known ;  and  to  less  strictness  in  ecclesiastical  administration :  both  of 
which  were  incompatible  with  the  precision  of  a  Church  whose  stand- 
ards are  so  full  on  every  point,  and  with  a  discipline  the  rules  of  which 
are  laid  down  with  so  much  minuteness. 

In  the  third  place,  the  doctrinal  difference  lay  more  in  philosophy 
than  in  any  thing  else.  It  originated  in  the  attempt,  not  at  all  im- 
proper in  itself,  to  reply  to  the  objections  which  the  enemies  of  Cal- 
vinism have  ever  made  to  its  distinctive  features,  so  repugnant  to  the 
natural  heart.  In  these  explanations  of  certain  points,  views  were 
expressed  which  were  deemed  at  variance  with  the  doctrines  of  man's 
depravity,  election,  efficacious  grace,  etc.,  as  they  had  usually  been 
held. 

Nor  do  I  think  it  is  to  be  denied  that  some  of  these  speculations 
were  pushed  too  far,  and  expressed  in  a  manner  calculated  to  excite 


486  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUECHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

alarm.  There  was,  in  some  cases,  a  needless  departure  from  the  usual 
theological  phraseology,  and  this  excited  concern  and  suspicion,  even 
when  at  bottom  there  was  no  real  diversity  of  doctrine.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  proper  disposition  was  not  always  shown  to  estimate  unessen- 
tial shades  of  opinion,  and  even  of  doctrine,  at  their  just  value ;  and 
consequences,  even  when  denied  on  one  side,  were  too  strenuously 
alleged  on  the  other.  Thus  were  differences  in  some  cases  magnified, 
until  what  was  philosophical  in  the  explanation  of  a  doctrine,  and  did 
not  change  the  doctrine  itself,  was  thought  subversive  of  it,  and 
fraught,  of  course,  with  imminent  danger  to  the  cause  of  truth. 

In  the  fourth  place,  as  to  the  mode  of  conducting  the  benevolent 
undertakings  of  the  Church,  whether  by  boards  appointed  by  the 
General  Assembly  or  through  voluntary  societies  (and  this,  after  all, 
was  the  question  that  helped  most  to  produce  the  division),  it  seems 
clear  that  the  brethren  and  churches  that  preferred  the  former  of 
these  methods  ought  at  once  to  have  been  allowed  that  preference, 
and  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  attempt  to  shut  them  up  to  the  support 
of  what  they  did  not  think  the  safest  or  most  scriptural  modes  of  pro- 
moting the  extension  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  at  home  and  abroad. 

Faults,  in  short,  there  were  on  both  sides,  and,  as  happens  so  often 
in  such  cases,  there  was  not  a  little  ofman,  in  a  matter  where  nothing 
should  have  been  allowed  to  influence  a  single  decision  but  a  regard 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  interests  of  His  Church. 

But  the  division  has  taken  place,  and  whatever  of  strife  or  agitation 
attended  it  is  passing  away.  A  better  spirit  is  unquestionably  pre- 
vailing, and  these  two  powerful  bodies  are  engaged  in  the  only  rivalry 
worthy  of  them — that  of  striving  which  shall  do  most  for  the  cause 
of  Christ  throughout  the  world.  In  this  each  of  them  is  now  free  to 
adopt  the  method  it  may  think  best. 

The  Old  School,  as  they  are  called,  have  their  own  boards  of  mis- 
sions, domestic  and  foreign ;  of  education,  of  publication,  and  of 
Church-extension.  The  New  School  combine  their  efforts  with  the 
Congregationalists  of  New  England,  and  some  other  and  smaller  de- 
nominations, in  supporting  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
and  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 
They  have  now,  however,  their  own  Boards  of  Publication  and 
Church-extension.  Both  zealously  support  the  American  Bible, 
Tract,  and  Seamen's  Societies,  and  others  of  a  like  general  kind. 

In  fact,  the  unwieldy  bulk  to  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  had 
grown,  as  well  as  the  coexistence  in  it  of  two  great  elements,  too 
dissimilar  to  admit  of  harmonious  action,  had  long  made  it  evident  to 
many  that  it  must  be  divided ;  and  the  division  that  has  taken  place 
is  about  as  fortunate  a  one  as  well  could  have  occurred.    Although  it 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  PEESBYTEEIAN   CHFJECH.  487 

must  be  referred,  in  a  considerable  degree,  to  sectional,  doctrinal, 
and  economical  questions,  yet  none  of  these  have  in  all  cases  deter- 
mined the  present  position  of  the  parties  concerned.  Thus,  in  the 
New  School  Church  we  find  Scotch  and  Irish  ministers,  and  the  de- 
scendants of  emigrants  from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  while  New  En- 
gland men  may  be  found  in  the  Old.  In  the  former  there  are  men 
who  hold  the  old  views  of  Calvinistic  doctrine ;  in  the  latter,  there 
are  some  who  hold  the  New  England  modifications  of  those  views. 
Finally,  the  New  School  is  not  without  adherents  who  prefer  ecclesi- 
astical boards  for  benevolent  operations,  while  the  Old  School  has 
some  who  remain  attached  to  voluntary  societies.  The  division,  how- 
ever, coincides  more,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  with  the  natural 
line  of  demarcation,  in  the  last-named  particular,  than  in  the  others, 
and  for  a  reason  already  mentioned. 

The  relative  proportions  of  the  two  bodies  will  appear  from  the 
following  statement.  In  May  last  (1855),  the  Old  School  had  under 
its  care, 

30  Synods, 
148  Presbyteries, 

3,079  Churches, 

2,261  Ordained  Ministers, 

237  Licentiates, 
435  Candidates,* 

231,404  Communicants  reported. 

At  the  same  date,  according  to  their  minutes,  the  New  School  had 
under  their  care, 

24  Synods, 

108  Presbyteries, 
1,659  Churches, 
1,567  Ministers, 

111  Licentiates, 

238  Candidates, 

143,029  Communicants  reported. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  two  together,  and  in  almost  all  respects 
they  may  be  considered  as  one  body,  have 

4,738  Churches, 

3,828  Ordained  Ministers, 

1,021  Licentiates  and  Candidates, 

374,433  Communicants. 

Regarding  them  as  one  whole,  it  were  difficult  to  find  in  any  part 
of  Christendom  a  branch  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  more  distin- 
guished than  these  Churches  for  general  learning,  zeal,  enterprise, 

*  That  is,  students  of  theology  who  have  not  yet  been  licensed  to  preach. 


488  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IK  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

liberality,  and  soundness  in  all  essential  doctrine.  Their  ministers 
present  a  body  of  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
men,  almost  without  exception  liberally  educated,  who,  after  all  their 
debates,  and  their  final  separation,  are  more  thoroughly  sound  Cal- 
vinists  in  point  of  doctrine  than  any  equally  numerous  ministry  to  be 
found  in  any  other  country. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  Whether  they  will  ever  unite  again  ? 
That  is  by  no  means  improbable ;  but  whether  they  do  or  not  seems 
to  me  of  little  consequence.  In  their  separate  state  they  will  accom- 
plish more  than  if  united.  There  will  soon  be,  indeed  there  is  now, 
the  most  perfect  intercourse  between  the  churches  and  pastors.  The 
energies  of  both  find  free  and  ample  scope,  which  was  never  the  case 
before  with  either,  but  particularly  with  the  Old  School,  who  never 
felt  at  ease,  or  secure  as  to  the  future. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  add,  that  the  General  Assembly  of  the  New 
School,  in  its  session  in  May,  1840,  proposed  to  the  presbyteries  un- 
der its  care  certain  important  changes  in  its  constitution,  which  were 
adopted.  One  was,  that  the  General  Assembly  shall  be  held  trien- 
nially  instead  of  annually.  Another  was,  that  all  appeals  from  the 
decisions  of  a  Church  Session  shall  not,  in  the  case  of  lay-members, 
be  carried  beyond  the  Presbytery,  or  in  the  case  of  ministers,  be- 
yond the  Synod.  By  these  modifications  they  made  the  business  of 
their  General  Assembly  much  more  simple  and  easy,  and  gave  more 
time  to  that  body  to  deliberate  on  measures  for  the  promotion  of  the 
best  interests  of  the  Church.  But  they  have  returned  to  annual 
General  Assemblies,  the  triennial  plan  not  having  worked  well. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE     METHODIST     EPISCOPAL     CHURCH. 

This  large  and  influential  body  holds  the  doctrinal  opinions  of  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists  of  England,  and  its  ecclesiastical  economy  is, 
in  all  important  points,  identical  with  theirs.  It  took  its  rise  in 
1766,  when  a  Mr.  Philip  Embury,  who  had  been  a  local  preacher  in 
some  of  Mr.  Wesley's  societies  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  had  come 
over  to  America  with  a  few  other  pious  persons  of  the  same  connec- 
tion, began  to  hold  meetings  for  exhortation  and  prayer  in  his  own 
house  at  New  York.  A  considerable  society  was  gradually  formed 
in  that  city,  which  at  that  time,  it  would  appear,  could  count 
but  a  small  number,  comparatively,  of  living  and  zealous  Christians 


CHAP.  VI.]  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHUECH.  489 

among  its  inhabitants.  In  a  few  months  it  was  found  necessary  to  fit 
up  a  large  hired  room  as  a  place  of  worship,  and  the  congregation 
was  further  augmented  by  the  preaching  of  a  Captain  Webb  of  the 
British  army,  who,  having  been  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
Mr.  Wesley  in  England,  and  being  now  stationed  at  Albany,  paid 
frequent  visits  to  the  little  flock  at  New  York. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  similar  meetings  began  to  be 
held  in  several  places  on  Long  Island,  in  Philadelphia,  and  at  other 
points.  In  1768,  a  large  place  of  worship  was  erected  in  New  York, 
beino-  the  first  Methodist  church  ever  built  in  the  United  States. 
Next  year,  Mr.  Wesley  being  requested  to  send  over  two  of  his 
preachers,  Messrs.  Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pillmore  came  to 
New  York,  and  about  the  same  time,  Mr.  Robert  Strawbridge,  an- 
other local  preacher  from  Ireland,  came  over  and  settled  in  Frederic 
county,  Maryland,  where  he  held  meetings  at  his  own  house,  and  at 
the  houses  of  other  pious  persons  in  the  neighborhood.  This  exten- 
sion of  the  Methodists  into  the  South  was  further  promoted  by  a  visit 
from  Mr.  Pillmore  into  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

Pressing  representations  of  the  need  of  help  having  been  made  to 
Mr.  Wesley,  Mr.  Francis  Asbury  and  Mr.  Richard  Wright  were  sent 
over  from  England  in  1771,  and  under  the  labors,  particularly,  of  the 
former,  the  work  went  on  increasing,  year  after  year,  until  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution.  That  event  greatly  retarded  the 
progress  of  Methodism  in  some  places,  not  only  by  the  ever  unto- 
wardly  influence  of  present  war  on  such  undertakings,  but  also  by 
the  suspicions  attached  by  the  revolutionists  to  Mr.  Asbury,  and 
several  of  his  fellow-preachers,  as  being  native  Englishmen,  who  had 
been  too  short  a  period  in  the  country  to  have  its  interests  truly  at 

heart. 

At  length,  with  peace  came  independence,  and  thus,  greatly  to  the 
encouragement  of  Mr.  Asbury  and  his  fellow-laborers,  a  wide  and  ef- 
fectual door  for  the  preachhig  of  the  Gospel  was  opened  to  them. 
Hitherto  this  attempt  to  revive  true  godliness  had  been  confined  en- 
tirely to  laymen  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  with  it  their  efforts 
are  more  connected  than  with  any  other,  inasmuch  as  none  of  them 
had  at  first  any  intention  of  separating  from  its  communion.  But 
worthy  ministers  of  that  church  being  hard  to  be  found  in  some 
places,  while  none  were  to  be  had  at  all  in  others,  both  before  the 
Revolution  broke  out  and  during  its  progress,  Mr.  Wesley  was  urged 
to  send  over  ordained  ministers,  who  might  administer  the  ordi- 
nances to  his  followers.  To  this  he  was  greatly  opposed,  at  first,  but 
when  the  Revolution  was  over,  considering  that,  from  the  change  of 
circumstances,  he  might  now  lawfully  do  what  he  had  refused  doing 


490  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

while  the  colonies  were  under  the  government  of  England,  he  sent 
over,  as  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  churches  in  America,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Coke,  a  presbyter  of  regular  standing  in  the  Established 
Church  of  England.  He  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  Richard  Whatcoat 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Vasey,  whom  Mr.  Wesley,  assisted  by  Dr.  Coke 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Creighton,  had  ordained  presbyters  or  priests,  just 
before  the  sailing  of  the  three  from  Bristol  in  September,  1784. 
These  brethren  were  the  bearers  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley  to  the 
Methodist  preachers  and  societies  in  America,  stating  his  reasons  for 
considering  himself  now  at  liberty  to  accede  to  their  requests,  and 
informing  them  that  he  had  appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Asbury  to 
be  joint  superintendents  of  all  the  societies  in  that  country  founded 
upon  his  rules,  and  Messrs.  Whatcoat  and  Yasey  to  act  as  elders 
among  them,  by  baptizing  and  administering  the  Lord's  Supper. 

On  the  arrival  of  these  delegates,  a  conference  of  the  preachers 
was  immediately  convened  at  Baltimore.  It  was  opened  on  the  25th 
of  December,  1784,  and  was  attended  by  sixty  out  of  the  eighty 
preachers  then  in  the  country.  One  of  its  first  acts  was  the  unani- 
mous election  of  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Asbury  as  superintendents,  there- 
by confirming  Mr.  Wesley's  appointment.  Dr.  Coke  and  the  other 
two  presbyters  then  ordained  Mr.  Asbury,  first  a  deacon,  next  a 
presbyter,  and,  finally,  a  superintendent.  Thereupon  the  two  super- 
intendents, or  bishops,  as  they  soon  began  to  be  called,  and  as  their 
successors  are  styled  to  this  day,  ordained  twelve  of  the  preachers 
then  present  to  the  office  of  presbyters  or  elders. 

Thus  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
organized  seventy-two  years  ago.  From  that  epoch  they  formed  a 
new  and  independent  religious  denomination,  which  was  soon  vastly 
to  outnumber  that  from  which  they  had  sprung.  At  that  "  their 
day  of  small  things,"  their  ministers  and  lay  preachers,  including  Dr. 
Coke  and  his  co-delegates  from  England,  amounted  to  eighty-six, 
and  the  members,  in  all,  to  fourteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-six.  But  small  as  was  this  beginning,  great  and  glorious  has 
been  their  increase  since. 

The  proceedings  of  that  conference  were  highly  important.  Twen- 
ty-five articles  were  adopted  as  the  Confession  of  Faith  for  the  infant 
Church.  We  will  give  first  the  titles  of  the  whole,  and  then  a  few  of 
them  at  large.  The  titles  are  as  follows :  Of  faith  in  the  Holy  Trin- 
ity ;  of  the  Word,  or  Son  of  God,  who  was  made  very  man  ;  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ ;  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  of  the  sufficiency  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  for  salvation ;  of  the  Old  Testament ;  of  original  sin ; 
of  free-will;  of  the  justification  of  man  ;  of  good  works;  of  works  of 
supererogation ;  of  sin  after  justification ;  of  the  Church  ;  of  purga- 


CHAP.  VI.]  THE   METHODIST   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  491 

tory ;  of  speaking  in  the  congregation  in  such  a  tongue  as  the  people 
understand  ;  of  the  sacraments ;  of  Baptism ;  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
of  both  kinds;*  of  the  one  oblation  of  Christ,  finished  upon  the  cross; 
of  the  marriage  of  ministers :  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
churches  ;  of  the  rulers  of  the  United  States  of  America;  of  Christian 
men's  goods;  of  a  Christian  man's  oath. 

On  almost  all  these  subjects  the  articles  express  doctrines  held  by 
every  enlightened  Protestant.  In  fact,  they  are  a  selection  from  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  some  verbal 
changes,  and  the  omission  of  some  parts  of  sentences.  The  seven- 
teenth article  of  the  Church  of  England  (on  predestination  and  elec- 
tion) is,  of  course,  omitted,  the  doctrine  therein  taught  not  being 
held  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  Nor  do  we 
find  that  of  the  certain  perseverance  of  saints,  for  neither  do  they 
hold  this.  But  on  all  the  great  doctrines  essential  to  salvation,  noth- 
ing can  be  more  clear,  or  more  consistent  with  the  Word  of  God, 
than  the  sense  of  these  articles.  For  instance,  on  original  sin — what 
more  Scriptural  than  the  seventh  article,  which  says,  "  Original  sin 
standeth  not  in  following  of  Adam  (as  the  Pelagians  do  vainly  talk), 
but  it  is  the  corruption  of  the  nature  of  every  man;  that  is,  naturally 
engendered  of  the  offspring  of  Adam,  whereby  man  is  very  far  gone 
from  original  righteousness,  and  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil, 
and  that  continually." 

On  the  subject  of  free-will,  it  is  said,  "  That  the  condition  of  man 
after  the  fall  of  Adam  is  such  that  he  can  not  turn  and  prepare  him- 
self by  his  own  natural  strength  and  works  to  faith,  and  calling  upon 
God ;  whereupon  we  have  no  power  to  do  good  works,  pleasant  and 
acceptable  to  God,  without  the  grace  of  God  by  Christ  preventing 
us,  that  we  may  have  a  good  will,  and  working  with  us  when  we  have 
that  good  will." 

So  in  respect  to  justification  by  faith,  good  works,  wrorks  of  super- 
erogation, the  sacraments,  and  other  subjects,  the  same  doctrines  are 
held  as  by  the  Reformers  of  blessed  memory. 

Besides  these  twenty-five  articles,  the  General  Conference  have 
adopted  a  system  of  polityf  in  thirty-five  sections,  which  treat  of  the 
entire  economy  of  their  Church,  the  manner  of  life  becoming  its  min- 
isters and  private  members,  the  proper  style  of  preaching,  etc.  In 
giving  directions  as  to  the  manner  of  treating  the  doctrine  of  perfec- 
tion, the  twenty-second  section  runs  as  follows :  "  Let  us  strongly 
and  explicitly  exhort  all  believers  to  go  on  to  perfection.     That  we 

*  Or  elements — bread  and  wine — both  to  be  administered  to  the  people. 
\  These  rules,  originally  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Wesley,  were  considerably  modified  in 
America. 


492  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   EST   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

may  all  speak  the  same  thing,  we  ask,  once  for  all,  Shall  we  defend 
this  perfection,  or  give  it  up  ?  We  all  agree  to  defend  it,  meaning 
thereby  (as  we  did  from  the  beginning),  salvation  from  all  sin  by  the 
love  of  God  and  man  filling  the  heart.  The  Papists  say,  '  This  can 
not  be  attained  till  we  have  been  refined  by  the  fire  of  purgatory.' 
Some  professors  say,  'Nay,  it  will  be  attained  as  soon  as  the  soul 
and  body  part.'  Others  say,  '  It  may  be  attained  before  we  die ;  a 
moment  after  is  too  late.'  Is  it  not  so  ?  We  are  all  agreed  we  may 
be  saved  from  all  sin,  properly  so  called,  before  death,  i.  e.,  sinful  tem- 
pers ;  but  we  can  not  always  speak,  or  think,  or  act  aright,  as  dwell- 
ing in  houses  of  clay.  The  substance,  then,  is  settled ;  but  as  to  the 
circumstances,  is  the  change  gradual  or  instantaneous  ?  It  is  both 
the  one  and  the  other.  c  But  should  we,  in  preaching,  insist  both  on 
one  and  the  other?'  Certainly  we  should  insist  on  the  gradual 
change  ;  and  that  earnestly  and  continually.  And  are  there  not  rea- 
sons why  we  should  insist  on  the  instantaneous  change?  If  there  be 
such  a  blessed  change  before  death,  should  we  not  encourage  all  be- 
lievers to  expect  it  ?  And  the  rather,  because  constant  experience 
shows,  the  more  earnestly  they  expect  this,  the  more  swiftly  and 
steadily  does  the  gradual  work  of  God  go  on  in  their  souls ;  the  more 
careful  are  they  to  grow  in  grace ;  the  more  zealous  of  good  works ; 
and  the  more  punctual  in  their  attendance  on  all  the  ordinances  of 
God  (whereas  just  the  contrary  effects  are  observed  whenever  this 
expectation  ceases).  They  are  saved  by  hope — by  this  hope  of  a 
total  change,  with  a  gradually-increasing  salvation.  Destroy  this 
hope,  and  that  salvation  stands  still,  or,  rather,  decreases  daily. 
Therefore,  whoever  will  advance  the  gradual  change  in  believers, 
should  strongly  insist  on  the  instantaneous." 

For  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  I  may  refer  to  Mr.  Wesley's  four  volumes  of 
Sermons,  and  his  Notes  on  the  New  Testament,  where  all  the  pecu- 
liar views  of  that  body  are  fully  exhibited,  and  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  its  real  Confession  of  Faith.  Its  Discipline  comprehends 
the  "  Articles  of  Religion,"  the  "  General  Rules"  relating  to  practice, 
the  "  System  of  Government,"  and  the  "  Formularies,"  all  of  which, 
except  the  Articles  of  Religion,  may,  under  certain  circumstances 
and  restrictions,  be  modified  and  enlarged  from  time  to  time  by  va- 
rious enactments  of  the  General  Conference.  We  shall  attempt  a 
summary  of  it  from  the  very  clear  and  succinct  statements  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Bangs,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States,"*  a  work  to  which,  in  preparing  this  chapter, 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  245-250.  This  work,  in  four  vols.,  by  the  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs,  D.D., 
brings  the  history  of  the  Methodist  Church  down  to  the  close  of  the  General  Confer- 


CHAP.  VI.]  THE  METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHUECH.  493 

we  have  been  greatly  indebted  on  other  points.  We  begin  with  the 
"  societies"  and  "  classes,"  which  are  the  primary  bodies  of  believ- 
ers in  this  extensive,  well-adjusted,  and  most  efficient  ecclesiastical 
system. 

1 .  In  the  first  place,  there  is  what  is  called  the  society ',  which  in- 
cludes all  the  members  of  the  church  residing  in  any  particular  place, 
or  connected  with  it. 

2.  Every  society  comprises  one  or  more  classes,  each  consisting  of 
from  twelve  to  twenty  or  more  individuals,  who  meet  once  a  week  for 
mutual  edification.  These  classes  are  the  real  normal  schools,  if  we 
may  so  speak,  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

3.  The  minister,  under  whose  pastoral  care  the  classes  in  a  society 
are  placed,  appoints  a  leader  to  each,  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  every 
member  of  his  class  once  a  week,  to  inquire  how  their  souls  prosper, 
and  to  receive  what  they  are  willing  to  give  for  the  support  of  the 
church  and  the  poor. 

4.  Stewards  are  appointed  in  each  society  by  the  Quarterly  Con- 
ference, on  the  nomination  of  the  ruling  preacher.  These  have 
charge  of  all  the  moneys  collected  for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  the 
poor,  and  for  sacramental  occasions,  and  disburse  it  as  the  Discipline 
directs. 

5.  There  are  trustees,  who  have  charge  of  the  church  property, 
and  hold  it  in  trust  for  the  use  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
These  are  elected  by  the  congregation  in  those  States  where  the  laws 
so  provide ;  in  other  places  they  are  appointed  as  the  Discipline 
directs. 

6.  There  are,  in  most  societies,  exhorters,  who  receive  their  license 
from  the  preacher  in  charge ;  but  this  license  can  not  be  renewed 
except  by  a  vote  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  Conference  ;  they  have 
the  privilege  of  holding  meetings  for  exhortation  and  prayer. 

7.  A  preacher  is  one  who  holds  a  license  to  preach,  but  may  not 
administer  the  sacraments.  He  may  be  a  traveling  or  a  local  preacher. 
The  former  devotes  his  whole  time  to  the  ministry,  and  is  supported 
by  those  among  whom  he  labors ;  the  latter  generally  supports  him- 
self by  some  secular  employment,  and  preaches  on  the  Sabbath,  as 
well  as  occasionally  at  other  times,  but  without  temporal  emolument. 
Both  receive  a  license,  signed  by  a  presiding  elder,  from  a  Quarterly 
Meeting  Conference,  after  being  recommended  each  by  his  respective 
class,  or  by  a  leaders'  meeting.     Thus  the  people,  in  those  nurseries 

ence  held  in  1840.  It  is  an  invaluable  work,  written  in  a  truly  calm  and  Christian 
spirit,  and  displays  a  sincere  desire  to  present  every  subject  which  it  treats  in  an  im- 
partial manner.  It  contains  a  complete  history  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America 
from  the  first. 


494  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

of  the  Church — the  "  classes"  and  "  leaders'  meetings" — have  the  in- 
itiative in  bringing  forward  those  who  are  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
After  this  license  from  a  Quarterly  Meeting  Conference,  they  may  be 
taken  into  the  traveling  service  by  an  Annual  Conference  ;  after  two 
years  spent  in  which,  and  pursuing  at  the  same  time  a  prescribed 
course  of  reading  and  study,  they  may  be  ordained  as  deacons. 
Then,  after  two  years'  circuit  traveling  as  deacons,  and  pursuing  a 
further  course  of  reading  and  study,  they  may  be  ordained  presby- 
ters or  elders.  Such  is  the  training  for  the  ministry  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  it  is  much  more  efficient  than  persons  not  well 
acquainted  with  it  would  suppose. 

8.  A  deacon  holds  a  parchment  of  ordination  from  a  bishop,  and 
besides  his  duties  as  a  preacher,  he  is  authorized  to  solemnize  mar- 
riages, to  administer  Baptism,  and  to  assist  the  elder  or  presbyter  in 
the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

9.  An  elder,  in  addition  to  these  functions,  is  authorized  to  admin- 
ister all  the  ordinances  of  God's  house. 

10.  A  presiding  elder  has  the  charge  of  several  circuits,  collectively 
called  a  district.  It  is  his  duty  to  visit  each  circuit  once  a  quarter, 
to  preach  and  administer  the  ordinances,  to  convene  the  traveling 
and  local  preachers,  exhorters,  stewards,  and  leaders  of  the  circuit 
for  a  Quarterly  Conference,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  bishop,  to  receive, 
try,  suspend,  or  expel  preachers,  as  the  Discipline  directs.  He  is  ap- 
pointed to  his  charge  by  the  bishop,  who  may,  for  the  time  being, 
have  a  special  oversight  of  the  Annual  Conference  in  which  he  is 
placed.  This  office  arose  from  the  necessity  of  always  having  some 
one  to  administer  the  ordinances  throughout  the  circuits,  for  it  often 
happens  that  the  traveling  preachers,  from  their  not  having  received 
ordination  as  elders,  can  not  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  nor  even 
Baptism,  if  they  are  not  deacons. 

11.  A  bishop  is  elected  by  the  General  Conference,  to  which  body 
he  is  amenable  for  his  official  and  moral  conduct.  It  is  his  duty  to 
travel  through  the  country,  to  superintend  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
affairs  of  the  Church,  to  preside  in  the  Annual  and  the  General  Con- 
ference, to  ordain  such  as  are  elected  by  an  Annual  Conference  to 
the  office  of  deacons  and  elders,  and  to  appoint  the  preachers  to  their 
stations.  As  there  are  several  bishops,  they  usually  divide  the  coun- 
try among  them,  each  having  his  own  field,  and  all  meeting  at  the 
General  Conference.  The  Episcopacy  in  this  Church  is,  however,  an 
office,  not  an  order. 

12.  A  leaders'  meeting  is  composed  of  all  the  class  leaders  in  any 
one  circuit  or  station,  under  the  presidency  of  the  preacher  placed  in 
charge  of  that  circuit  or  station.     Here  the  weekly  class  collections 


CHAP.  VI.]  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  495 

are  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  stewards,  and  inquiry  is  made  into  the 
state  of  the  classes,  delinquents  reported,  and  inquiries  made  as  to 
the  sick  and  poor. 

13.  A  Quarterly  Meeting  Conference  is  composed  of  all  the  travel- 
ing and  local  preachers,  exhorters,  stewards,  and  leaders  belonging 
to  any  particular  station  or  circuit,  under  the  presidency  of  the  cir- 
cuit elder,  or,  in  his  absence,  of  the  preacher  who  takes  charge  in  his 
place.  Here  local  preachers  are  licensed,  the  licences  of  exhorters 
annually  renewed,  and  preachers  recommended  to  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence to  be  received  into  the  traveling  ministry ;  appeals  are  likewise 
heard  from  any  dissatisfied  member  against  the  decision  of  the  com- 
mittee of  the  society  to  which  he  belongs.  This  body  performs, 
therefore,  a  most  important  part  in  the  whole  system. 

14.  An  Annual  Conference  is  composed  of  all  the  traveling  preach- 
ers, deacons,  and  elders  within  a  specified  district  of  country.  These 
are  the  executive  and  judicial  bodies,  acting  under  rules  prescribed 
to  them  by  the  General  Conference.  Here  the  characters  and  con- 
duct of  all  the  traveling  preachers  within  the  bounds  of  the  confer- 
ence are  examined  yearly ;  applicants  for  admission  into  the  traveling 
ministry,  if  accounted  worthy,  are  received,  continued  on  trial,  or 
dropped,  as  the  case  may  be ;  appeals  from  local  preachers,  which 
may  be  presented,  are  heard  and  decided ;  and  persons  fit  for  ordina- 
tion, as  deacons  or  elders,  are  elected.  An  annual  conference  pos- 
sesses original  jurisdiction  over  all  its  members,  and  may  therefore 
try,  acquit,  suspend,  expel,  or  locate  any  of  them,  as  the  Discipline  in 
such  cases  provides. 

15.  The  General  Conference  assembles  once  in  four  years,  and  is 
composed  of  a  certain  number  of  delegates,  elected  by  the  annual 
conferences.  It  has  the  power  to  revise  any  part  of  the  Discipline 
not  prohibited  by  restrictive  regulations ;  to  elect  the  book  agents 
and  editors,  and  the  bishops ;  to  hear  and  determine  appeals  of 
preachers  from  the  decision  of  annual  conferences ;  to  review  the  acts 
of  those  conferences  generally ;  to  examine  into  the  general  adminis- 
tration of  the  bishops  for  the  four  preceding  years ;  and  to  try,  cen- 
sure, acquit,  or  condemn  a  bishop  if  accused.  This  is  the  highest 
judicatory  of  the  Church. 

16.  A  Love-Feast  is  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  a  society,  held 
occasionally,  in  which  they  partake  of  a  simple  repast  of  bread  and 
water,  during  an  hour,  at  which  such  as  are  disposed  relate  what  God 
has  done  for  their  souls.  These  meetings  were  instituted  by  Mr. 
"Wesley,  as  a  sort  of  resuscitation  of  the  Jynnai  (Agapce)  of  the  an- 
cient Church.  Their  object  is  to  make  the  members  better  acquainted 
with  each  other,  and  promote  brotherly  love  and  mutual  edification. 


496  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

17.  The  salaries  of  the  ministers  are  raised  by  various  collections 
in  the  societies,  and  also  in  public  meetings.  Provision  is  made  for 
ao-ed  and  infirm  ministers  who  have  continued  to  exercise  the  duties 
of  the  ministry  until  incapable  of  further  service.  Omitting  unneces- 
sary details,  I  need  only  say  that  each  traveling  minister  receives  at 
present  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  himself,  the  same  sum  for  his 
wife,  if  he  has  one,  sixteen  dollars  a  year  for  each  child  under  seven 
years  of  age,  and  twenty-four  for  children  above  that  and  under  four- 
teen years.  Besides,  the  stewards  of  each  circuit  and  station  are 
directed  to  provide  a  "  parsonage,"  or  house  of  residence,  for  the 
family  of  each  married  preacher  on  his  circuit  or  station,  and  also  to 
grant  an  allowance  for  his  fuel  and  table  expenses,  which  is  estimated 
by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting  Conference.  In 
these  respects  there  is  no  difference  between  the  preachers,  deacons, 
elders,  presiding  elders,  and  bishops — all  receive  the  same  salaries;  all 
have  their  traveling  expenses.  The  widows  of  all  the  ministers  re- 
ceive one  hundred  dollars  each. 

The  above  is  the  provision  fixed  by  the  General  Conference ;  but 
we  believe  that  in  many  circuits  the  collections,  etc.,  do  not  fully 

meet  it. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  as  minute  as  a  work  like  this  could  admit.  Since  its 
organization  in  1784,  though  not  without  its  share  of  difficulties,  its 
career,  upon  the  whole,  has  been  remarkably  prosperous,  and  God 
has  enabled  it  to  overcome  every  hinderance  with  wonderful  success. 
We  have  seen  the  numerical  amount  of  its  ministers  and  members 
sixty  years  ago ;  in  1843  it  was  as  follows: 

6  Bishops,  32  annual  conferences. 
3,988  Traveling  ministers,  who  devote  themselves  entirely  to  the  ministry. 
■7,130  Local  preachers,  assisting  the  regular  traveling  ministers  with  frequent 
preaching. 
1,068,525  Communicants. 

This  was  the  state  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  in  1843.  The  year  following  it  became  divided  into  two 
bodies:  "the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  and  "the  Methodist 
Church,  South,"  by  the  question  of  slavery ;  but  the  division  is  not 
completely  geographical,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  some  churches  in 
Virginia  and  Missouri  going  with  the  North.  The  Northern  body  had 
in  1855  seven  bishops,  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  presiding  elders, 
four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fourteen  effective  ministers,  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-three 
members,  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three  Home  Missionaries,  and 
forty-seven  Foreign.    Its  principal  "  Book  Concern"  is  at  New  York, 


CHAP.  VI.]  THE   METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHUBCH.  497 

with  a  large  branch  at  Cincinnati,  and  smaller  ones  in  Philadelphia, 
Boston,  Pittsburg,  Auburn,  etc.  The  latter  body  had  the  same  year 
six  bishops,  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  presiding  elders,  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  forty-two  effective  ministers,  five  hundred  and 
ninety-six  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-two  members,  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-one  Home  Missionaries,  and  thirty-four  Foreign. 
Its  "Book  Concern"  is  at  Nashville,  with  branches  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  Richmond,  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  Memphis,  etc. 
Surely  we  may  well  exclaim,  "  What  hath  God  wrought !"  The  whole 
land  is  covered  with  a  network  system  of  stations  and  circuits,  and 
the  Gospel  is  carried  into  thousands  of  the  most  remote  as  well  as 
the  most  secluded  and  thinly-peopled  neighborhoods. 

This  denomination  has  made  great  exertions  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  its  church  edifices  within  the  last  few  years.  But  its  itinerating 
ministers  preach  in  thousands  of  places  where  no  such  buildings  are 
yet  erected,  or  at  least  none  belonging  to  that  denomination.  In 
these  cases  they  hold  their  meetings  in  school-houses,  court-houses,  and 
private  houses. 

No  American  Christian  who  takes  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
progress  of  religion  in  his  country,  and  considers  how  wonderfully 
the  means  and  instrumentalities  employed  are  adapted  to  the  extent 
and  the  wants  of  that  country,  can  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  bless 
God  for  having,  in  His  mercy,  provided  them  all.  Nor  will  he  fail  to 
recognize  in  the  Methodist  economy,  as  well  as  in  the  zeal,  the  de- 
voted piety,  and  the  efficiency  of  its  ministry,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful elements  in  the  religious  prosperity  of  the  United  States,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  firmest  pillars  of  their  civil  and  political  institutions. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  Home  Missions,  the  Tract,  Book, 
and  Sunday-school  operations  of  this  Church.  In  another  place  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  say  what  it  is  doing  in  the  cause  of  Foreign 
Missions. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  long  reproached  with  neg- 
lecting to  promote  learning  among  its  ministers,  and  it  was  charged 
even  with  having  no  wish  that  its  ministry  should  be  learned.  There 
was,  apparently,  some  truth  in  this :  for,  though  its  influential  and  en- 
lightened members  were  never  opposed  to  learning,  they  had  a  well- 
grounded  dread  of  a  learned  but  unconverted  ministry.  Yet  they 
attempted,  even  at  an  early  period  of  their  Church's  history,  to  found 
seminaries  for  education.  Among  these  there  was  a  college  in  Mary- 
land, which  flourished  from  1787  to  1795,  when  the  building  was 
burned  down.  A  second  was  attempted  at  Baltimore ;  but  there, 
too,  the  college  building  was  burned,  and  a  church  that  adjoined  it 
shared  the  same  fate.     These  calamities,  involving  a  loss  of  about 

32 


498  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 


,000,  had  a  discouraging  effect  for  a  time ;  but  for  some  years  past 
the  Episcopal  Methodists  have  shown  a  noble  desire  to  promote  the 
education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,  and  other  walks  of  life  in 
which  they  may  advance  the  cause  of  Christ.  In  order  to  this,  they 
have  founded  no  fewer  than  twenty-one  academic  institutions,  besides 
eleven  colleges,  two  of  which  are  called  universities,  and  these  fount- 
ains of  knowledge  God  is  blessing  by  shedding  upon  them  the  influ- 
ence of  His  grace. 

No  fewer  than  four  religious  newspapers  are  published  under  the 
auspices  of  the  General  Conference,  and  four  more  under  those  of  an- 
nual conferences,  besides  others  that  are  edited  and  owned  by  individ- 
uals of  that  body.  These  journals  must  have  a  vast  circulation  in 
the  aggregate. 

Having  concluded  our  notices  of  the  five  larger  evangelical  denom- 
inations, we  shall  now  proceed  with  the  smaller  in  the  same  order, 
and  thus  associate  them  with  the  respective  families  of  churches  to 
which  they  more  properly  belong. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

MINOR  EPISCOPAL   CHURCHES. THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH. 

The  United  Brethren,  or,  as  they  are  more  familiarly  called,  the 
Moravians,  form  the  only  one  of  the  smaller  evangelical  denomina- 
tions in  the  United  States  that  is  Episcopal,  in  the  usual  acceptation 
of  that  word.  They  claim  descent,  as  is  well  known,  from  the  ancient 
churches  of  Moravia  and  Bulgaria,  founded  by  Methodus  and  Cyril- 
lus,  two  Greek  monks.  Notwithstanding  repeated  persecutions  from 
the  Roman  Catholics,  some  remains  of  these  churches  survived  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia  as  late  as  1722,  when  a  party  of  them  fled  for 
refuge  from  continued  vexation  in  Moravia  to  the  estates  of  Nicholas 
Lewis,  Count  of  Zinzendorf,  in  Upper  Lusatia,  and  there  they  founded 
Herrnhut.  Their  protector,  some  years  after  that,  became  one  of 
their  bishops,  and  labored  most  zealously  for  more  than  twenty  years 
in  the  cause  of  God,  by  forming  societies  of  the  United  Brethren. 
While  on  a  visit  to  America,  in  1741,  he  took  part  in  founding  a  mis- 
sion among  the  Indians,  and  greatly  contributed  to  the  establishment 
of  several  settlements  for  those  of  the  Brethren  who  might  choose  to 
emigrate  thither.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  pleasant  villages  of 
Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  Litiz,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Salem  in  North 
Carolina.  Moravian  families,  meanwhile,  settled,  and  formed  societies 
in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  several  other  places. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  SMALLER   BAPTIST   DENOMINATIONS.  499 

The  peculiar  economy  of  the  United  Brethren  is  too  widely  known 
to  require  any  notice  of  it  here.  Their  settlements  in  America  are 
the  same  abodes  of  order,  provident  regard  for  the  morals  of  the 
young,  and  for  the  comfort  of  the  aged,  of  cheerful  industry,  and 
pleasant  social  life,  enlivened  by  the  sweet  strains  of  music,  and, 
withal,  of  that  deep  interest  in  missions,  which  characterize  their  set- 
tlements in  the  Old  World.  It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that  too  much 
worldly  prosperity  has  been  to  them,  as  to  many  other  Christians,  a 
hinderance  to  their  piety. 

They  maintain  flourishing  boarding-schools  for  girls  at  Bethlehem, 
Litiz,  and  Salem,  and  one  for  boys  at  Nazareth,  where,  also,  then- 
young  men  preparing  for  the  ministry  commonly  pursue  their  studies. 

The  Moravian  missions  among  the  Indians  within  the  boundaries 
of  the  United  States  are  mainly  supported,  as  well  as  directed,  by 
their  congregations  in  that  country  *  Their  doctrines  coincide,  in 
the  main,  with  those  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  The  number  of 
their  churches  and  congregations  in  the  United  States  is  twenty- 
three;  of  their  ministers,  twenty-eight;  of  their  communicants,  about 
three  thousand  five  hundred ;  and  the  entire  population  under  their 
instruction  is  about  twelve  thousand  souls. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

SMALLER     BAPTIST     DENOMINATIONS. 

There  are  a  few  Baptist  denominations  in  the  United  States  not 
usually  included  with  the  Regular  Baptists  noticed  in  Chapter  IV. 
They  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  Seventh  Day  Baptists— who  have  seventy-one  churches, 
seventy-seven  ordained  ministers,  seventeen  licentiates,  and  about  six 
thousand  five  hundred  members.  The  population  under  their  instruc- 
tion and  influence  is  reckoned  at  about  forty  thousand.  They  are 
quite  evangelical  in  the  doctrines  that  relate  to  the  way  of  salvation, 
and  are  in  good  repute  for  piety  and  zeal.  They  differ  from  the 
Regular  Baptists  as  to  the  day  to  be  observed  as  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, maintaining,  in  opposition  to  these,  that  the  seventh  day  was 
not  only  the  Sabbath  originally  appointed  by  the  Creator,  but  that 
that  appointment  remains  unrepealed. 

Their  churches  are  widely  scattered  throughout  the  States.    There 

*  An  interesting  historical  sketch  of  these  missions  will  be  found  in  Mr.  J.  C. 
Latrobe's  "Rambles  in  North  America." 


500  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

are  four  in  New  Jersey,*  more  than  thirty  in  New  York,  six  or  eight 
in  Ohio,  eight  in  Rhode  Island,  and  four  in  Virginia,  and  a  number 
in  Wisconsin  and  other  parts  of  the  country.  They  observe  Saturday 
with  great  strictness  as  their  Sabbath,  have  Sabbath-schools,  and  one 
religious  newspaper.  They  have  a  Tract  Society,  a  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, and  a  Society  for  the  Conversion  of  the  Jews.  They  have  four 
Associations,  and  a  General  Conference — all  meet  annually.  Their 
collections  for  missions  were  $3,000  in  1855.  Altogether  they  are  a 
very  worthy  people. 

2.  Free- Will  Baptists.  This  body  dates  in  America  from  1780, 
when  its  first  church  was  formed  in  New  Hampshire.  In  doctrine, 
they  hold  a  general  atonement,  and  reject  election  and  the  other  Cal- 
vinistic  points.  On  the  subject  of  the  Trinity,  justification  by  faith 
alone,  regeneration,  and  sanctification,  they  are,  with  some  excej>tions, 
sound. 

Starting  with  the  wrong  principle  that,  dispensing  with  written 
creeds,  covenants,  rules  of  discipline,  or  articles  of  organization,  they 
would  make  the  Bible  serve  for  all  these,  they  were  soon  in  great 
danger  from  Arians  and  Socinians  creeping  in  among  them.  But  of 
late  years  they  have  separated  from  the  "Christians"  (a  heretical  sect 
we  have  yet  to  notice,  and  likewise  opposed  to  creeds),  and  are,  con- 
sequently, endeavoring  to  regain  a  sound  orthodox  position.  Some 
of  them  have  come  to  see  that  creeds  are  unavoidable,  and  had  better 
be  definitely  expressed  in  writing  than  merely  understood.  They 
have,  accordingly,  introduced  creeds,  and  in  some  instances,  even 
written  articles  in  the  form  of  a  constitution.     This  augurs  well. 

Their  church  government,  like  that  of  all  the  Regular  Baptists,  is 
vested  primarily  in  the  churches,  or  assemblages  of  believers  con- 
vened for  worship.  These  send  delegates  to  Quarterly  Meetings,  the 
Quarterly  Meetings  to  the  Yearly  Meetings,  and  these,  again,  to  the 
General  Conference.  The  office-bearers  in  their  churches  are  elders 
and  deacons.  The  former  are  ordained  jointly  by  the  church  to 
which  they  belong,  and  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting  acting  by  a  council. 
Each  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meeting  has  an  elders'  conference,  which, 
with  the  General  Conference,  regulates  the  affairs  of  the  ministry  as 

*  In  New  Jersey,  and  I  doubt  not  in  other  States  also,  there  are  special  laws  in 
their  favor.  The  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  civil  power  in  the  United  States  not 
to  coerce  the  consciences  of  any  religious  community,  however  small,  strikingly  con- 
trasts with  the  legislation  of  France  in  a  like  case.  In  the  winter  of  1840-41,  when 
the  factory-children's  labor-bill  was  before  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  it  was  asked 
whether  there  ought  not  to  be  a  clause  for  the  protection  of  Jewish  children  in  the  ob- 
servance of  their  Sabbath.  "No,"  said  the  committee  upon  the  bill,  "they  are  too 
few  to  make  that  necessary."  To  this  M.  Fould,  the  banker,  himself  a  Jew,  assented, 
saying  that  the  Jews  were  only  three  hundred  thousand  in  the  kingdom ! 


CHAP.  VIII.]  SMALLER  BAPTIST   DENOMINATIONS.  501 

far  as  the  Presbytery  is  concerned.  Thus  they  depart  from  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  pure  Independency.  Within  the  last  ten  years  they  have 
entered  on  the  work  of  sending  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  and  there 
can  be  no  better  sign  than  this.  They  have  also  a  Home  Missionary 
Society,  a  Tract  Society,  and  an  Education  Society.  Many  of  their 
churches  have  Sunday-schools  and  various  charitable  institutions.  A 
religious  paper,  also,  is  published  under  their  auspices. 

Until  a  few  years  ago,  these  Arminian  Baptists  took  but  little  in- 
terest in  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry ;  but  they  now 
have  several  academies. 

They  had  last  year  (1855)  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  churches,  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  seven  ordained  min- 
isters, two  hundred  and  fifty  licentiates,  and  about  sixty  thousand 
communicants. 

3.  Disciples  of  Christ,  or  Reformers,  as  they  call  themselves,  or 
Campbellites,  as  they  are  most  commonly  called  by  others.  It  is  with 
some  hesitation  that,  by  placing  these  in  this  connection,  I  rank  them 
among  evangelical  Christians.  I  do  so  because  their  creed,  taken  as 
it  stands  in  written  terms,  is  not  heterodox.  Not  only  do  they  not 
deny,  but  in  words  their  creed  affirms  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  of 
salvation  by  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  the  necessity  of  the  regen- 
erating and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Yet  I  under- 
stand that  there  is  much  about  their  preaching  that  seems  to  indicate 
that  all  that  they  consider  necessary  to  salvation  is  little  if  any  thing 
more  than  a  speculative,  philosophical  faith,  in  connection  with  im- 
mersion as  the  only  proper  mode  of  baptism ;  so  that  there  is  little, 
after  all,  of  that  "  repentance  toward  God,"  and  "  faith  toward  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  which  are  the  indispensable  terms  of  the 
Gospel. 

The  founder  of  this  sect  is  a  Dr.  Alexander  Campbell,  a  Scotchman, 
who,  together  with  his  father,  left  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1812, 
and  became  Baptists.  Soon  after  this  change  he  began  to  broach 
doctrines  that  can  hardly  be  called  new,  for  the  "  Christians,"  now, 
though  not  always  a  heretical  sect,  had  advanced  them  before  his 
time.  His  views  seem  to  be  substantially  as  follows :  "  All  sects  and 
parties  of  the  Christian  world  have  departed,  in  greater  or  less  de- 
grees, from  the  simplicity  of  faith  and  manners  of  the  first  Christians." 
"  This  defection"  Dr.  Campbell  and  his  followers  "  attribute  to  the 
great  varieties  of  speculation,  and  metaphysical  dogmatism  of  count- 
less creeds,  formularies,  liturgies,  and  books  of  discipline,  adopted 
and  inculcated  as  bonds  of  union  and  platforms  of  communion  in  all 
the  parties  which  have  sprung  from  the  Lutheran  Reformation." 
All  this  has  led,  as  they  suppose,  to  the  displacing  of  the  style  of  the 


502  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

living  oracles,  and  the  affixing  to  the  sacred  diction  ideas  wholly  un- 
known to  the  Apostles. 

And  what  does  Dr.  Campbell  propose  to  do  ?  Simply  "  to  ascertain 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  according  to  commonly-received  and  well- 
established  rules  of  interpretation,  the  ideas  attached  to  the  leading 
terms  and  sentences  found  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  then  use  the 
words  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  apostolic  acceptation  of  them !"  But 
let  us  hear  him  further :  "  By  thus  expressing  the  ideas  communicated 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  terms  and  phrases  learned  from  the  Apos- 
tles, and  by  avoiding  the  artificial  and  technical  language  of  scholastic 
theology,  they  propose  to  restore  a  pure  speech  to  the  household  of 
faith."  And  in  this  way  they  expect  to  put  an  end  to  all  divisions 
and  disputes,  and  promote  the  sanctification  of  the  faithful.  And  all 
this  is  proposed  by  those  who  reject  all  creeds  for  churches ;  except- 
ing, indeed,  that  which  consists  in  making  the  Bible  speak  theirs ! 
However  plausible  it  may  be  to  talk  in  this  way,  all  Church  History 
has  shown  that  there  is  no  more  certain  way  of  introducing  all  man- 
ner of  heresy  than  by  dispensing  with  all  written  creeds  and  formu- 
laries of  doctrine,  and  allowing  all  who  profess  to  believe  in  the  Bible, 
though  attaching  any  meaning  to  it  they  please,  to  become  members 
of  the  Church.  For  awhile,  possibly,  this  scheme  may  seem  to  work 
well ;  but,  before  half  a  century  has  passed,  all  mamier  of  error  will 
be  found  to  have  entered  and  nestled  in  the  House  of  God. 

"  Every  one  who  believes  what  the  Evangelists  and  Apostles  have 
testified  concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  who  is  willing  to  obey 
Him,  is  a  proper  subject  for  immersion."  And  this  is  the  sum  and 
substance  of  what  Dr.  Campbell  says  respecting  the  way  in  which  a 
shiner  is  to  attain  salvation.  This  is  all  well  enough,  if  faith  be  truly 
explained,  and  the  sinner  does  really  come  to  Christ  with  that  godly 
sorrow  for  sin  from  which  saving  faith  is  never  dissevered.  But  if  a 
mere  general  belief  in  what  the  Evangelists  and  Apostles  have  said, 
together  with  immersion,  be  all  that  is  required,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
see  that  churches  may  soon  be  gathered  in  which  there  will  be  but 
little  true  religion. 

It  is  on  this  account  that  evangelical  Christians  in  America,  Bap- 
tists as  well  as  Paedobaptists,  have  many  fears  about  Dr.  Campbell 
and  his  followers.  It  is  believed,  however,  that,  as  yet,  there  are  not 
a  few  sincerely  pious  people  among  his  congregations,  who  have  been 
led  away  by  his  plausible  representations  respecting  the  evil  of  creeds. 
Time  can  only  show  the  issue.  Two  or  three  religious  papers  are 
published  by  ministers  of  this  denomination,  and  are  almost  entirely 
devoted  to  the  propagation  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  sect.  The 
churches  in  its  connection  are  constituted  purely  on  Independent 


CHAP.  VIII.]  SMALLER   BAPTIST  DENOMINATIONS.  503 

principles.  Its  statistics  are  not  well  ascertained.  It  is  said,  however, 
by  well-informed  men  in  that  body,  that  it  now  embraces  from  three 
hundred  thousand  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  persons.  As 
for  the  churches  and  ministers,  I  have  never  seen  their  number 
stated. 

4.  Anti-Mission  Baptists,  supposed  to  have  in  the  United  States 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five  associations,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  twenty  churches,  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  ministers,  and 
fifty-eight  thousand  members.  They  are  tinctured  with  an  Anti- 
nomian  spirit,  it  is  believed. 

5.  "  General  Baptists,"  seventeen  churches,  fifteen  ministers,  and 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  members. 

6.  "  Church  of  God,"  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  churches,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  ministers,  and  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred 
members. 

V.  Tunkers  and  Mennonites.  These  are  of  German  origin.  The 
Tunkers  are  supposed  to  have  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  churches 
(mostly  very  small),  two  hundred  ministers,  and  eight  thousand  mem- 
bers. The  Mennonites  are  estimated  to  have  three  hundred  churches, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  ministers,  and  thirty-six  thousand  members. 
In  these  statements,  we  follow  the  Baptist  Almanac  for  1856.  They 
are  not  definite,  but  as  accurate,  probably,  as  can  be  expected. 

Summary  of  Baptist  Churches  in  the  United  States.  The 
Baptist  Family  of  Churches  in  the  United  States  in  1855  stood  thus: 

Associations.  Churches.  Ministers.  Members. 

Eegular  Baptists 523  10,488  6,881  842,660 

Anti-Mission 155  1,720  825  58,000 

Free-Will  Baptists —  1,113  1,101  49,809 

Seventh-Day  Baptists 4  11  11  6,500 

Church  of  God,  or  Winebrennarians —  168  130  11,500 

Disciples  of  Christ,  or  "  Campbellites" —  —  —  300,000 

Tunkers —  150  200  8,000 

Mennonites —  300  250  36,000 

Total 682       14,110         9,416    1,318,469 

All  these  Churches  are  supposed  to  hold  the  doctrine  of  "  salvation 
through  grace,"  or  "justification  by  faith." 

Among  the  "  Regular  Baptist"  Churches,  there  are  five  associations, 
sixty-six  churches,  forty-eight  ministers,  and  two  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  members,  of  German,  Swedish,  and  Welsh  people. 

The  number  of  "  licentiates"  in  this  large  branch  of  the  Baptist 
Family  of  churches  in  the  United  States  was,  in  1855,  no  less  than 
five  hundred  and  ninety-six.  They  are  not  included  in  the  number 
of  ministers. 


504  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUECHES   IN"  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCHES. THE    CUMBERLAND    PRESBY- 
TERIANS. 

The  origin  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  was  as  follows :  In 
the  extensive  and,  in  some  respects,  wonderful  revival  of  religion  that 
took  place  in  Kentucky  during  the  years  1801-3,  the  call  for  Pres- 
byterian ministers  was  far  beyond  what  could  be  satisfied,  and  in  this 
exigency  it  was  proposed  by  some  of  the  ministers  that  pious  laymen 
of  promising  abilities,  and  who  seemed  to  have  a  talent  for  public 
speaking,  should  be  encouraged  to  make  the  best  preparations  in 
their  power  for  the  ministry,  and  thereafter  be  licensed  to  preach. 

This  suggestion  was  carried  into  effect.  Several  such  persons  were 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania ;  and  a  new  Presbytery, 
which  had  been  formed  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  in  1803,  and 
was  called  the  Cumberland  Presbytery,  admitted  and  ordained  those 
licentiates,  and  took  on  trial  others  of  similar  characters  and  attain- 
ments. 

These  proceedings  were  considered  disorderly  by  the  Synod  of 
Kentucky,  and  a  commission  was  therefore  appointed  to  examine 
them,  and  to  inquire  what  were  the  doctrines  held  by  persons  thus 
admitted  into  the  ministry,  in  a  way  so  foreign  to  the  rules  and 
practice  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  upshot  was,  that  the 
course  pursued  by  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  condemned,  and 
this  sentence  having  been  confirmed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
whole  Presbyterian  Church,  before  which  it  had  been  brought  by  ap- 
peal, the  censured  Presbytery  withdrew  from  that  body,  and  consti- 
tuted itself  an  independent  Church  in  1810,  since  which  has  been 
called  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Chnrch. 

Its  doctrines  occupy  a  sort  of  middle  ground  between  Calvinism 
and  Arminianism.  It  holds  that  the  atonement  was  made  for  all 
mankind ;  it  rejects  the  doctrine  of  eternal  reprobation ;  holds  a 
modified  view  of  election ;  and  maintains  the  perseverance  of  the 
saints  ;  but  on  the  other  points  is  essentially  Calvinistic. 

In  its  ecclesiastical  polity  it  is  Presbyterian ;  the  Session,  Presby- 
tery, Synod,  and  General  Assembly  are  all  constituted  in  the  manner 
described  at  length  in  our  notice  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  dif- 
fers, however,  in  one  point,  from  all  other  Presbyterian  Churches, 
by  having  adopted  the  itinerating  system  of  the  Methodists.  By 
that  system  of  circuits  and  stations,  its  ministers  have  been  able  to 
reach  almost  all  parts  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  that  being  the 


CHAP.  X.]  REFORMED   DUTCH   CHURCH.  505 

great  scene  of  their  labors.  But  their  Church  is  not  confined  to  the 
Western  States  and  Territories  of  the  American  Union — it  reaches 
into  California.  The  General  Assembly  has  under  its  superintend- 
ence seventeen  synods,  forty-eight  presbyteries,  about  one  thousand 
churches,  three  hundred  ministers,  four  hundred  and  eighty  licen- 
tiates and  candidates,  and  one  hundred  thousand  communicants. 
Several  religious  newspapers  are  published  under  its  auspices.  For 
the  education  of  its  youth,  it  has  a  flourishing  college  at  Princeton, 
in  Kentucky,  one  in  Tennessee,  one  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  one  or 
two  others  in  other  States.  Among  its  preachers  there  are  several 
men  of  highly  respectable  talents  and  acquirements. 


CHAPTER   X. 

SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES  I  REFORMED  DUTCH  CHURCH. 

We  have  elsewhere  stated  that  the  country  embracing  what  are 
now  the  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  at  one  time  claimed  by  the  Dutch  in  right  of  discovery. 
A  trading  post  was  established  by  them  in  1614,  at  the  spot  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  city  of  New  York,  but  it  was  not  until  1624  that  any 
families  from  Holland  settled  there.  A  few  years  after,  the  Rev. 
Everardus  Bogardus  was  sent  over  to  preach  to  the  colonists,  and  was 
the  first  Dutch  pastor  that  settled  in  America.*  He  was  succeeded 
by  John  and  Samuel  Megapolensis,  the  latter  of  whom  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  appointed  by  General  Stuyvesant  to  settle  the 
terms  on  which  the  colony  was  surrendered  to  the  English  in  1664. 

The  colony  having  been  planted  and  maintained  by  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company,  to  it  the  colonists  applied  from  time  to  time 
for  ministers,  as  new  churches  were  formed  or  the  older  ones  be- 
came vacant ;  and  the  seat  of  the  company  being  at  Amsterdam,  the 
directors  naturally  applied  to  the  Classis  of  that  city  to  choose  and 
ordain  the  persons  that  were  to  be  sent  out.  Hence  that  Classis  and 
the  Synod  of  North  Holland,  with  which  it  was  connected,  came  by 
the  tacit  consent  of  the  other  classes  and  synods  of  the  Dutch  Na- 
tional Church,  as  well  as  by  the  submission  of  the  churches  in  the 
colonies,  to  have  an  influence  over  the  latter,  which,  in  the  course  of 
time,  proved  a  source  of  no  little  trouble  to  the  parties  concerned.! 

*  This  excellent  man  left  the  colony  to  return  to  Holland  in  1647,  and  is  supposed 
to  have  been  lost  at  sea  in  the  same  vessel  with  Governor  Kieft. 

f  The  Classis  of  Amsterdam  and  the  Synod  of  North  Holland  retain  to  this  day  the 


506  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

To  such  an  extent  was  it  carried  that  the  colonial  churches  were  not 
thought  entitled  to  take  a  single  step  toward  the  regulation  of  their 
own  affairs. 

How  far  the  West  India  Company  aided  the  congregations  that 
were  gradually  formed  in  its  American  colonies  is  not  now  known, 
but  it  is  supposed  to  have  done  something  for  their  support.*  Some 
of  its  governors  were  decided  friends  and  members  of  the  church, 
and  certain  it  is  that  those  congregations  in  New  Netherlands  were 
considered  as  branches  of  the  Established  Church  of  Holland. 

The  English  took  possession  of  the  colony  in  1664,  and  guarantied 
to  the  inhabitants  all  their  religious  rights.  Nothing  of  any  conse- 
quence to  the  churches  took  place  for  about  thirty  years,  for  there 
being  but  few  English  in  the  colony,  the  Dutch  churches  were  at- 
tended by  nearly  the  whole  population.  But  in  1693,  Colonel 
Samuel  Fletcher  becoming  governor,  succeeded,  as  we  have  else- 
wThere  noticed,  by  artifice  and  perseverance,  in  having  the  Episcopal 
Church  established  in  the  City  of  New  York  and  four  of  the  princi- 
pal counties  of  the  Province ;  so  that  from  that  time  all  classes  were 
taxed  for  the  support  of  Episcopacy,  though  its  partisans  formed  but 
a  small  minority  of  the  colonists. 

But  the  inconvenience  of  having  no  ecclesiastical  authority  in 
America  higher  than  a  Consistory,  could  not  fail  to  be  felt  by  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church,  and  accordingly,  in  1738,  some  of  its  ministers 
proposed  having  an  association  of  the  clergy,  called  a  coetus,  but 
which  was  to  have  no  power  either  to  ordain  pastors  or  to  determine 
ecclesiastical  disputes.  Innocent  as  well  as  inadequate  as  was  this 
measure,  the  concurrence  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  could  not  be 
obtained  till  1746  or  1747.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  nothing  short 
of  having  a  regular  classis  of  their  own  could  meet  the  wants  of 
the  churches.  Not  only  was  there  the  heavy  expense  and  delay  at- 
tending the  getting  of  ministers  from  Holland,  or  sending  young  men 
thither  to  be  educated,  but,  worse  than  all,  the  churches  had  no 
power  of  choosing  ministers  likely  to  suit  them.  Urged  by  such 
considerations,  the  coetus  resolved  in  1753  to  propose  a  change  of  its 
constitution  to  that  of  a  regular  classis,  and  a  plan  to  that  effect  wTas 
transmitted  to  the  congregations  for  their  approval.    But  the  project 

charge  of  the  churches  in  the  colonies  in  the  East  Indies,  and  other  parts  of  the 
world,  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands. 

*  It  would  seem  that  it  was  a  considerable  time  before  any  church  edifice  of  re- 
spectable appearance  was  erected  in  New  Amsterdam,  as  New  York  was  then  called ; 
for  De  Vries,  in  the  account  of  his  voyage  to  New  Netherlands,  relates  that  he  re- 
marked to  Governor  Kieft  in  1641,  "that  it  was  a  shame  that  the  English  should  pass 
there,  and  see  only  a  mean  barn  in  which  we  performed  our  worship." 


CHAP.  X.]  KEFOEMED   DUTCH   CHURCH.  507 

was  opposed  by  a  powerful  party,  mainly  formed  of  those  who  had 
been  sent  over  from  Holland,  and  called  the  Conference.  Amid  the 
distraction  and  confusion  caused  by  this  opposition  of  parties,  religion 
made  little  progress,  and  many  influential  families  left  the  Dutch 
Church,  and  joined  the  Episcopal. 

All  difficulties  were  at  length  adjusted  through  the  prudent  media- 
tion of  the  late  Rev.  John  H.  Livingston,  D.D.,*  then  a  young  man. 
Having  gone  to  Holland  for  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  in  1766, 
the  Synod  of  Holland  and  Classis  of  Amsterdam  were  led  by  his  rep- 
resentations to  devise  a  plan,  which,  after  Mr.  Livingston's  return  to 
America  in  1770,  was  submitted  to  a  meeting  held  in  New  York  in 
October,  1771,  and  attended  by  nearly  all  the  ministers,  and  by  lay 
delegates  from  nearly  all  the  congregations.  After  a  full  discussion, 
having  been  unanimously  adopted,  it  was  carried  into  effect  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  whole  Church  was  divided  into  five  classes,  three 
in  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  and  two  in  that  of  New  York ;  and 
a  delegation  of  two  ministers  and  two  elders  from  each  classis  consti- 
tuted  the  General  Synod,  which  was  to  meet  once  a  year. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Dutch  Church,  particularly  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  was  retarded  by  another  cause,  namely,  the  long-con- 
tinued opposition  to  preaching  in  English.  The  Dutch  tongue  having 
been  gradually  disappearing  ever  since  the  conquest  of  the  colony  in 
1664,  many  of  the  youth  had  grown  up  almost  in  utter  ignorance  of 
it,  and  had  gone  off  to  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  churches,  es- 
pecially the  former,  for  the  latter  had  as  yet  but  a  merely  tolerated 
and  feeble  existence.  At  length  the  Rev.  Dr.  Laidlie,  a  Scotch  min- 
ister, was  invited  from  Holland,  and  commenced  preaching  in  English 
in  1764,  from  which  time  Dutch  fell  still  more  rapidly  into  disuse. 
The  last  Dutch  sermon  was  preached  in  the  collegiate  churches  in 
the  City  of  New  York  in  1804,  though  in  some  of  the  churches  in  the 
country  it  was  used  some  years  longer.  But  it  is  now  quite  aban- 
doned in  the  pulpit  throughout  the  United  States,  except  in  some 
churches  in  Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  etc.,  formed  within  a  few 
years  among  the  emigrants  whom  persecution  has  driven  from 
Holland. 

The  Revolutionary  War,  also,  proved  disastrous  to  the  Dutch 

*  Few  men  have  ever  lived  in  America  who  have  been  more  useful  or  respected 
than  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston.  For  many  years  he  was  a  pastor  in  New  York  city; 
but  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was  spent  in  New  Brunswick,  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  where' he  was  professor  of  theology  in  the  seminary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church.  He  died  in  the  year  1825,  revered  by  all,  of  every  denomination,  who  knew 
him.  He  has  left  an  abiding  impression  of  his  character  upon  the  Church  of  which  he 
was  so  distinguished  an  ornament. 


508  THE   EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

Church,  particularly  in  the  City  of  New  York.  One  of  the  church- 
edifices  there  was  used  as  a  hospital,  another  as  a  cavalry  riding- 
school,  during  the  occupation  of  the  place  by  a  British  force  from 
1776  to  1783.  But  with  the  return  of  peace,  prosperity  returned  to 
this  as  well  as  other  evangelical  communions,  and  it  has  been  steadily 
advancing  ever  since.  In  all  the  States  it  had  only  eighty-two  con- 
gregations and  thirty  ministers  in  1784;  but  the  former  have  now 
risen  to  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  and  the  latter  to  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty,  and  fifty  candidates  and  licentiates.  The  communi- 
cants were  thirty-six  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  in 
1855.* 

A  college  was  founded  by  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  New 
Brunswick,  in  New  Jersey,  in  1770,  which,  after  various  vicissitudes, 
has  now  been  open  for  many  years,  and  is  firmly  established  and 
flourishing.  It  is  called  Rutgers'  College.  Connected  with  it  there 
is  a  theological  seminary,  with  four  able  professors,  and  between  thirty 
and  forty  students. 

The  Dutch  Church  is  doing  much  for  Sunday-schools,  Home  Mis- 
sions, and  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  It  has  a  so- 
ciety, also,  for  Foreign  Missions,  auxiliary  to  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  now  maintaining  some  six 
or  eight  missionaries  with  their  wives  at  two  or  three  stations  in 
Borneo  and  China. 

The  Church  is  at  present  organized  in  a  General  Synod,  two  Par- 
ticular Synods,  and  twenty-eight  classes.  Its  standards  are  those  of 
the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland,  viz.,  the  Belgic  Confession,  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  etc.  Its 
doctrines  are  in  all  respects  purely  Calvinistic.  From  the  first  it  has 
been  favored  with  an  able,  learned,  and  godly  ministry.  In  its 
earlier  days  the  labors  of  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Theodore  J.  Freling- 
huysen,  Drs.  Laidlie  and  "Westerlo,  and  others  of  like  character,  were 
greatly  blessed.  In  our  own  times  many  of  its  ministers  stand  in  the 
first  rank  among  our  distinguished  American  divines,  and  many  of 
its  congregations  have  enjoyed  very  precious  religious  revivals.  For 
the  edification  of  the  people,  one  of  the  most  instructive  religious 
papers,  called  the  "  Christian  Intelligencer,"  is  published  weekly  in 
the  City  of  New  York. 

*  The  number  of  families  reported  as  belonging  to  this  denomination  in  1843  was 
twenty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-nine ;  and  the  number  of  individuals 
under  its  instruction  was  ninety-six  thousand  three  hundred  and  two.  It  has  now 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 


CHAP.  XI.]        SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES.  509 

CHAPTER  XI. 

SMALLER    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCHES  I     THE    ASSOCIATE    CHURCH THE 

ASSOCIATE  REFORMED   CHURCH AND   THE  REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH. 

These  are  often  called  the  "  Scottish  Secession  Churches."  They 
were  originally  established  by  emigrants  from  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
and  are  mainly  composed,  to  this  day,  of  Scotch  and  Irish  people  and 
their  children.  The  first  and  last  of  the  three  were,  in  their  origin, 
branches  of  similar  Churches  in  Scotland,  and  out  of  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  made  in  America  to  unite  them  sprang  the  second. 

In  the  year  1733,  as  is  well  known,  the  Kev.  Messrs.  Ebenezer  Ers- 
kine,  Alexander  Moncrief,  William  Wilson,  and  James  Fisher,  by  a 
protest  addressed  to  the  Commission  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  seceded  from  the  prevailing  party  in  the  judica- 
tories of  that  Church.  The  ground  of  this  separation  was  not  a  dis- 
agreement with  the  doctrines,  order,  or  discipline  of  that  Church,  but 
dissatisfaction  with  what  the  dissenters  considered  to  be  an  inadequate 
maintenance  of  those  doctrines,  and  enforcement  of  that  order  and 
discipline.  These  seceders,  joined  afterward  by  many  others,  organ- 
ized the  Associate*  Presbytery,  and  soon  became  a  numerous  and 
important  branch  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  Scotland. 

Seventeen  years  after  this  secession,  a  number  of  persons,  chiefly 
Scotch  emigrants,  sent  a  petition  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Associate 
(Antiburgherf)  Synod  in  Scotland,  praying  that  ministers  might  be 
sent  from  that  body  to  break  unto  them  the  bread  of  life.  Two  min- 
isters were  accordingly  sent  over  in  1753  or  1754,  with  power  to  form 
churches,  ordain  elders,  and  constitute  a  presbytery.  The  labors  of 
these  brethren  were  crowned  with  success ;  several  congregations 
were  soon  organized,  and  a  presbytery  formed  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Pennsylvania ;  and  as  other  ministers  were  sent  over  from  Scotland 
from  time  to  time,  there  were  about  eight  or  ten  in  all  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  But  in  1782,  the  presbytery  was 
reduced  to  the  original  number  of  two  ministers,  in  consequence  of 
one  or  two  being  deposed,  and  others  joining  several  ministers  of  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  or  Covenanters,  in  forming  the  As- 
sociate Reformed  Church. 

*  They  took  this  name  from  the  circumstance  of  their  congregations  not  lying 
near  each  other,  and  therefore  forming  an  association  of  churches  rather  than  a  ter- 
ritorial presbytery. 

\  The  Secession  became  divided  into  Burghers  and  Antiburghers,  by  a  controversy 
on  the  lawfulness  of  what  was  called  the  Burgess'  oath. 


510  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   EST  AMERICA.  [BOOK  YI. 

Notwithstanding  these  untoward  circumstances,  the  two  ministers, 
with  the  congregations  adhering  to  them,  persevered,  and  their  num- 
bers being  speedily  recruited  from  Scotland,  such,  at  last,  was  their 
success  in  training  young  men  among  themselves,  that  hi  1801  they 
had  four  presbyteries,  which  that  year,  by  a  delegation  from  their 
ranks,  formed  the  Associate  Synod  of  North  America,  a  body 
which  meets  annually.  The  presbyteries  have  now  been  quintupled, 
and  extend  over  the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States.  Accord- 
ing to  the  most  recent  statements  which  I  have  seen,  this  denomina- 
tion has  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  ministers,  fifty-six  candidates  and 
licentiates,  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  churches,  most  of  which  are 
small,  and  twenty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  com- 
municants. For  a  long  time  the  energies  of  this  Church,  like  those 
of  many  others,  were  directed  to  the  building  up  of  churches  in  the 
West  and  South.  Of  late  years  it  has  turned  its  attention  to  the  for- 
eign field,  and  has  sent  two  missionaries  to  the  island  of  Trinidad, 
and  two  or  three  to  India. 

They  have  a  theological  school,  with  two  able  professors  and  some 
forty  or  forty-five  students,  at  Xenia,  in  Ohio.  For  their  organ  they 
publish  a  valuable  monthly  journal  called  the  "  Religious  Monitor." 
The  doctrines  of  the  Associate  Church  are  thoroughly  Calvinistic ; 
its  polity  completely  Presbyterian.  It  has  enjoyed  the  labors  of  many 
able  ministers. 

This  small  denomination,  like  some  others,  has  been  at  strife  among 
its  own  members,  which  led  to  a  separation.  The  larger  party  ejected 
the  smaller.  The  ejected  ministers  are  fifteen  in  number,  and  the 
members  of  their  churches  were  estimated  at  about  two  thousand. 
It  is  not  known  that  there  existed  any  difference  in  their  doctrinal 
views.  This  schism,  which  existed  when  this  work  was  written  in 
1842,  we  are  happy  to  say  exists  no  longer.  The  two  bodies  have 
coalesced. 

Associate  Reformed  Church. — This  body,  as  we  have  seen,  owes 
its  existence  to  an  attempt  made  in  1782  to  unite  in  one  body  the 
few  Associate  and  Reformed  Presbyterian  Churches  then  to  be  found 
in  the  United  States.  But  as  the  success  of  the  attempt  was  only 
partial,  the  coalition  being  refused  by  certain  members  of  both 
Churches,  both  survive  to  this  day,  and  thus  a  project  for  merging 
two  denominations  in  one,  resulted  in  the  creation  of  a  third. 

The  Associate  Reformed  Church  has  rapidly  increased.  Starting 
with  a  small  number  of  ministers  and  churches  in  1782,  it  had  in  1855, 
no  fewer  than  eighty-four  presbyteries  and  five  synods ;  the  one  in 
the  State  of  New  York  is  the  largest.  It  has  a  theological  seminary 
at  Newburg  in  the  same  State,  with  three  professors,  and  some  fif- 


CHAP.  XI.]  SMALLER   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCHES.  511 

teen  or  twenty  students.  The  Western  Synod  has  a  seminary  at 
Allegheny  City,  near  Pittsburg,  with  two  professors,  and  about  forty 
students.  A  third  seminary  is  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  a  fourth  at  Ab- 
beville, S.  C. 

The  doctrines  of  this  Church  are  Calvinistic,  and  its  polity  Presby- 
terian; points  on  which  it  differs  hardly  at  all  from  the  Associate  and 
Reformed  Presbyterian  synods.  All  three  maintain  a  state  of  strict 
isolation  from  other  communions,  and  in  their  church-psalmody,  con- 
fine themselves  exclusively  to  Rouse's  version  of  the  Psalms  of  the 
Bible.  They  also  strenuously  continue  the  custom  of  having  fast  and 
thanksgiving  days  to  precede  and  follow  the  administration  of  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  in  the  administration  of  that 
ordinance,  the  communicants  sit  around  a  table. 

The  churches  of  the  Associate  Reformed  are  more  than  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five,  their  ministers  three  hundred  and  fifteen,  and 
ninety  licentiates  and  students,  and  their  communicants  at  least  forty 
thousand.  About  thirty-five  years  ago,  part  of  this  communion 
joined  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  the  greater  part  preferred  main- 
taining their  independent  position.  They  have  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  able  ministers.  The  late  Dr.  John  Mason  was  for  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  one  of  their  most  distinguished  members,  but  he  joined, 
a  few  years  before  his  death,  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Chris- 
tian Magazine,  a  monthly  periodical,  is  published  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 

Each  synod  has  a  Domestic  Missionary  Society,  the  object  of  which 
is  to  aid  small  congregations  and  plant  new  ones  in  destitute  places, 
especially  in  the  Western  frontier  States. 

In  regard  to  foreign  missions,  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  acts 
in  concert  with  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  the  General  Assembly, 
and  contributes  to  the  support  of  the  missionaries  sent  out  by  that 
Board.  The  monthly  concert  of  prayer  is  observed  in  their  churches 
generally,  and  collections  taken  at  each  meeting  to  aid  the  cause  of 
missions. 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church. — Reformed  Presbyterians  (or, 
as  they  are  sometimes  called,  Covenanters)  are  the  descendants  of  the 
persecuted  Presbyterians  in  Scotland  who  refused  to  accede  to  the 
Erastian  settlement  of  religion  at  the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  still 
maintain  a  practical  dissent  from  both  Church  and  State  on  account 
of  existing  evils. 

They  are  distinguished  from  other  Presbyterians  chiefly  by  their 
rigid  adherence  to  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter ;  to  the  Scotch  Covenants 
— maintaining  that  the  obligations  of  the  "  National  Covenant"  and 


512  THE   EVANGELICAL   CHUKCIIES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

"  Solemn  League"  extend  to  all  represented  in  the  taking  of  them, 
though  removed  to  this  or  any  other  part  of  the  world,  in  so  far  as 
these  Covenants  bind  to  duties  not  peculiar  to  the  Church  in  the  Brit- 
ish Isles,  but  are  of  universal  application.  They  also  contend  that 
nations  enjoying  the  light  of  Divine  revelation  are  bound  to  frame 
their  government  according  to  it ;  and  where  the  Bible  is  known 
they  refuse  to  swear  allegiance  to  any  system  of  civil  government 
which  does  not  acknowledge  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  King,  and  rec- 
ognize the  Bible  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 

As  early  as  1752  some  Reformed  Presbyterian  congregations  had 
been  formed  in  North  America ;  but,  owing  to  the  defection  of  some 
of  the  ministers,  the  distance  of  the  congregations  from  each  other, 
and  the  troubles  connected  with  the  Revolution,  the  Church  did  not 
assume  a  regular  organization  until,  in  1*798,  the  Reformed  Presby- 
tery of  the  United  States  of  North  America  was  constituted  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  the  descendants  of'  the  followers  of 
"  Cargill,  Renwick,  and  Cameron,"  who  had  suffered  so  much  in  the 
cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  who  had  voluntarily  resigned 
the  privilege  of  citizenship  in  the  land  of  then*  nativity,  rather  than 
acknowledge  the  corrupt  system  established  at  the  Revolution  to  be 
God's  ordinance  of  civil  government,  would  examine  carefully  the 
Constitution  of  their  adopted  country.  They  did  so,  and  found  (as 
they  believed)  evils  so  great  incorporated  in  that  instrument  as  ren- 
dered it  necessary  for  them  to  refuse  allegiance  to  the  whole  system. 
"  In  this  remarkable  instrument,"  say  they,  "  there  is  contained  no 
acknowledgment  of  the  being  or  authority  of  God.  There  is  no 
acknowledgment  of  the  Christian  religion,  or  professed  submission  to 
the  kingdom  of  Messiah.  It  gives  support  to  the  enemies  of  the  Re- 
deemer, and  admits  to  its  honors  and  emoluments  Jews,  Mohammed- 
ans, Deists,  and  Atheists.  It  establishes  that  system  of  robbery  by 
which  men  are  held  in  slavery,  despoiled  of  liberty,  property,  and 
protection.  It  violates  the  principles  of  representation,  by  bestowing 
upon  the  domestic  tyrant,  who  holds  hundreds  of  his  fellow-creatures 
in  bondage,  an  influence  in  making  laws  for  freemen  j)roportioned  to 
the  number  of  his  own  slaves.  This  Constitution  is,  notwitstanding  its 
numerous  excellences,  in  many  instances  inconsistent,  oppressive,  and 
impious."*  Their  opposition  to  the  Constitution,  however,  professes 
to  be  the  opposition  of  reason  and  piety.  The  weapons  of  their  war- 
fare are  arguments  and  prayers.  They  consider  themselves  bound 
to  live  peaceably  with  men,  to  advance  the  good  of  society,  conform 
to  its  order  in  every  thing  consistent  with  righteousness,  and  submit 

8  Historical  Testimony,  page  152. 


CHAP.  XI.]        SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES.  513 

to  every  burden  which  God,  in  His  providence  calls  them  to  bear. 
During  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  no  portion  of  the  citizens 
were  more  forward  in  defence  of  the  country  than  Reformed  Presby- 
terians. 

In  1807  they  published  a  doctrinal  Testimony,  containing  a  brief 
statement  of  the  principles  which  they  hold,  and  a  testimony  against 
opposing  errors,  with  special  reference  to  the  evils  existing  in  the  na- 
tional Constitution,  and  the  Constitutions  of  the  Churches  around 
them.  They  continued  united  in  the  maintenance  of  this  testimony, 
neither  holding  communion  with  other  churches,  nor  offices  in  the 
State,  nor  voting  at  elections  for  civil  officers,  nor  admitting  any 
slaveholder  to  their  communion,  till  about  1830,  when,  their  number 
being  considerably  increased,  several  ministers  began  to  entertain 
opinions  different  from  those  which  were  formerly  held  by  the  body 
on  several  points.  These  men  were  led  to  modify  their  views  on  the 
subject  of  acknowledging  the  government  of  the  country,  and  avow- 
ing allegiance  to  it.  This  introduced  what  has  been  called  the  New 
Light  controversy,  which  has  since  resulted  in  a  division  of  the 
Synod,  and  the  organization  of  another  synod  in  the  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian Church,  which  still  maintains  a  separate  existence. 

This  controversy  greatly  distressed  the  Church,  and  retarded  the 
growth  of  the  body.  The  members  of  the  Church  generally  retained 
their  attachment  to  the  subordinate  standards,  but  many  congrega- 
tions were  left  without  pastors.  The  Theological  Seminary  for  a 
time  suspended  its  operations,  so  that  laborers  for  a  foreign  field 
could  not  be  obtained ;  but  home  missions,  especially  in  the  West, 
have  been  prosecuted  with  considerable  zeal.  A  more  prosperous 
season  has  returned.  The  Theological  Seminary  in  Allegheny  City, 
Pennsylvania,  has  been  revived.  It  has  two  professors,  and  ten  or 
fifteen  students  are  usually  in  attendance ;  a  considerable  library  for 
the  Seminary  has  been  collected,  and  the  Synod  established  a  mission 
in  1844,  in  the  West  Indies,  making  St.  Thomas  the  centre  of  opera- 
tion. This  body  is  composed  of  one  Synod,  six  Presbyteries,  fifty- 
nine  ministers,  eighteen  licentiates  and  students,  nearly  or  quite 
eighty  churches,  and  nearly  seven  thousand  members. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  other  Synod  has  now  fifty  or  fifty-five  or- 
dained ministers,  seven  licentiates,  eight  or  ten  students  in  theology, 
some  seventy-five  or  eighty  organized  churches,  and  more  than  seven 
thousand  communicants.  It  has  seven  presbyteries,  and  sustains,  in 
connection  with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Old  School 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  two  or  three  mission- 
aries in  India.  Besides  supporting  these  missionaries,  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  this  Synod  sustains  a  school  containing  twenty  or  thirty 

33 


514:  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHUKCHES   IX  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

children,  in  connection  with  their  Indian  Mission.  They  have  been 
active,  also,  in  prosecuting  the  work  of  domestic  missions,  and,  thus, 
of  building  up  churches  in  the  West  and  other  parts  of  the  country. 
The  receipts  of  their  Boards  of  Missions  average  about  $3,500  an- 
nually. 

The  entire  body  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterians  in  the  United 
States  embraces,  therefore,  about  one  hundred  and  eight  ordained 
ministers,  fifteen  licentiates,  twenty-five  students  of  theology,  nearly 
one  hundred  and  sixty  organized  congregations,  and  about  fourteen 
thousand  communicants. 

This  small  body  has  not  been  deficient  in  men  distinguished  for 
ministerial  gifts  and  extensive  learning.  The  late  Alexander  M'Leod, 
D.D.,  and  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Wylie,  ranked  in  their  day  with  Mason, 
Griffin,  Dwight,  and  other  giants  of  the  land. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES  :  THE  GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

This  offshoot  from  the  Church,  bearing  the  same  name  in  Germany, 
is,  like  it,  Presbyterian  in  its  government,  and  Calvinistic  in  its  doc- 
trinal standards. 

The  "  Reformed"  being  mingled  with  the  Lutheran  in  the  early 
German  emigrations,  societies  of  the  former  soon  appeared,  particu- 
larly in  Pennsylvania,  and  spread,  ere  long,  to  the  south  and  west  of 
that  province.  These,  though  long  existing  apart,  were  at  last  united 
in  1746,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter,  who,  having  been  sent  from  Eu- 
rope for  the  purpose,  succeeded  in  giving  a  better  organization  as 
well  as  more  union  to  their  Churches.  Their  increase  since  has  given 
them  an  important  place  among  American  Presbyterians. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  first  missionaries  to  the  German  Re- 
formed in  America  were  sent  out  by  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  and 
the  Synod  of  North  Holland,  through  which  channel  their  Churches 
continued  to  receive  their  ministerial  supplies,  and  to  which  they  were 
kept  down  to  the  year  1792,  in  the  same  subordination  as  the  Dutch 
Churches  in  America  used  to  be.  Mr.  Schlatter,  the  pioneer  in  this 
good  cause,  was  soon  followed  by  other  men  sent  over  by  the  said 
Classis  and  Synod.* 

The  dependance  of  the  Reformed  German  Church  in  the  United 

*  Among  these  were  Weiber,  Steiner,  Otterbein,  Hendel,  Helfenstein,  Helfrich, 
Gebbard,  Dallicker,  Blumer,  Faber,  Becker,  and  Herman. 


CHAP.  XII.]  SMALLER  PEESBYTEEIAN   CHUECHES.  515 

States  on  the  Dutch  Church  in  Europe  was  brought  to  a  close  in  1792, 
in  consequence  of  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  the  previous  relations 
of  America  with  Holland  after  the  conquest  of  the  latter  by  the 
French.  An  independent  constitution  was  accordingly  adopted,  con- 
stituting a  Synod,  consisting  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates ;  but  it  was 
not  until  1819  that  the  Synod  was  divided  into  Classes  or  Presby- 
teries, and  based  upon  a  representation  of  the  Classes  by  clerical  and 
lay  delegates.  The  Church  being  now  left  to  its  own  resources,  the 
training  of  young  men  for  the  ministry  was  for  many  years  intrusted 
to  such  pastors  as  were  willing  to  receive  students  of  theology  into 
their  families ;  still  the  want  of  proper  institutions  for  that  purpose 
was  deeply  felt.  At  length,  in  1824,  the  Synod  resolved  that  they 
would  have  a  theological  seminary,  and  this  resolution  took  effect  the 
following  year,  by  the  opening  of  an  institution  at  Carlisle,  a  pleasant 
town  in  central  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Mayer  was  appointed  the  first  pro- 
fessor, and  continued  in  the  discharge  of  that  office  until  1839,  when 
his  resignation  was  tendered  and  accepted.  During  this  period  the 
seminary  was  removed  from  Carlisle  to  York,  and  from  that  to  Mer- 
cersburg  in  the  same  State,  about  fifty  miles  from  Carlisle,  and  there 
it  is  now  permanently  established.  Marshall  College  was  opened  in 
connection  with  it  in  1837,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rauch,  who  had  been 
president  of  the  preparatory  department  of  the  seminary  at  York, 
was  chosen  president.  Under  that  distinguished  scholar  and  excellent 
minister  it  soon  enjoyed  an  enviable  reputation ;  but  in  the  spring  of 
1840  the  Church  was  called  to  lament  his  premature  decease.  This 
college  has  been  transferred  to  Lancaster,  in  the  same  State.  It  has 
an  attendance  of  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  youths.  The  theological 
seminary  remains  at  Mercersburg,  and  has  twenty-five  or  thirty 
students. 

The  German  Reformed  Church  seems  to  have  experienced  a  crisis 
in  1841,  that  year  having  been  appointed  to  be  celebrated  as  a  cen- 
tenary jubilee  for  all  its  congregations.  A  century  having  elapsed 
since  its  first  organization  in  America,  such  an  acknowledgment  of 
God's  mercies  was  deemed  eminently  becoming ;  and  that  the  occa- 
sion might  be  turned  to  the  best  account,  it  was  resolved  that  an 
effort  should  be  made  to  raise  sufficient  funds  for  the  endowment  of 
the  seminary  and  college  at  Mercersburg.  The  result  fully  realized 
the  expectations  of  the  Church's  most  sanguine  friends. 

The  field  which  this  Church  has  to  occupy  is  very  extensive.  Be- 
sides the  large  German  population  in  the  Atlantic  States,  the  Great 
West — The  Valley  of  the  Mississippi — over  which  German  emigrants 
are  now  settling  in  vast  numbers,  cries  to  this  and  to  the  Lutheran 
Church  for  help ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  in  a  few  years  a  host  of  laborers 


516  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI 

from  both  will  be  raised  up  for  the  harvest,  which  is  ripe  for  the 
sickle. 

The  German  Reformed  Church  has  now  in  its  connection  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  ministers,  sixty-five  licentiates  and  students, 
about  one  thousand  congregations,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
communicants.  In  home  missionary,  educational,  and  foreign  mis- 
sionary efforts,  this  Church  is  taking  a  deeper  and  deeper  interest 
every  year,  uniting  with  the  Congregational  and  New  School  Presby- 
terian Churches  in  supporting  the  American  Home  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, the  American  Education  Society,  and  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

Since  this  work  was  written  (in  1842),  doctrines  have  been  taught 
in  the  Theological  Seminary,  at  Mercersburg,  and  promulged  in  the 
"  Mercersburg  Review,"  which  have  given  great  solicitude  to  the 
friends  of  the  truth.  These  doctrines,  or  speculations  rather,  relate  to 
the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments,  and  the  office  and  authority  of  the 
Church.  An  efficacy  is  claimed  in  them  for  the  sacraments,  and  an 
authority  is  claimed  for  the  Church  and  its  decisions,  which  are 
deemed  by  many  to  be  subversive  of  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by 
Faith  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  proper  authority  of  the  Word  of 
God  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  on  the  other.  Dr.  Nevin, 
who  has  taken  the  lead  in  advancing  these  opinions,  is  no  longer  Pro- 
fessor in  the  seminary,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  they  will 
continue  to  be  taught  by  his  successor.  It  is  believed  that  this  species 
of  Puseyism,  or  semi-Romanism,  has  spread  very  considerably  in  the 
German  Reformed  Church  with  us.  Time  will  show  whether  it  is  to 
maintain  itself  in  that  Church,  or  to  disappear  as  many  other  specu- 
lations that  have  tended  to  subvert  the  Gospel,  and  which  conse- 
quently keep  the  soul  from  Christ  and  from  true  peace,  have  done. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SMALLER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES  I  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

The  first  Lutherans  that  emigrated  to  America  came  from  Holland, 
and  settled  at  New  York  about  the  year  1626,  that  is,  two  years  after 
the  regular  settlement  of  New  Netherlands  by  the  Dutch.  But  they 
were  few  in  number,  and  as  long  as  the  Dutch  held  the  country,  they 


CHAP.  XIII.]  THE   LUTHERAN   CHUECH.  517 

worshiped  in  private  houses  only.  But  on  the  colony  being  trans- 
ferred to  the  English,  in  1664,  they  obtained  leave  to  open  a  place 
of  public  worship,  and  had  for  their  first  minister  Jacob  Fabricius, 
who  arrived  in  1669. 

Next  among  the  Lutherans  came  the  Swedish  colony  that  settled 
on  the  Delaware  in  1636.  It  flourished  for  a  while,  but  receiving  no 
new-comers  from  Sweden,  the  colonists  gradually  fell  into  the  use  of 
the  English  tongue,  and  as  there  was  no  Lutheran  clergyman  who 
could  preach  in  English,  on  losing  their  Swedish  pastors  they  went 
to  the  English  Episcopal  Church  for  religious  teachers,  and  became 
ultimately  merged  in  that  denomination.  Nevertheless,  by  their 
charter  they  are  still  styled  Swedish  Lutheran  churches.* 

The  third  Lutheran  emigration  to  the  United  States  was  that  of 
the  Germans.  The  first  settlements  were  in  Pennsylvania,  soon  after 
the  grant  of  that  province  to  William  Penn,  in  1680,  whence  they 
spread,  by  degrees,  not  only  through  Pennsylvania,  but  also  into 
Maryland,  Virginia,  the  interior  of  New  York,  and,  since  the  Revo- 
lution, over  the  Western  States.  Emigration  from  Germany  may  be 
said  to  have  fairly  commenced  on  a  large  scale  in  1710.  Its  primary 
cause  lay  in  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  the  Palatinate.  It 
has  continued  from  that  time  to  this  day,  adding  tens  of  thousands 
almost  every  year  to  the  population  of  the  country.  The  western, 
northern,  and  southern  parts  of  Germany,  and  the  German  parts  of 
Switzerland,  together  with  Alsace,  in  France,  have,  from  first  to  last, 
sent  immense  multitudes  to  America  in  quest  of  homes. 

The  first  emigrants  brought  no  pastors  with  them,  but  they  had 
pious  schoolmasters  who  held  meetings  on  the  Sabbath,  and  read  the 
Scriptures,  Arndt's  True  Christianity,  and  other  religious  books. 
The  Swedish  ministers,  too,  of  those  early  times,  visited  the  small 
scattered  groups  of  faithful  souls,  and  administered  to  them  the  or- 
dinances of  religion. 

Among  the  first  German  ministers  in  America  were  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Bolzius  and  Gronau,  who  labored  in  a  colony  from  Saltzburg, 
in  the  south  of  Germany.  These  emigrants  had  been*  driven  from 
their  native  country  by  persecution,  and  had  settled  in  Georgia. 
Other  emigrants  from  Germany  settled  about  the  same  time  in  the 
Carolinas,  where  a  considerable  number  of  Lutheran  churches  are  to 
be  found  at  this  day.  In  1742,  the  Rev.  Henry  Melchior  Muhlen- 
burg,  ah  eminently  learned,  zealous,  and  successful  minister,  arrived, 
and,  during  a  course  of  fifty  years,  was  the  honored  instrument  of 
greatly  promoting  religion  among  the  German  population.     He  was 

*  "Annals  of  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Clay,  pp.  3,  4, 
101,  etc. 


518  THE  EY ANGELICAL   CHUKCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

one  of  the  founders,  in  fact,  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America, 
which,  by  repeated  arrivals  of  other  distinguished  men  from  Ger- 
many, had  become  widely  extended  before  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  But  it,  as  well  as  the  other  Churches,  suffered 
much  from  that  war.  Many  of  the  German  colonists  took  up  arms 
in  defence  of  their  adopted  country.  The  early  wars  with  the  In- 
dians, also,  proved  very  prejudicial  to  the  Lutheran  churches  on  the 
frontiers. 

The  rapid  progress  made  by  this  Church  since  the  Revolution,  and 
particularly  since  the  constitution  of  its  General  Synod  in  1820,  may 
be  seen  from  the  following  succinct  summary,  taken  from  the  Lu- 
theran Almanac  for  1855,  and  fully  to  be  relied  on: 

The  number  of  Ministers  and  Licentiates  is  about 1,000 

"  "  Congregations 1,900 

0  "  Communicants 225,000 

Besides  one  General  Synod,  there  are  thirty-two  District  Synods, 
most  of  which  are  united  with  the  General  Synod.  There  are  eight 
theological  seminaries,  six  colleges,  and  several  classical  schools,  one 
orphan  house,  a  deaconess'  Institute  at  Pittsburg,  an  education  soci- 
ety, a  foreign  missionary  society,  and  a  book  establishment.  During 
the  year  1841,  the  Lutheran  ministry  received  an  accession  of  fifty- 
eight  new  members ;  nine  thousand  and  twenty-two  new  members 
were  added  to  the  churches  by  confirmation,  and  nine  thousand  by 
immigration :  seventeen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six 
children  and  adults  were  baptized.  Three  new  synods  were  formed 
in  1841,  seventy-six  new  churches  built,  and  eighty-eight  new  congre- 
gations organized ;  nor  has  the  progress  of  this  Church  been  less  since. 

These  results  do,  indeed,  call  for  heartfelt  thanks  to  the  Giver  of 
all  good.  I  know  not  a  single  circumstance  more  promising  in  regard 
to  true  religion  in  America,  than  its  rapid  progress  among  the  vast 
German  population  of  the  United  States,  as  exhibited  in  the  Lutheran 
churches.  Wonderful,  indeed,  has  been  the  change  during  the  last 
twenty  years. 

The  establishment  of  Pennsylvania  College,  at  Gettysburg,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  General  Synod,  has  been  a  great  blessing.  This 
college,  which  has  been  liberally  assisted  by  the  Legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  receives  $1,000  a  year  from  that  State,  has  a  president, 
five  able  professors,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  students.  The 
General  Synod's  theological  seminary,  which,  also,  is  placed  at  Get- 
tysburg, has  three  distinguished  professors,  and  usually  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  students.  It  began  in  1826,  with  one  professor,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  S.  Schmucker,  D.D.,  to  whom,  under  God,  it  mainly 


CHAP.  XIH.]  THE  LUTHERAN  CHUECH.  519 

owes  its  existence ;  since  which  time  it  has  educated  upward  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The  institution  is 
most  pleasantly  situated,  and  has  a  well-selected  library,  great  part 
of  which,  together  with  a  considerable  amount  of  funds  for  the  found- 
ing of  the  seminary,  was  obtained  in  Germany  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  Kurtz,  D.D.  The  Lutherans  have  seven  other 
theological  schools,  at  which  sixty  or  eighty  young  men  are  prose- 
cuting their  studies,  and  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  more  are  en- 
gaged in  preparatory  studies  at  academies  and  colleges.  These  sim- 
ple facts  exhibit  an  extraordinary  change  in  the  state  of  this  Church 
from  what  it  was  twenty-five  years  ago. 

Among  its  distinguished  men  we  may  mention  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Bolzius,  Gronau,  H.  M.  Muhlenburg,  Kunze,  Schmidt,  Kurtz,  another 
Muhlenburg,  Helmuth,  Melsheimer,  Lochman,  Schaeffer,  Shober, 
Geissenheiner,  Schmucker  (father  of  the  professor),  all  men  of  great 
influence  in  their  day.  Several  of  its  living  ministers,  also,  are  men 
of  acknowledged  talents,  learning,  piety,  and  usefulness.  Many  of 
the  earlier  ministers  were  educated  at  Franke's  Institute  at  Halle, 
which,  indeed,  may  be  regarded  as  the  mother  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  throughout  a  large  part  of  the  United  States.* 

The  same  doctrines  are  held  as  in  the  evangelical  Lutheran  churches 
in  the  various  countries  of  Europe,  with  some  differences  which  we 
shall  presently  notice.  They  comprehend  the  following  points :  "  The 
Trinity  of  persons  in  one  Godhead ;"  "the  proper  and  eternal  Divinity 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;"  "  the  universal  depravity  of  our  race ;" 
"  the  vicarious  nature  and  unlimited  extent  of  the  atonement ;"  "  that 
men  are  justified  gratuitously,  for  Christ's  sake,  through  faith ;"  "  the 
Word  and  sacraments,  means  of  grace ;"  "  a  future  judgment,  and  the 
award  of  eternal  life  and  happiness  to  the  righteous,  and  eternal  mis- 
ery to  the  wicked."  On  the  subject  of  election,  presdestination,  etc., 
they  are  well  known  to  be  rather  Arminian  than  Calvinistic. 

The  Lutheran  Church  in  America  has  a  short  but  excellent  liturgy, 
while  her  ministers  are  at  the  same  time  allowed  a  discretionary  power 
with  regard  to  its  use.  It  observes  a  few  of  the  chief  festivals,  such 
as  Christmas,  Good  Friday,  Easter  Sunday,  Ascension  Day,  and 
Whitsunday.  Like  the  Episcopal  and  the  German  Reformed  churches, 
it  administers  the  rite  of  confirmation  to  baptized  persons  after  their 
arrival  at  years  of  discretion,  and  going  through  a  course  of  cate- 
chetical and  biblical  instruction. 

*  Nor  have  the  churches  in  America  ceased  to  feel  a  warm  interest  in  the  Alma 
Mater  of  so  many  of  their  pastors.  "When  she  suffered  so  much  from  the  French  in 
1814,  collections  were  promptly  made  by  them,  and  forwarded,  to  the  amount  of 
$2,334. 


520  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

It  deserves  notice  that  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United  States, 
as  those  who  are  intimately  acquainted  with  it  will  acknowledge, 
differs  from  what  it  once  was,  and  from  some  of  its  sister  churches  in 
Europe,  in  regard  to  a  few  such  points  as  the  following :  First,  it  en- 
tirely rejects  the  authority  of  the  fathers  in  ecclesiastical  controversy. 
The  Reformers  relied  too  much  upon  them.     Secondly,  it  no  longer 
requires  assent  to  the  doctrine  of  the  real  or  bodily  presence  of  the 
Saviour  in  the  Eucharist.   In  other  words,  it  has  renounced  the  doc- 
trine of  consubstantiation,  and  holds  that  of  our  Lord's  spiritual  pres- 
ence, as  understood  by  other  evangelical  Protestants.     Again,  it  has 
rejected  the  remnant  of  private  confession,  which  it  at  first  retained. 
Fourth,  it  has  abolished  the  remains  of  Papal  superstition  in  the  Ab- 
juration of  evil  spirits  at  baptism.     Fifth,  it  has  made  a  more  sys- 
tematic adjustment  of  its  doctrines.     Sixth,  it  has  adopted  a  more 
regular  and  a  stricter  system  of  church  discipline.    This,  as  respects 
individual  churches,  is  essentially  Presbyterian.     The  Synods,  in  their 
organization  and  powers,  resemble  Presbyteries,  but  with  fewer  for- 
malities, and  their  decisions  are  couched  more  in  the  form  of  recom- 
mendations ;  while  the  General  Synod  is  altogether  advisory,  and  re- 
sembles the  General  Associations  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of 
New  England.     Conferences  of  several  neighboring  ministers,  and 
protracted  meetings,  are  held,  with  preaching,  for  the  benefit  of  their 
congregations.     And,  lastly,  its  ministers  are  no  longer  bound  to  all 
the  minute  points  of  an  extended  human  creed.    All  that  is  required 
of  them  is  a  belief  in  the  Bible,  and  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  a 
substantially  correct  expression  of  Bible  doctrines.     The  American 
Lutheran  Church  thinks  that  a  written  creed  should  be  short,  com- 
prehending, like  that  of  the  Apostles,  which  was  for  a  long  time  the 
only  creed  in  the  Primitive  Churches,  the  doctrines  necessary  to  sal- 
vation.    So  much  for  its  doctrines,  order,  and  discipline.* 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  this  Church  takes  a  deep  interest,  in- 
creasing every  year,  in  the  religious  and  benevolent  undertakings  of 
our  times.  Sunday-schools  and  Bible-classes  are  very  generally  to  be 
found  in  her  congregations.  She  has  had  an  Education  Society,  with 
numerous  branches,  since  1835,  which  has  assisted  many  young  men 
in  preparing  for  the  ministry.  We  shall  speak  hereafter  of  her  For- 
eign Missionary  Society,  founded  in  1837.  Finally,  twelve  valuable 
religious  papers  and  other  periodicals,  six  in  English,  and  six  in  Ger- 
man, extensively  diffuse  among  the  people  intelligence  relating  to 
the  progress  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  on  the  earth. 

*  In  making  this  statement,  I  have  been  greatly  indebted  to  Professor  Schmucker'3 
"Portraiture  of  Lutheranism,"  and  his  "Retrospect  of  Lutheranism  in  the  United 
States,"  both  published  at  the  request  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Church. 


CHAP.  XIV.]  SMALLER   GERMAN   SECTS.  521 

SUMMARY    OF   THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCHES    IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

IN  1855. 

Gen.  Assemblies,  Syn0(js%  Presbyteries.  Ministers,    Licentiates.  Candidates.     Churches.  Members, 

or  Gen.  Synods.     * 

O.  S.  Presb 1  30  148  2,261  23T  435  3,079  231,404 

N.  S.  Presb 1  24  103  1,567  111  233  1,659  143,029 

Associate  Presb 1  —  20  164  21  35  267  21,533 

Associate  Ref.  Presb.  —  5  34  315  30  60  375  40,000 

Ref.  Presb —  2  13  103  15  20  160  14,000 

Cumberland  Presb...  1  25  90  1,000  400  80  1,200  100,000 

German  Ref.........  1  2  23  350  25  40  1,000  110,000 

Ref.  Dutch 1  2  28  380  15  35  376  36,297 

_____  _____ __ .  |  _____  _  ,  —  - 1.  * 

.  . Tota1'  ^      ]•  6  90  464  6,145  854  943  8,116  696,318 

eight  branches.  J 

This  Presbyterian  family,  or  group  of  Churches,  have  in  all  twenty 
Theological  schools,  in  which  are  about  six  hundred  students,  and 
thirty  colleges,  with  about  five  thousand  students.  In  the  year  1800, 
it  is  believed  that  there  were  not  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
ministers,  seven  hundred  congregations,  and  sixty  thousand  commu- 
nicants in  all  the  Presbyterian  bodies  in  the  United  States.  The 
three  Scottish  bodies  (the  Associate,  Associate  Reformed,  and  Re- 
formed Presbyterian),  which  numbered  in  1855  five  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  ministers,  eight  hundred  and  two  churches,  seventy-five 
thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  members,  scarcely  existed  at 
that  time.  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  did  not  exist  till 
1810.  The  increase  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  has  been  great 
within  the  last  forty  years. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


SMALLER    GERMAN    SECTS. 


There  are  some  smaller  bodies  of  German  Christians  in  the  United 
States,  which  may  be  classed,  though  not,  perhaps,  in  all  cases  with- 
out qualification,  among  the  evangelical  denominations.  The  Mo- 
ravians might  have  been  placed  here,  but  we  have  put  them  in  a 
separate  chapter,  partly  because  they  are  Episcopal,  partly  because 
they  are  no  longer  purely  German  either  in  blood  or  language. 

First,  then,  there  is  a  body  called  the  "  United  Brethren  in 
Christ."  This  is  a  Methodist  sect  which  began  to  rise  as  early  as 
1770,  and  gradually  attained  an  organization  in  the  year  1800.  The 
founders  of  it  were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Otterbein,  Boehm,  Geeting,  and 
other  German  ministers  who  had  once  belonged  to  the  German  Re- 


522  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   LN  AMERICA.  [BOOK  TI. 

formed,  the  Mennonists,  and  the  Lutherans.  Their  first  Annual 
Conference  was  held  in  the  year  1800.  From  that  epoch  this  denom- 
ination has  continued  to  increase  among  the  Germans  and  German 
descendants  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
other  portions  of  the  Union,  until  they  have  at  present  one  General 
Conference  (which  meets  once  in  four  years),  nine  Annual  Confer- 
ences, four  bishops,  six  hundred  ministers,  of  whom  two  hundred  and 
fifty  are  itinerant,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  are  local  preachers. 
The  number  of  places— churches,  school-houses,  private  houses,  etc., 
where  they  preach,  is  supposed  to  exceed  two  thousand.  Many  of 
their  congregations  are  small.  The  number  of  their  members  or  com- 
municants is  reported  to  be  more  than  sixty-seven  thousand. 

This  body,  which  is  in  all  essential  points  the  same,  as  it  regards 
doctrines  and  modes  of  worship,  as  the  Episcopal  Methodist  Church, 
has  been  becoming  more  thoroughly  organized  from  the  first. 
Within  a  few  years  successful  efforts  have  been  made  to  introduce 
discipline  and  order  into  their  churches,  and  to  require  from  the 
preachers  regular  and  accurate  reports  of  the  number  of  communi- 
cants, etc.  This  looks  well,  and  shows  that  this  body  has  attained  a 
good  degree  of  organization  and  efficiency. 

2.  The  "  Evangelical  Association."  This  denomination,  also  a 
sect  of  German  Methodists,  was  founded  in  the  year  1800.  The 
founder  was  the  Rev.  Jacob  Albright.  His  associates  were  the  Rev. 
John  Walker,  George  Miller,  and  others.  With  regard  to  doctrine 
and  church  government,  there  is  some  similarity  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  This  Association  has  at  present  two  bishops  and 
several  annual  conferences.  It  also  has  churches  and  stations  in 
Maryland,  Virginia,  New  York,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Wisconsin,  and 
Iowa.  The  annual  conferences  embrace  districts,  circuits,  stations, 
and  missions.  There  is  a  General  Conference,  which  meets  once  in 
four  years.  This  body  has  at  present  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
traveling,  and  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  local  ministers.  The 
number  of  places  of  public  worship,  including  churches,  school-houses, 
and  private  houses,  is  about  nine  hundred  ;  and  the  number  of  com- 
municants is  twenty-one  thousand  and  seventy-six. 

3.  The  Winebrennarians,  a  sect  of  German  Baptists,  so  called 
from  their  founder,  a  Mr.  Winebrenner,  a  pious  and  zealous  Ger- 
man, who  lives  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  his  followers 
are  chiefly  found.  They  have  six  elders,  one  hundred  and  thirty 
preachers,  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  churches,  four  hundred  and 
fifteen  preaching  stations,  and  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  mem- 
bers, and  are  said  to  be  quite  evangelical  in  their  doctrines,  and,  as  a 
body,  irreproachable  in  their  lives.    Their  ministers,  though  not  well- 


CHAP.  XIV.]       SUMMARY  VIEW   OF   THE   GERMAN   CHURCHES.  523 

informed,  have  the  reputation  of  being  devoted,  laborious,  and  useful 
men.  Winebrenner  seems  to  have  commenced  his  labors  among 
the  Germans  very  much  in  the  spirit  and  with  the  aim  of  Hans  Houga 
in  Norway. 

4.  The  Mennonists  have  some  churches,  but  the  most  of  their  little 
congregations  meet  in  private  houses;  they  probably  have  about  two 
hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  preachers,  four  hundred  small  con- 
gregations, and  thirty  thousand  members  *  They  are  an  amiable, 
and,  in  the  main,  evangelical  people,  yet  rendered  somewhat  luke- 
warm, it  is  to  be  feared,  by  their  worldly  prosperity.  They  are,  for 
the  most  part,  descendants  from  Mennonist  immigrants  from  Holland 
and  Germany.  Their  confession  of  faith,  as  stated  by  one  of  their  min- 
isters, Mr.  Gan,  of  Ryswick,  in  Holland,  appears  to  be  moderately 
orthodox.f  They  reject  infant  baptism,  but  though  their  founder, 
Simon  Menno,  maintained  that  Baptism  should  be  by  immersion, 
they  do  not  deem  it  indispensable.  On  the  contrary,  they  sprinkle, 
or,  rather,  pour  water  upon  the  head  of  the  candidate,  after  which 
follow  the  imposition  of  hands  and  prayer.  They  have  no  order  of 
preachers,  but  every  one  in  their  assembly  has  the  liberty  to  speak, 
to  expound  the  Scriptures,  to  sing,  and  to  pray. 

The  Mennonists  of  Holland,  as  is  well  known,  claim  to  be  descended 
in  the  main  from  those  Waldenses  who,  toward  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  century,  emigrated  in  great  numbers  to  that  country.  If  this 
'  be  so,  then  the  Mennonists  in  America  have  in  their  veins  the  blood 
of  those  wonderful  survivors  of  long  ages  of  persecution  and  oppres- 
sion. 

SUMMARY   VIEW    OF   THE   GERMAN   CHURCHES. 

The  reader  will  find  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  German  Churches, 
of  an  evangelical  character,  are  included  in  the  three  families  of 
Churches — Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and  Methodist,  excepting  the  Lu- 
therans. To  the  Presbyterians  belong  the  German  Reformed  Church; 
to  the  Baptists,  the  "VVinebrennarians,  Mennonites  and  Tunkers  ;  and 
to  the  Methodists,  the  "  United  Brethren  in  Christ,"  and  the  "  Evan- 
gelical Association."  The  Lutherans,  as  we  have  seen,  have  about 
one  thousand  ministers  and  licentiates,  nineteen  hundred  congrega- 
tions, and  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  members. 

*  The  Mennonists  meet  for  their  worship  in  private  houses  oftener  than  in  church 
edifices.  Their  congregations  are  very  small,  and  for  a  long  time  scarcely  existed 
out  of  Pennsylvania. 

f  I  fear  that  their  orthodoxy  is  less  unequivocal  and  general  than  it  was  sixty  or 
eighty  years  ago.  They  are  opposed  to  the  use  of  the  words  Person  and  Trinity,  when 
speaking  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 


524  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

CHAPTER    XV. 

SMALLER  METHODIST  DENOMINATIONS. 

Secessions  of  greater  or  less  magnitude  have  detached  themselves 
from  time  to  time,  and  glided  off  like  avalanches  from  the  Mount 
Zion  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  not,  however  so  as  to  ma- 
terially diminish  its  grandeur,  or  change  its  physiognomy ;  but  most 
of  them  sooner  or  later  have  melted  away  to  nothing. 

The  first  that  occurred  was  that  of  the  Rev.  William  Hammet,  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1785.  His  followers  took  the  name  of 
Primitive  Methodists.  The  second  was  that  of  the  Rev.  James 
O'Kelly,  in  Virginia,  about  1792.  His  followers  called  themselves 
Republican  Methodists.  This  was  by  far  the  more  serious  of  the 
two,  but  both  soon  and  forever  disappeared  from  the  scene. 

In  the  year  1816,  about  one  thousand  of  the  people  of  color  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Philadelphia,  headed  by  a  Mr.  Richard 
Allen,  seceded  from  the  main  body.  Allen  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able talent,  who,  from  having  been  once  a  slave  in  one  of  the  South- 
ern States,  besides  procuring  his  freedom,  had  acquired  a  handsome 
property,  and  becoming  a  preacher  in  the  Methodist  connection, 
rose  to  be  ordained  an  elder.  After  his  secession  he  was  ordained  a 
bishop  at  the  first  General  Conference  of  his  followers,  by  prayer  and 
the  imposition  of  hands  by  five  local  elders,  of  whom  one  was  a  pres- 
byter in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  This  little  body  is  called 
the  "  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church."  It  has  two  bish- 
ops, one  hundred  and  fifty-five  preachers,  and  six  thousand  two 
hundred  and  three  members. 

Another  secession  of  colored  members  took  place  at  New  York  in 
1819,  and  it  has  now  congregations  of  people  of  color  in  New  Jersey, 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts.  In  1855  they  had 
three  bishops,  more  than  twenty-five  circuits,  three  hundred  minis- 
ters, and  twenty-one  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  mem- 
bers. The  title  of  the  body  is  :  "  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church."  They  are  believed  to  have  adhered  to  the  doctrines  and 
polity  of  the  body  from  which  they  seceded,  their  dissatisfaction  with 
which  arose  from  their  preachers  not  being  admitted  into  the  itin- 
eracy, and,  consequently,  having  no  share  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  nor  a  right  to  receive  salaries,  being  only  local  preachers. 

There  were  one  or  two  other  secessions  a  little  later,  one  of  which 
was  headed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stillwell,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  by 
which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  lost  a  few  of  its  congregations, 


,.A 


CHAP.  XV.]  SMALLER  METHODIST   DENOMINATIONS.  525 

but  they  were  not  of  such  consequence  as  to  call  for  special  notice. 
But  it  sustained  a  far  more  serious  loss  in  1828,  when  a  considerable 
number  of  preachers,  chiefly  local,  and  of  lay  members,  withdrew 
from  it  at  Baltimore,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  As  this  se- 
cession has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  new  communion,  which 
promises  to  be  permanent,  it  calls  for  further  notice. 

In  what  was  said  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  reader 
will  have  remarked  that  its  constitution  lodges  the  supreme  power, 
legislative,  judicial,  and  executive,  in  the  itinerating  ministers.  They 
alone  compose  the  Yearly  and  General  Conferences.  But,  to  two 
classes  of  the  members,  this  has  been  felt  to  be  oppressive.  First, 
to  the  local  preachers,  who,  although  they  may  be  ordained  minis- 
ters, can  have  no  voice  in  the  government  of  the  Church.  Nay, 
ministers  who  may  have  been  for  years  in  the  itinerating  service,  the 
moment  that,  from  sickness,  duty  to  their  families,  insufficient  sup- 
port, or  any  other  cause,  they  leave  that  service,  have  no  longer  any 
voice  in  the  affairs  of  that  Church.  Next,  there  were  laymen  who 
thought  that  the  laity  ought  to  be  represented  in  the  Church  courts  ; 
that  is,  should  be  admitted  to  the  Annual  and  General  Conferences. 

This  dissatisfaction  began  to  assume  a  more  decided  character 
about  the  year  1820.  A  journal  having  been  established  for  the  pur- 
pose of  advocating  what  were  called  "  equal  rights,"  this  led  to  the 
sending  up  of  numerous  petitions  to  the  General  Conference  held  in 
1824.  These  being  unfavorably  received,  much  excitement  and  dis- 
cussion followed.  The  party  that  wanted  reform  urged  their  demands 
with  more  eagerness,  and,  consequently,  some  suspensions  from 
church  privileges  took  place  in  Baltimore  and  elsewhere.  Such  was 
the  state  of  matters  when  the  General  Conference  met  in  1828 ;  fail- 
ing in  obtaining  redress  from  which,  they  who  thought  themselves 
aggrieved  seceded,  and  formed  a  new  body,  under  the  title  of  the 
Protestant  Methodist  Church  in  the  United  States.  In  taking 
this  step  they  have  made  no  change  in  their  doctrines,  nor  any  inno- 
vations in  church  polity,  beyond  what  they  had  unsuccessfully  peti- 
tioned for — the  admission  of  lay  representatives  and  of  the  local 
preachers  to  the  government  of  the  Church.  They  have  also  ceased 
to  have  bishops,  all  ordination  among  them  being  now  confined  to 
the  imposition  of  hands  by  presbyters.  Their  General  Conference 
meets  once  in  four  years,  like  that  from  which  they  seceded. 

This  body  has  one  general  and  some  twenty-five  yearly  conferences, 
nine  hundred  and  sixteen  effective  preachers,  seventy  thousand  and 
eighteen  communicants,  and  six  or  seven  hundred  places  of  wor- 
ship. Its'  General  Conference  has  instituted  a  Board  of  Domestic  and 
Foreign  Missions,  as  also  a  Book  Concern,  which  has  its  headquarters 


526  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

in  Baltimore.  There  are  four  or  five  religious  newspapers,  also,  pub- 
lished under  its  auspices.  Its  churches  are  to  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  but  particularly  in  the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States. 
Calvinistic  Methodists — a  small  Welsh  communion,  consisting 
of  ninety-eight  churches,  eighty-one  pastors,  and  about  three. thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  fifty  members.  They  are  an  evangelical  and 
zealous  body,  and  as  it  is  only  a  few  years  since  the  greater  part  of 
them  came  to  America,  they  still  use  the  Welsh  language  in  their 
public  worship  and  in  their  families.  Though  found  in  several  States, 
they  are  most  numerous,  I  believe,  in  New  York,  Ohio,  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  Wisconsin.* 

SUMMARY    OF  THE    METHODIST    CHURCHES   IN   THE    UNITED    STATES    IN 

1855. 

„.  ,  Presiding      Effective     MoinhM-Rhln        Missionaries. 

Bishops.        Elders.b     Ministers.    Membership.       Home#     For< 

Meth.  Epis.  Church 7  235  4,579  783,358  823  47 

Meth.  Epis.  Church,  South...   7  131  1,942  596,852  271  34 

United  Brethren  in  Christ 4              250  67,000  — 

Evangelical  Association 2              195  21,076 

African  Meth.  Epis.  Church...  3              300  21,237  — 

African  Meth.  Epis.  Zion  Ch. .  2              155  6,203  — 

Methodist  Protestant  Church..  -              916  70,018  103  — 

Wesleyan  Methodist  Conn. ...  -              310  23,000  — 

Primitive  Methodist  Church. . .  -              12  1,100 

"Welsh  Calvinistic  Meth.  Ch. . .  -              81  3,950  — 


25  366        8,740       1,593,794       1,197        81 

We  add  a  few  other  statistics:    These  several  branches  of  the 
Methodist  Family  of  Churches  have  132  Annual  Conferences,  12,618 

*  The  number  of  national  churches  among  the  "Welsh  emigrants  and  their  descend- 
ants in  the  United  States  is  far  greater  than  commonly  supposed.  From  a  state- 
ment which  has  been  kindly  furnished  me  while  the  present  edition  of  this  work  has 
been  going  through  the  press,  by  the  Eev.  Thomas  Edwards,  pastor  of  a  Welsh  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Cincinnati,  I  learn  that  there  are,  besides  the  Calvinistic  Meth- 
odist churches  mentioned  above,  no  less  than  seventy-eight  Congregational  churches 
and  fifty-eight  ministers,  thirty-four  Baptist  and  twenty  ministers,  four  Presbyterian 
and  two  ministers,  three  Episcopal  and  two  ministers,  and  eleven  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist and  nine  ministers.  Making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Welsh  churches 
and  one  hundred  and  fourteen  ministers  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1855.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Calvinistic  Methodists,  the  Welsh  churches  are  included  in  the 
estimate  which  is  made  of  the  denominations  whose  name  they  bear.  For  instance, 
the  Welsh  Baptists  come  in  under  the  head  of  the  Regular  Baptists  ;  the  Welsh  Con- 
gregational ists  are  included  in  the  statement  which  I  have  made  respecting  the  Con- 
gregational body.  Of  the  names  of  the  pastors  of  the  churches  mentioned  in  the 
statement  furnished  by  Mr.  Edwards,  we  find  Jones,  Williams,  Powells,  Evans,  Grif- 
fiths, Roberts,  Lewis,  Morris,  Edwards,  Richards,  Powell,  Davis,  Morgan,  Owen, 
Philips,  Jenkins,  and  others  which  are  purely  Welsh. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  THE  FRIENDS,    OR   QUAKERS.  527 

"  local  ministers,"  who  preach  more  or  less  every  week,  811  "super- 
annuated ministers,"  many  of  whom  preach  a  great  deal ;  making  a 
total  of  22,209  ministers  of  all  classes;  1,255,897  members  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin,  209,580  of  African  origin,  100,562  Germans,  1,024 
Swedes  and  Norwegians,  4,465  Welsh,  4,929  Indians;  13,146  Sab- 
bath-schools, 129,885  teachers  in  such  schools,  691,700  scholars,  and 
1,959,628  volumes  in  Sunday-school  libraries;  17,949  conversions  in 
Sabbath-schools  in  1854;  138,093  members  of  mission  churches  in  the 
home  field;  56  foreign  missions,  81  missionaries,  30  "local  preachers," 
6,869  members,  89  day  and  Sunday-schools,  with  3,469  pupils,  in  the 
foreign  field;  amount  expended  in  missions  since  1819,  $3,408,997. 

There  belong  to  the  Methodist  Family  of  Churches  in  the  United 
States,  13,280  church  edifices,  with  4,343,579  sittings,  valued  at 
$14,822,870;  amount  of  stock  in  "Book  Concern,"  $696,326;  and 
annual  sale  (in  1852),  $199,687;  10  quarterly  and  monthly  periodi- 
cals, with  a  subscription-list  of  225,000  ;  24  religious  newspapers,  with 
a  weekly  circulation  of  127,900;  24  colleges,  with  99  professors, 
1,779  students,  61,270  volumes  in  their  libraries;  property  in  funds 
$1,327,115,  and  income  of  $43,824;  133  female  seminaries  and  col- 
leges, 11,678  pupils;  $505,129  vested  in  their  behalf ;  amount  given 
in  1854,  to  the  Bible,  Tract,  Missionary,  Sunday-school  Societies,  and 
for  support  of  superannuated  ministers,  $734,618. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  amount  invested  by  the  Methodist  Churches 
in  their  Book  Concerns,  colleges  and  seminaries,  churches,  etc.,  is 
$17,411,440;  and  the  amount  given  in  1854,  to  the  support  of 
the  ministers,  religious  societies,  Sunday-schools,  etc.,  including  in- 
come from  the  college  and  other  vested  funds  (but  not  including 
what  was  given  in  ordinary  charities,  building  of  churches,  etc.),  at 
$7,536,916  ;  which,  deducting  the  colored  membership  in  the  "Meth- 
odist Church,  South,"  is,  on  an  average,  more  than  five  dollars  per 
member. 

The  proportion  of  the  population  of  the  country  which  maybe  said 
to  be  under  the  spiritual  care  of "  American  Methodism,"  may  be 
stated  to  be  5,500,000. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    FRIENDS,    OR    QUAKERS. 

This  religious  community  first  appeared  in  England  toward  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  had  an  early  share  in  the 


528  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

colonization  of  the  United  States.  We  have  seen  that  its  reputed 
founder  and  first  preacher,  George  Fox,  visited  several  of  the  South- 
ern provinces,  and  announced  his  message,  as  he  himself  relates,  to  a 
"  willing  people."  But  the  proselytes  to  his  peaceful  doctrines,  es- 
pecially if  they  attempted  to  propagate  them,  encountered  violent 
persecution  almost  everywhere,  and  although  they  were  from  the 
first  protected  in  Rhode  Island,  and  did  at  length  obtain  toleration 
in  the  South,  they  never  made  much  progress  until,  through  the  in- 
fluence and  exertions  of  William  Penn,  they  obtained  an  asylum,  first 
in  New  Jersey,  and  afterward  in  Pennsylvania,  toward  the  close  of 
that  century. 

They  are  now  supposed  to  have  six  or  seven  hundred  congrega- 
tions or  "  meetings"  in  the  United  States,  and  are  chiefly  settled  in 
the  South-eastern  part  of  Pennsylvania,  in  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
Rhode  Island,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  though  some  may  be  found 
in  all  the  States.  In  Philadelphia  alone  they  have  six  or  eight  large 
congregations  or  meetings. 

It  is  far  from  easy  to  jnake  out  what  were  the  doctrines  really 
held  by  George  Fox,  and  some  of  the  other  early  Friends,  or  Quak- 
ers, as  they  are  more  commonly  called.  They  spoke  so  much  about 
the  "  light  within,"  and  the  "  Christ  in  the  heart,"  and  so  little  about 
the  proper  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  inspiration  and  Divine 
authority  of  the  Scriptures,  etc.,  that  good  men  of  that  day  much 
doubted  how  far  they  held  the  saving  truths  of  the  Gospel.  But  the 
subsequent  writings  of  Penn,  Barclay,  and  others,  to  whom  may  be 
added  many  excellent  authors  of  the  present  day,  make  it  certain 
that  a  portion  of  well-informed  Friends  have  been  sound  in  "  the 
faith  that  saves." 

But  within  the  last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  a  deplorable  schism 
has  taken  place.  Doctrines  of  the  most  dangerous  character,  imbo- 
dying  in  fact,  a  kind  of  fanatical  deism,  having  been  widely  dissem- 
inated by  the  preaching  and  writings  of  the  late  Elias  Hicks,  of 
Long  Island,  New  York,  who  was  one  of  their  ministers,  they  sepa- 
rated into  two  quite  distinct  bodies,  each  maintaining  that  it  held  the 
doctrines  of  the  original  Quakers.*  One  party  is  called  the  Ortho- 
dox, the  other  the  Hicksites,  from  the  name  of  their  leader,  or  rather, 

*  The  highest  law  court  in  New  Jersey  decided,  a  few  years  ago,  in  a  suit  respect- 
ing property  held  by  one  of  the  "  Quarterly  Meetings"  in  that  State,  that  the  so-called 
Orthodox  Quakers  are  the  true  successors  of  the  founders  of  the  denomination;  in 
other  words,  hold  the  true  doctrines  of  the  people  called  Friends.  This  decision  was 
formed  after  a  long  and  very  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject,  conducted  by  a 
master  in  chancery,  who  was  employed  during  several  months  in  taking  the  testi- 
mony of  distinguished  Friends  as  to  what  were  the  doctrines  of  the  society. 


CHAP.  XVI.]  THE   FRIENDS,    OR   QUAKERS.  529 

founder.  Their  relative  numbers  are  not  exactly  known,  but  the 
Orthodox  are  supposed  to  be  fully  three  fifths  of  the  whole,  or  to 
have  three  hundred  or  three  hundred  and  fifty  congregations. 

The  peculiarities  of  the  Friends,  in  respect  to  plainness  of  dress,  re- 
fusing to  uncover  the  head  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  their  fellow-men, 
whatever  be  their  station,  rank,  or  office,  the  use  of  the  singular  thou 
and  thee  instead  of  the  plural  you  in  all  cases  where  custom  has  sanc- 
tioned the  superseding  of  the  former  by  the  latter,  their  refusing  to 
take  an  oath,  and  to  bear  arms,  are  too  well  known  to  require  re- 
mark. 

They  have  no  "  hireling  ministry,"  and  think  it  wrong  to  educate 
men  for  that  office,  maintaining  that  those  only  should  be  suffered  to 
preach  who  are  moved  from  time  to  time  by  the  Spirit  to  deliver  a 
message  from  God.  All  remain  perfectly  silent  at  their  meetings, 
unless  some  one  feels  thus  moved  to  speak  for  the  edification  of  those 
present,  or  to  pray.  In  almost  every  congregation  there  are  mem- 
bers who,  from  being  often  moved  to  speak,  are  called  "  preachers," 
and  they  may  be  of  either  sex.  Some,  too,  think  that  the  Spirit 
moves  them  to  travel  about  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  and  preaching. 
But  these,  before  receiving  authority  to  proceed  on  such  missions, 
must  first  be  approved  by  the  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Meetings  to 
which  they  belong.  Though  they  have  no  salaries,  provision  is  made, 
when  required,  for  the  support  of  them  and  their  families  by  presents 
from  richer  Friends.  The  supervision  of  the  churches  is  vested  in  the 
monthly  meetings,  composed  of  all  the  congregations  within  a  con- 
venient distance  from  each  other ;  the  Quarterly  Meetings,  which 
comprise  all  within  a  large  circle ;  and  the  Yearly  Meetings,  includ- 
ing all  within  one  or  more  of  the  States,  and  of  which,  we  believe, 
there  are  eight. 

The  Friends  have  a  Tract  Society,  a  Bible  Society,  and  some  Sun- 
day-schools. They  have  made  some  attempts,  also,  but  to  no  great 
extent,  to  bring  the  Indian  tribes  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel. 

The  characteristic  traits  of  this  peace-loving  people  are  the  same  in 
the  United  States  as  in  England  and  elsewhere— frugality,  simplicity 
of  manners,  strictness  of  morals,  care  for  the  poor  of  their  society, 
and  abhorrence  of  oppression  in  every  form.  This  may  be  emphat- 
ically said  of  the  Orthodox.  Of  the  Hicksites,  who,  in  my  opinion, 
have  departed  fundamentally  from  the  Gospel,  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
a  far  less  favorable  account  will  yet  have  to  be  given.  The  substan- 
tial orthodoxy  of  William  Penn,  and  many  others  of  the  same  school, 
has  produced  good  fruits,  which  never  can  be  looked  for  from  the 
delusions  of  Elias  Hicks. 

So  far  from  rapidly  increasing  in  America,  I  rather  think  that  the 

34 


530  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

Friends  are  stationary,  if  not  positively  declining,  in  point  of  num- 
bers. The  too  frequent  neglect  of  the  religious  education  of  their 
children,  together  with  the  rejection  of  the  outward  administration 
of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  must  ever  prevent  them  from  en- 
joying great  or  continued  prosperity  as  a  Church. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE     SUMMARY. 

We  have  now  completed  our  notices  of  the  various  Evangelical 
Churches  or  Denominations  in  the  United  States,  and  to  assist  the 
reader  in  taking  a  general  view  of  the  whole,  we  proceed  to  place 
the  results  before  his  eye  in  a  tabular  form,  pursuing  still  the  order 
of  time  in  which  each  Group  or  Family  of  Churches  began  to  appear 
in  the  country : 

Churches.      Ministers.  Licentiates.    Members.        Population. 

L— The  Episcopal  Church...     1,300  1,114        105,350        1,000,000 

With  the  Moravian 23  28        3,500  12,000 

1,823  1,742         108,850  1,012,000 

II.— Cong.  Orthodox  Chs....     2,450  2,327        210,000  2,000,000 

III.— Baptist  Churches 14,070  9,476  596    1,322,469  5,000,000 

IV.— Presbyterian  Churches..     8,116  6,145  854       716,318  3,500,000 

V.— Methodist,  (estimated)..   14,000*  8,740  12,618f  1,593,794  5,500,000 

VI— Lutheran  Church 1,900  1,000 225,000  750,000 

Total 42,359  29,430      14,068    4,176,431       17,762,000 

In  this  statement  are  included  all  the  Evangelical  Churches  or 
Communions,  excepting  the  Orthodox  Friends,  whose  "  Meetings" 
may  be  three  hundred  and  fifty,  but  of  whose  membership  we  have 
no  means  of  forming  a  reliable  estimate. 

By  uniting  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,  which,  as 
they  are  in  many  important  respects  the  same,  is  entirely  proper,  we 
reduce  the  evangelical  denominations  in  the  United  States  to  five 


"fcr 


*  The  number  of  church-edifices  and  of  congregations  worshiping  in  them,  belong- 
ing to  the  Methodists,  may  be  put  down  for  at  least  fourteen  thousand.  It  was 
twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-four  in  1850.  But  the  number  of  Metho- 
dist congregations  in  the  United  States,  when  estimated  by  the  places  in  which  they 
meet,  viz.:  "meeting-houses,"  private  houses,  school-houses,  etc.,  is  probably  not  less 
than  thirty-five  thousand,  if  not  forty  thousand. 

f  Local  preachers. 


CHAP.  XVII.] 


THE  SUMMARY. 


531 


great  families ;  and  thus  arranged,  they  present  the  following  sum 
mary : 


Episcopalian, 
Presbyterian, 
Baptist,     . 
Methodist, 
Lutheran, 


Churches. 

1,323 

10,566 

14,010 

14,000 

1,900 


Ministers. 
1,T42 
8,4*72 
9,476 
8,740 
1,000 


Members. 

108,850 

926,318 

1,322,469 

1,593,794 

225,000 


Population. 
1,012,000 
5,500,000 
5,000,000 
5,500,000 
750,000 


Total.     .         .        •         41,859  29,430  4,176,431  17,762,000 

Such  an  arrangement  might  be  called  a  doctrinal  one.  On  the 
question  of  Church  government,  the  Lutheran  Church  may  be  ranked 
with  the  Presbyterian ;  and  though  not  Calvinistic  in  doctrine,  it  may 
be  said  to  sympathize  considerably  with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  Withal,  it  maintains  an  intercourse  with  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  generally  that  is  not  only  fraternal  but  in  many  cases  inti- 
mate. Ranging  the  Lutheran  Churches  with  the  Presbyterian,  we 
have  but  four  great  families  of  evangelical  Churches  in  the  United 
States,  viz. : 


Episcopalian, 
Presbyterian, 
Baptist,     . 
Methodist, 

Total. 


Churches. 

1,323 

12,466 

14,070 

14,000 

41,859 


Ministers. 
1,742 
9,472 
9,476 
8,740 

29,430 


Members. 
108,850 
1,151,318 
1,322,469 
1,593,794 

4,176,431 


Population. 
1,012,000 
6,250,000 
5,000,000 
5,500,000 

17,762,000 


This  synopsis  suggests  a  few  observations : 

1.  It  is  impossible  to  state  the  number  of  churches  or  congrega- 
tions, properly  so  called.  Those  of  the  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians, 
and  Baptists,  taken  together,  amount  to  twenty-seven  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-nine.  But  those  belonging  to  the  different  Meth- 
odist communions  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain,  no  return  of  them 
having  been  made.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  have  at  least 
fourteeen  thousand  church-edifices  properly  so  called.  This,  then, 
would  make  the  entire  number  of  the  churches  of  the  evangelical  de- 
nominations to  have  been  in  1855  forty-one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fifty-nine ;  and  supposing  these  to  contain  upon  an  average  five 
hundred  people  each,  they  would  accommodate  more  than  twenty 
million  seven  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  of  the 
twenty-six  million  five  hundred  thousand,  the  population  of  the  coun- 
try for  that  year.  But  if  we  take  in  all  the  places,  whether  churches 
or  not,  at  which  the  Gospel  is  preached,  in  most  cases  once  a  week  at 
least,  and  others  once  a  fortnight,  seldom  less  often,  these  will  be 
found  to  amount  to  sixty-two  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
or  at  the  outside  sixty-seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine* 

*  Including  three  hundred  and  fifty  "meeting-houses"  of  the  Orthodox  Friends. 


532  THE   EVANGELICAL   CHUKCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

2.  The  summary  gives  twenty-nine  thousand  four  hundred  and 
thirty  as  the  number  of  ministers  who  devote  themselves  entirely  to 
the  work.  Adding  the  twelve  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighteen 
Methodist  local  preachers,  we  have  forty-two  thousand  and  forty- 
eight  as  the  number  of  actual  preachers  of  the  Gospel.  Even  this  is 
exclusive  of  the  licentiates  in  the  Baptist  and  Presbyterian  churches, 
who  were  in  1855  estimated  at  more  than  one  thousand  four  hundred, 
and  who  may  fairly  be  set  against  the  deduction  to  be  made  on  ac- 
count of  ordained  ministers  employed  as  professors  and  missionaries. 
But  taking,  all  things  considered,  the  above-stated  twenty-nine  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  thirty  as  the  number  of  ministers  that  are  evan- 
gelical on  all  the  saving  doctrines  of  the  Gospel :  and  dividing  the 
population  of  the  United  States,  which,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1855  could  not  have  been  more  than  twenty-six  million  five  hundred 
thousand,  by  this  number,  the  result  will  be  one  such  minister  for 
about  nine  hundred  souls.  Now,  although  figures  can  not  express 
moral  influences,  such  calculations  are  nevertheless  not  without  their 
use.  A  country  which  has  an  evangelical  preacher  on  an  average  for 
every  nine  hundred  souls,  may  be  considered  as  pretty  well  supplied, 
if  they  be  well  distributed  and  faithful.  A  perfect  distribution  is,  in- 
deed, altogether  inpossible  with  a  population  rapidly  diffusing  itself 
over  immense,  half-cultivated  regions,  yet  much  is  done  to  obviate 
the  disadvantages  of  such  a  state  of  things.  The  aid  rendered  by  the 
Methodist  local  preachers  must  be  regarded  as  an  important  auxiliary 
to  the  more  regular  ministry.  The  general  faithfulness  of  this  minis- 
try has  already  been  fully  discussed. 

3.  The  members  in  full  communion  with  the  churches  enumerated 
were,  in  1855,  four  million  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  thousand  four 
hundred  and  thirty-one  in  number.  Now,  although  it  be  very  certain 
that  all  these  do  not  live  up  to  their  profession,  yet  as  they  belong  for 
the  most  part  to  churches  that  endeavor  to  maintain  discipline,  we 
may  fairly  presume  that  they  comprehend  at  least  as  large  a  propor- 
tion of  consistent  Christians  as  any  equal  number  of  professors  in 
other  parts  of  Christendom. 

4.  The  last  column  of  the  summary  assumes  seventeen  million  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  of  the  whole  population  as  more  or 
less  under  the  influence  of  the  evangelical  denominations.  Accuracy 
in  such  a  calculation  is  hardly  to  be  expected,  but  I  have  taken  the 
best  data  I  could  find,  and  doubt  not  that  the  estimate  I  have  made 
is  not  much  wide  of  the  truth.  Including  all  the  evangelical 
"  Friends,"  this  estimate  would  fall  but  little  short  of  eighteen  mil- 
lion. 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  NUMBER   OF   EVANGELICAL   SECTS.  533 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

NUMBER   OF   EVANGELICAL   SECTS. 

Much  has  been  said  in  Europe  about  the  multiplicity  of  sects  in 
the  United  States,  and  many  seem  of  opinion  that  the  religious  lib- 
erty enjoyed  there  has  led  to  the  almost  indefinite  creation  of  different 
religious  communions.     This  requires  a  little  examination. 

No  doubt  absolute  religious  liberty  will  ever  be  attended  with  a 
considerable  subdivision  of  the  religious  world  into  "  branches"  or 
sects.  Men  will  ever  differ  in  their  views  respecting  doctrine  and 
church  order,  and  it  is  to  be  expected  that  such  differences  will  result 
in  the  formation  of  distinct  ecclestiastical  communions.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  religious  liberty,  matters  may  be  much  otherwise,  but  how 
far  for  the  better  a  little  consideration  will  show.  People  in  that 
case  may  be  constrained  to  acquiesce,  ostensibly  at  least,  in  a  certain 
ecclesiastical  organization,  and  in  certain  modes  of  faith  and  worship 
sanctioned  and  established  by  law.  But  such  acquiescence,  it  is  well 
known,  instead  of  being  real  and  cordial,  is  often  merely  external  and 
constrained ;  and  if  so,  its  worthlessness  is  certain  and  palpable. 

But  as  respects  the  evangelical  communions  in  the  United  States, 
it  must  have  struck  the  reader  that  this  multiplicity  has  mainly  arisen, 
not  so  much  from  the  abuse  of  religious  liberty  by  the  indulgence  of 
a  capricious  and  sectarian  spirit,  a§  from  the  various  quarters  from 
which  the  country  has  been  colonized.  Coming  in  large  numbers, 
and  sometimes  in  compact  bodies,  from  different  parts  of  the  Old 
World,  nothing  was  more  natural  than  the  desire  of  establishing  for 
themselves  and  their  posterity  the  same  religious  formularies  and 
modes  of  worship,  church  government,  and  discipline  which  they  had 
cherished  in  the  lands  that  had  given  them  birth,  and  persecution  for 
their  adherence  to  which  had  led,  in  many  instances,  to  their  having 
emigrated.  Hence  we  find,  in  the  United  States,  counterparts  not 
only  to  the  Episcopalian,  Congregational,  Baptist,  and  Methodist 
Churches  of  England,  and  to  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  but  likewise  to  the  Dutch  and  German  Reformed 
Churches,  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  the  Moravians,  Mennonists, 
etc.  Indeed,  there  is  scarcely  an  evangelical  communion  in  America 
which  is  not  the  mere  extension  by  emigration  of  a  similar  body  in 
Europe.  The  exceptions  hardly  can  be  reckoned  such,  for  they  con- 
sist for  the  most  part  of  separations  from  the  larger  bodies,  not  be- 
cause of  differences  with  regard  to  essential  doctrines  and  forms  of 


534  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

church  government,  but  on  points  of  such  inferior  consequence  that 
they  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  new  sects  at  all. 

In  fact,  if  we  take  all  the  evangelical  communions  that  have  fallen 
under  review,  and  contemplate  the  confessedly  fundamental  doctrines 
maintained  by  each,  it  is  surprising  to  observe  how  nearly  they  are 
agreed.  It  may,  we  believe,  be  demonstrated  that  among  the  evan- 
gelical communions  in  the  United  States,  numerous  as  they  are,  there 
is  as  much  real  harmony  of  doctrine,  if  not  of  church  economy,  as 
could  be  found  in  the  evangelical  churches  of  the  first  three  cen- 
turies. 

Indeed,  as  we  before  remarked,  by  grouping  the  former  in  families, 
according  to  their  great  distinctive  features,  we  at  once  reduce  them 
to  four,  or  at  most  five.  Thus  the  Presbyterians,  commonly  so  called, 
of  the  Old  and  New  Schools,  the  Congregationalists,  the  Dutch  and 
German  Reformed,  the  Scotch  Secession  churches,*  and,  we  may  add, 
the  Lutherans  and  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  form  but  one  great 
Presbyterian  family,  composed  of  elder  and  younger  members,  all  of 
them  essentially  Presbyterian  in  church  polity,  and  very  nearly  coin- 
ciding, at  bottom,  in  their  doctrinal  views.  Between  several  of  these 
communions  there  subsists  a  most  intimate  fraternal  intercourse,  and 
the  ministers  of  one  find  no  difficulty  in  entering  the  service  of  an- 
other without  being  re-ordained. 

Again,  between  the  different  evangelical  Baptist  sects  there  is  no 
really  essential  or  important  difference ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
the  Methodists.  Indeed,  the  evangelical  Christians  of  the  United 
States  exhibit  a  most  remarkable  coincidence  of  views  on  all  import- 
ant points.  On  all  doctrines  necessary  to  sa  vation — the  sum  of 
which  is  "repentance  toward  God,"  and  "faith  toward  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ" — there  is  really  no  diversity  of  opinion  at  all.  Of  this 
I  may  now  give  a  most  decisive  proof. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  American  Sunday-school  Union. 
Among  the  laymen  who  compose  its  Board  of  Directors,  are  to  be 
found  members  of  all  the  main  branches  of  the  evangelical  Protestant 
Church — Episcopalians,  Congregationalists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians, 
Lutherans,  Dutch  and  German  Reformed,  Methodists,  Quakers,  and 
Moravians.  It  publishes  a  great  many  books  for  Sunday-school  libra- 
ries every  year,  none,  of  course,  being  admitted  the  contents  of  which 
are  likely  to  give  offence  to  any  member  of  the  Board,  or  repugnant 
to  the  peculiarities  of  any  of  the  religious  bodies  represented  in  it. 
In  the  summer  of  1841  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hodge,  a  Professor  in  the  Prince- 

*  An  effort  is  now  making  to  unite  all  the  Scottish  Secession  Churches  in  one  body. 
This  coalescence  of  Churches  holding  similar  doctrines  and  maintaining  similar  orga- 
nizations may  be  expected  to  occur  from  time  to  time. 


CHAP.  XVIII.]  NUMBER   OF   EVANGELICAL   SECTS.  535 

ton  Theological  Seminary,  was  requested  by  its  committee  of  pub- 
lications to  write  a  book  exhibiting  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
as  held  by  all  evangelical  Christians.  This  he  did  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction, not  only  of  the  Board,  but  I  believe  I  may  say  of  all  evan- 
gelical Christians  throughout  the  land  that  have  read  his  work.  It  is 
appropriately  entitled  "The  Way'of  Life;"  the  subjects  are  the 
Scriptures,  sin,  justification,  faith,  repentance,  profession  of  religion, 
and  holy  living,  under  which  several  heads  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel  are  presented  in  an  able  and  yet  most  simple  and 
familiar  manner.  It  is  a  work,  in  short,  which  none  can  read  without 
surprise  and  delight  at  observing  the  vast  extent  and  fullness  of  the 
system  of  Truth,  in  which  all  evangelical  communions  are  agreed. 

These  communions,  as  they  exist  in  the  United  States,  ought  to  be 
viewed  as  branches  of  one  great  body,  even  the  entire  visible  Church 
of  Christ  in  this  land.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  circumstances 
out  of  which  they  arose,  they  are  but  constituent  parts  of  one  great 
whole — divisions  of  one  vast  army — though  each  brigade,  and  even 
each  regiment,  may  have  its  own  banner,  and  its  own  part  of  the  field 
to  occupy.  And  although  to  the  inexperienced  eye  such  an  army  as 
it  moves  onward  against  the  enemy  may  have  a  confused  appearance, 
the  different  divisions  of  infantry  being  arranged  separately,  the  ar- 
tillery interspersed,  and  the  cavalry  sometimes  in  the  front,  sometimes 
in  the  rear,  sometimes  on  the  flank,  and  sometimes  between  the  col- 
umns, yet  all  are  in  their  proper  places ;  and  to  the  mind  of  Him  who 
assigns  them  their  places,  and  directs  their  movements,  all  is  sys- 
tematic order  where  the  uninitiated  sees  nothing  but  confusion. 
Momentary  collisions,  it  is  true,  may  sometimes  happen — there  may 
be  jostling,  and  some  irritation  occasionally — yet  they  fulfill  their  ap- 
pointed parts,  and  discharge  their  appropriate  duties.  So  is  it  with 
the  "  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect"  with  us. 

No  doubt  this  multiplication  of  sects  is  attended  with  serious  evils, 
especially  in  the  new  and  thinly-peopled  settlements.  It  often  renders 
the  Churches  small  and  feeble.  But  this  is  an  evil  that  diminishes 
with  the  increase  of  the  population.  With  a  zealous  and  capable 
ministry  the  truth  gains  ground,  the  people  are  gathered  into 
Churches,  congregations  increase  in  numbers  and  consistency,  and 
though  weak  ones  are  occasionally  dissolved,  the  persons  who  com- 
posed them  either  going  into  other  evangelical  Churches,  or  emi- 
grating to  other  parts  of  the  country,  such  as  maintain  their  ground 
become  only  the  stronger ;  and  it  often  happens,  particularly  in  the 
rural  districts,  that  the  number  of  sects  diminishes  while  the  popula- 
tion increases. 

Great,  however,  as  may  be  the  disadvantages  resulting  from  this 


536  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN   AMERICA.  [BOOK  VI. 

multiplicity  of  different  communions,  were  they  all  reduced  to  one  or 
two,  we  apprehend  still  worse  evils  would  follow.  Diversity  on  non- 
essential points  among  the  churches  and  ministers  of  a  neighborhood 
often  gives  opportunity  to  those  who  reside  in  it  to  attend  the  services 
and  ministrations  which  each  finds  most  edifying,  instead  of  being  re- 
duced to  the  sad  alternative  of  either  joining  in  forms  of  worship 
which  they  conscientiously  disapprove,  and  of  listening  to  a  minister 
whom  they  find  unedifying,  or  of  abstaining  from  public  worship  alto- 
gether. Rather  than  this,  it  is  surely  far  better  to  bear  the  expense 
of  having  two  or  three  churches  in  a  community,  for  which,  looking 
only  at  the  mere  amount  of  population,  one  might  suffice. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

ALLEGED   WANT   OF   HARMONY   AMONG  THE    EVANGELICAL   CHRISTIANS 

OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

It  has  been  often  and  widely  stated  in  Europe,  on  the  authority  of 
a  certain  class  of  visitants  from  the  Old  World,  who  have  published 
their  "  Travels,"  "  Tours,"  etc.,  that  there  is  much  unseemly  strife 
among  our  various  religious  denominations.  Here,  I  hesitate  not  to 
say,  there  has  been  much  gross  misrepresentation.  No  doubt  our 
evangelical  Churches  feel  the  influence  of  mutual  emulation.  Placed 
on  the  same  great  field,  coming  into  contact  with  each  other  at  many 
points,  and  all  deeply  and  conscientiously  attached  to  their  peculiar 
doctrines  and  ecclesiastical  economy,  they  must  naturally  exercise,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  utmost  watchfulness  with  respect  to  each  other, 
and,  on  the  other,  employ  all  the  legitimate  means  in  their  power  to 
augment  their  own  numbers.  The  result  of  such  mutual  provocation 
to  good  works  is  eminently  happy.  There  may,  indeed,  be  temporary 
cases  of  disagreeable  collision  and  unbrotherly  jealousy,  but  ordina- 
rily these  are  of  short  duration.  The  best  of  men  are,  after  all,  but 
men.  Hence  even  a  devoted  Gospel  minister,  after  having  long  had 
some  particular  neighborhood  all  to  himself,  may  dread  the  opening 
of  a  new  place  of  worship  of  a  different  communion  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  own,  lest  some  of  his  hearers  should  thereby  be  drawn  away ; 
and  such  an  apprehension  may,  for  a  time,  excite  some  not  very  kind 
feelings  in  his  breast.  But  universal  experience  shows  that  such  feel- 
ings are  usually  groundless,  and  soon  cease  to  be  indulged  by  any 
but  the  most  narrow-minded  persons. 

Sometimes,  too,  a  zealous,  and  in  most  cases  vain  and  ignorant 


CHAP.  XIX.]     ALLEGED   WANT    OF   HARMONY   AMONG   CHRISTIANS.      537 

preacher,  will  show  himself  in  a  neighborhood  where  the  churches 
all  belong  to  communions  different  from  his,  and  there,  in  his  self- 
sufficiency,  begin  to  denounce  and  attempt  to  proselytize.  Such  men, 
however,  soon  create  disgust  rather  than  any  other  feeling ;  for  with 
us  most  of  those  who  join  this  or  that  church,  do  so  after  examina- 
tion of  its  doctrines,  government,  and  discipline,  and  when  once  sat- 
isfied on  these  points,  above  all,  after  finding  its  services  edifying, 
they  are  not  disposed  to  allow  themselves  to  be  disturbed  by  every 
bigoted  and  noisy  brawler  that  may  seek  to  gain  them  over  to  his 
creed  and  church,  which,  after  all,  may  not  essentially  differ  from 
their  own. 

Notwithstanding  such  cases,  I  hesitate  not  to  affirm  that,  taking  the 
evangelical  Churches  as  a  whole,  their  intercourse,  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  manifests  a  remarkable  degree  of  mutual  respect  and  frater- 
nal affection.  While  earnest  in  maintaining,  alike  from  the  pulpit 
and  the  press,  their  own  views  of  Truth  and  Church  order,  there  is 
rarely  any  thing  like  denunciation  and  unchurching  other  orthodox 
communions,  but  every  readiness,  on  the  contrary,  to  offer  help  when 
needed.  Thus,  among  all  but  the  Episcopalians,  whose  peculiar  views 
of  ordination  stand  in  the  way,  there  is  a  frequent  exchanging  of 
pulpits.  I  have  known  the  pulpit  of  an  excellent  Baptist  minister  in 
Philadelphia,  when  he  was  laid  aside  by  ill  health,  to  be  supplied 
during  two  years  by  other  ministers,  and  by  those  of  Psedobaptist 
Churches  for  much  of  that  time.  During  more  than  twenty-seven 
years  the  author  of  this  work  was  engaged  in  benevolent  efforts  in 
America,  which  led  him  repeatedly  to  visit  almost  every  State  in  the 
American  Confederacy,  and  while  on  this  mission  he  preached  in  the 
pulpits  of  no  less  than  fourteen  evangelical  communions,  including  all 
the  leading  ones. 

This  brotherly  feeling  widely  prevails  among  the  laity  also.  In  all 
parts  of  the  country  they  scruple  not,  when  there  is  no  service  in  their 
own  places  of  worship,  to  attend  others,  though  of  another  commun- 
ion ;  and,  indeed,  in  our  cities  and  large  towns,  not  a  few  Christians 
regularly  attend  the  lectures  of  pastors  not  of  their  own  communion, 
when  these  fall  on  different  evenings  from  those  of  their  own  pastors. 
Not  only  so,  but  as  there  is  no  bar  to  intercommunion,  except  in  the 
case  of  the  Baptists,  whose  views  respecting  Baptism  in  all  but  a  few 
instances  prevent  it,  and  in  that  of  the  small  Scottish  Churches,  the 
members  of  one  evangelical  communion  often  join  with  those  of  an- 
other in  receiving  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  same  church.  In  this  re- 
spect, a  very  catholic  spirit  happily  prevails.  The  answer  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Johnes,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  to  General  Washington,  who,  on  one  occasion  during  the 


538  THE  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES   IN    AMERCA.  [BOOK  VI. 

war  of  the  Revolution,  desired  to  receive  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  with  Mr.  Johnes's  congregation,  but  stated  that  he  was  an 
Episcopalian,  is  just  what  ten  thousand  ministers  of  the  Gospel  would 
make  in  like  circumstances :  "  Sir,  it  is  not  a  Presbyterian  or  an 
Episcopalian  table,  but  the  Lord's  table,  and  you  as  well  as  every 
other  Christian  are  welcome  to  it." 

IsTumerous  occasions,  moreover,  bring  all  evangelical  Christians  to- 
gether. The  Bible,  Temperance,  Colonization,  Sunday-school,  and 
Tract  Societies,  not  to  mention  such  as  are  formed  from  time  to  time 
for  particular  and  perhaps  local  objects,  Sabbath  Observance,  Educa- 
tion, and  the  like,  all  bring  Christians  of  different  denominations  into 
better  acquaintance  with  each  other,  and  tend  to  promote  mutual  re- 
spect and  affection. 

Taking  all  the  professed  Christians,  amounting,  it  has  been  seen,  to 
four  million  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  thousand  four  hundred  and 
thirty-one,  in  our  Evangelical  Churches,  I  hesitate  not  to  say  that  far 
more  mutual  respect  and  brotherly  love  prevail  among  them  than 
would  were  they  all  coerced  into  one  denomination.  The  world  has 
already  seen  what  sort  of  union  and  brotherhood  can  be  produced  by 
all  being  brought  into  one  immense  Church,  that  admits  of  no  devia- 
tion from  the  decrees  of  its  councils  and  conclaves.  There  may,  in- 
deed, be  external  agreement,  yet  beneath  this  apparent  unanimity 
there  will  be  internal  divisions  and  heart-burnings  in  abundance. 
There  may  be  union  against  all  who  dare  to  impugn  her  dogmas,  but 
who  can  tell  the  almost  infernal  hatred  with  which  her  Religious 
Orders  have  been  found  to  regard  each  other  ?  Compared  with  this, 
all  the  temporary  attritions,  together  with  all  the  controversies  and 
exacerbations  of  feeling  that  accompany  them,  that  take  place  in  our 
evangelical  Protestant  denominations,  are  as  nothing. 

Common  civility,  on  the  contrary,  concurs  with  Christian  charity 
to  make  the  enlightened  members  of  one  denomination  respect  and 
esteem  those  of  another,  and  to  appreciate  the  beautiful  sentiment  a 
few  years  ago  attributed  by  a  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  the 
British  Parliament,  to  the  late  Mr.  Wilberforce :  "  I  experience,"  said 
that  distinguished  philanthropist,  "  a  feeling  of  triumph  when  I  can 
get  the  better  of  these  little  distinctions  which  keep  Christians  asunder. 
I  would  not  that  any  one  should  sacrifice  his  principles ;  but,  exercis- 
ing the  Protestant  right  of  private  judgment,  leave  each  to  his  own 
conclusions.  It  is  delightful  to  see  that  in  this  way  men  of  different 
sects  can  unite  together  for  the  prosecution  of  their  projects  for  the 
amelioration  of  human  society.  When  I  thus  unite  with  persons  of 
a  different  persuasion  from  myself,  it  affords  me  an  augmented  degree 
of  pleasure ;  I  rise  into  a  higher  nature,  into  a  purer  air ;  I  feel  that 


CHAP.  XIX.]      ALLEGED  WANT  OF  HARMONY  AMONG  CHRISTIANS.  539 

fetters  which  before  bound  me  are  dissolved,  and  I  delight  in  that 
blessed  liberty  of  love  which  carries  all  other  blessings  with  it." 

Still,  the  question  remains,  Whence  have  foreigners,  while  visiting 
the  United  States,  received  the  impression,  which,  by  being  promul- 
gated in  their  writings,  has  called  for  these  remarks  ?  The  answer 
is  easy.  While  such  are  the  prevailing  respect  and  regard  for  each 
other  among  the  members  of  our  Evangelical  Churches,  they  all  unite 
in  opposing,  on  the  one  hand,  the  errors  of  Rome,  and,  on  the  other, 
the  heresy  that  denies  the  proper  divinity  and  atonement  of  Christ, 
together  with  those  other  aberrations  from  the  true  Gospel  which 
that  heresy  involves.  Now,  it  is  this  refusal  to  hold  fellowship  with 
errors  of  vital  moment,  it  is  this  earnest  contending  for  saving  truth, 
that  leads  tourists  in  the  United  States,  whom  chance  or  choice  has 
thrown  into  the  society  of  persons  opposed  in  their  religious  tenets  to 
the  Evangelical  Churches,  to  charge  us  with  uncharitableness.  Sine 
illce  lachrymce. 

We  deny  not  that  in  some  of  the  divisions  of  Churches  that  have 
taken  place  in  the  United  States,  men  have  at  times  permitted  them- 
selves to  speak  and  write  with  an  acrimony  unbecoming  the  Gospel, 
and,  by  so  doing,  may  have  made  an  unfavorable  impression  on  for- 
eigners. But  such  cases  have  been  local  and  exceptional  rather  than 
general  and  ordinary,  and  never  could  justify  any  sweeping  charge 
against  the  evangelical  denominations  as  a  body. 


BOOK    VII, 

NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS    IN 

AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY     REMARKS. 

Having  thus  reviewed,  as  far  as  the  compass  of  our  work  will 
permit,  the  Evangelical  Churches  or  Denominations  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  we  come  now  to  speak  of  those  that  are  considered 
by  Orthodox  Protestants  as  unevangelical ;  and  under  this  head  we 
shall,  for  convenience'  sake,  range  all  those  sects  that  either  renounce, 
or  fail  faithfully  to  exhibit  the  fundamental  and  saving  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  Here,  however,  let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  When  we 
put  Roman  Catholics  in  the  same  category  with  Unitarians,  we  would 
not  for  a  moment  be  supposed  to  place  them  on  the  same  footing. 
The  former,  doubtless,  as  a  Church,  hold  those  doctrines  on  which 
true  believers  in  all  ages  have  rested  their  hopes  for  eternal  life,  yet 
these  have  been  so  buried  amid  the  rubbish  of  multiplied  human  tra- 
ditions and  inventions,  as  to  remain  hid  from  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  Still,  as  in  their  doctrinal  formularies  they  have  not  denied 
"  the  Lord  that  bought  them,"  however  much  they  may  have  multi- 
plied other  "  saviours,"  they  must  not  be  confounded  with  those  who 
have  openly  rejected  that  "  sure  foundation  which  is  laid  in  Zion." 
While,  therefore,  we  must  deplore  their  "  holding  the  Truth  in  un- 
righteousness," and  instead  of  presenting  through  their  numerous 
priesthood  the  simple  and  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  their 
supplanting  these,  in  a  great  measure,  by  introducing  "  another  Gos- 
pel," we  would  not  say  that  an  enlightened  mind  may  not  find  in 
their  Church  the  way  of  life,  obstructed  though  it  be  by  innumerable 
obstacles. 

Neither  would  we  be  thought  to  put  the  Unitarians  on  the  same  foot- 
ing with  the  Universalists.     The  moral  influence  of  the  preaching  of 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   ROMAN   CATHOLIC   CHURCH.  541 

the  former,  and  their  standing  in  society,  make  them  far  more  valua- 
ble than  the  latter  as  a  component  part  of  the  general  population. 
Nor  would  we  put  the  Jews,  or  even  the  more  serious  part  of  the 
Universalists,  on  the  same  level  with  "  Socialists,"  "  Shakers,"  and 
"  Mormons." 

All  that  we  mean  by  putting  these  various  bodies  in  one  category 
is,  that  they  can  none  of  them  be  associated  with  the  evangelical 
Protestant  Churches — with  Churches  whose  religion  is  the  Bible,  the 
whole  Bible,  and  nothing  but  the  Bible — nor,  indeed,  do  we  suppose 
that,  however  much  they  may  dislike  being  brought  under  a  com- 
mon designation,  they  would  any  of  them  choose  to  be  associated 
with  the  evangelical  Protestant  communions,  or  challenge  for  them- 
selves that  appellation. 

The  doctrines  and  economy  of  the  Roman  Catholics  being  well 
known  almost  everywhere,  a  very  general  account  of  that  Church 
may  suffice,  though  it  is  by  far  the  most  important  of  all  the  bodies 
that  are  to  be  noticed  in  this  section  of  our  work.  As  the  appear- 
ance and  the  spread  of  Unitarianism  in  "  the  land  of  the  Pilgrims," 
on  the  other  hand,  has  been  matter  of  much  surprise  and  curiosity 
in  Europe,  as  full  an  account  of  its  rise,  progress,  and  present  pros- 
pects in  the  United  States  will  be  given  as  our  plan  will  permit.  Of 
the  other  bodies  that  find  a  place  here,  we  shall  take  such  notice,  at 
least,  as  will  enable  the  reader  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  their  true 
character  and  present  condition. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE     ROMAN     CATHOLIC     CHURCH. 

Maryland,  we  have  seen,  was  originally  a  Roman  Catholic  colony 
founded  on  most  liberal  principles,  under  the  auspices  and  through 
the  exertions  of  Lord  Baltimore.  And  although  Protestant  Episco- 
pacy was  established  in  the  colony  under  the  reign  of  William  and 
Mary,  the  laws  of  England  against  Roman  Catholics  being  at  the 
same  time  rigorously  enforced,  they  continued,  nevertheless,  to  form 
the  most  numerous  and  influential  body  in  the  province  down  to  the 
American  Revolution.  Even  to  this  day,  though  now  but  a  small 
minority  of  the  entire  population,  not  exceeding,  it  is  believed,  one 
hundred  thousand  souls,  and  inferior  in  point  of  numbers  both  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopalians  and  Methodists,  they  have  much  influence, 
and  are  perhaps  the  wealthiest  communion  in  the  State. 


542  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

Except  in  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island,  I  am  not  aware  that  the 
Roman  Catholics  anywhere  enjoyed  their  share  of  political  rights  at 
the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  but  now,  I  believe, 
they  are  everywhere  upon  the  same  footing  with  others,  and  enjoy 
all  the  political  privileges  that  our  Constitution  affords.* 

The  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  in  1803,  of  Florida,  in  1821,  of  New 
Mexico  and  California,  in  1848,  very  considerably  increased  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  population  of  the  country.  To  this  must  be  added  an 
immense  immigration  from  Europe,  mainly  from  Ireland  and  Ger- 
many, during  the  last  sixty,  still  more  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years.    Their  increase  has  been  rapid  since  the  Revolution,  partly 

*  I  have  often  heard  Roman  Catholics  in  Europe  reproach  the  Protestants  of  the 
United  States  with  intolerance  :  and  in  proof  of  this,  they  have  chiefly  urged  the  burn- 
ing by  the  populace  of  a  convent  at  Charlestown,  near  Boston,  in  1834.  That,  in- 
deed, is  the  only  case,  I  believe,  which  even  they  themselves  can  possibly  urge  as 
amounting  to  persecution ;  and  as,  in  the  notoriety  that  it  has  obtained,  it  has  been 
sadly  misrepresented,  especially  by  the  late  Bishop  England,  in  his  letters  to  the 
Propaganda  Society,  I  need  make  no  apology  for  taking  some  notice  of  it. 

The  convent  in  question,  which  was  one  of  Ursuline  Sisters,  and  was  founded  in 
1820,  was  rather  a  boarding-school  for  girls  than  anything  else.  The  number  of  nuns 
varied  from  eight  to  ten,  and  that  of  the  pupils  from  twenty  to  sixty.  The  buildings, 
furniture,  and  grounds  were  ample  and  valuable.  The  occasion  of  its  being  destroyed 
was  as  follows :  One  of  the  nuns,  a  Miss  Harrison,  who  taught  music,  while  suffer- 
ing from  temporary  derangement  caused  by  excitement,  left  the  establishment  for  a 
short  time.  Hence  a  report  that  she  had  been  ill  treated,  which  soon  spread  through 
the  adjacent  borough  of  Charlestown,  and  then  through  Boston,  which  is  within  two 
miles'  distance.  Strong  suspicions  having  been  entertained  for  several  years,  on 
what  foundation  I  know  not,  of  highly  improper  conduct  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
nuns,  Miss  Harrison's  case  inflamed  the  minds  of  the  populace,  and  led  to  a  riot  on 
the  night  of  August  11th,  1834,  ending  in  the  entire  destruction  of  the  convent  with 
all  its  furniture,  the  actors  being  for  the  most  part  young  men  and  boys  from  Charles- 
town and  Boston.  This  outrage  was  condemned  in  the  strongest  terms  by  all  respect- 
able people,  and  an  able  report  was  published  a  few  days  afterward,  and  subscribed 
by  thirty-seven  Boston  Protestants,  all  of  the  highest  moral  respectability,  in  which 
the  reputation  of  the  convent  was  decidedly,  and,  I  dare  say  justly,  vindicated.  Some 
of  the  rioters  were  identified  and  punished,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  public 
demanded  that  the  State  of  Massachusetts  should  indemnify  the  Roman  Catholics  for 
the  loss  they  had  sustained.  I  regret  that,  from  various  causes,  no  indemnification 
has  to  this  day  been  made,  mainly,  I  believe,  because  it  was  insisted  that  the  State 
should  rebuild  the  convent — a  demand  opposed  by  many  who  would  grant  a  full  pe- 
cuniary compensation,  but  have  no  idea  that  the  State,  as  such,  should  give  any  ap- 
parent sanction  to  an  establishment  of  that  kind. 

It  ought  to  be  known,  however,  that  the  convent  at  Charlestown  was  not  destroyed 
because  it  was  a  Roman  Catholic  institution.  Indeed,  I  am  satisfied,  from  what  I 
heard  at  Boston  a  few  weeks  after  its  destruction,  that  had  it  been  a  Protestant  one 
it  would,  under  the  same  circumstances,  have  shared  the  same  fate.  This  forms  no 
justification  of  the  barbarous  act,  nor  even  a  palliation  of  it ;  but  it  does  show  that 
it  was  not  owing  to  hostility  to  its  occupants  because  they  were  Roman  Catholics. 


CHAP,  n.]  THE  ROMAN   CATHOLIC   CHURCH.  543 

owing  to  the  above-mentioned  territorial  acquisitions,  partly  to  con- 
versions, but  most  of  all  to  immigration.  According  to  the  Metro- 
politan Catholic  Almanac  for  1856,  published  at  Baltimore,  there  were 
in  the  preceding  year  in  the  United  States, 

41  Dioceses. 
2  Apostolic  Vicariates. 
1  Archbishops,  33  bishops. 
1,780  Priests,  of  whom  1,611  are  employed  in  the  ministry,  and  169  as  professors  of 

colleges,  etc. 
1,910  Churches. 
895  Other  stations  for  preaching,  where  churches  had  yet  to  be  built.    In  all,  2,805 
places  for  preaching. 
37  Ecclesiastical  Seminaries. 
460  Clerical  students. 

49  Literary  institutions  for  young  men,  26  incorporated  and  9  unincorporated  col- 
leges. 
236  Female  religious  institutions. 
130  Female  academies. 

The  Roman  Catholics  have  nineteen  weekly  papers,  of  which  four 
appear  in  German,  and  one  in  French,  and  one  monthly,  one  bi- 
monthly, one  quarterly,  and  one  annual  periodical. 

It  is  clear,  from  all  this,  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has 
gained  a  firm  and  extensive  footing  in  the  United  States.  From  fifty 
to  eighty  church  edifices  are  annually  erected.  For  such  objects 
large  sums  are  received  from  the  Propaganda  Society  in  France,  and 
the  Leopold  Society  in  Austria.  It  is  believed  that  nearly  $250,000 
were  received  in  1855  from  these  two  sources  * 

The  assertion  has  often  been  made  by  the  opponents  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  in  the  United  States,  that  they  never  can  be  safe  citi- 
zens of  a  republic,  and  that  the  predominance  of  their  Church  would 
involve  the  overthrow  of  our  political  constitution.  Such  an  opinion 
must  rest,  I  should  think,  on  the  presumed  hatred  of  the  priests  to 
republican  institutions,  and  the  impossibility  of  counteracting  the  in- 
fluence they  possess  over  their  people.  However  this  may  be,  many 
valuable  citizens  and  stern  patriots  in  this  country  have  belonged  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  how  far  it  is 
possible  for  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  to  obtain  or  exercise  the  same 
influence  over  their  followers  here  that  they  possess  hi  some  European 
countries.  One  thing  is  certain :  the  Protestant  population,  and  the 
clergy  in  particular,  are  not  likely  to  be  indifferent  to  their  move- 

*  If  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States  receive  aid  from  their  brethren  in 
Europe,  they  also  sometimes  give  aid  to  their  friends  in  the  Old  World.  For  instance, 
large  sums  were  raised  some  years  since  in  our  chief  cities  to  aid  in  building  a  Cath- 
olic University  at  Thurles,  in  the  centre  of  Ireland. 


544  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

ments.  The  last  few  years  have  witnessed  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
in  the  United  States  on  the  doctrines  and  influence  of  Romanism,  and 
much  distinguished  talent  and  deep  research  have  been  exhibited  in 
the  course  of  it.*  Neither  has  this  discussion  been  confined  to  any 
particular  denomination  of  evangelical  Protestants,  but  it  has  extended 
almost  to  every  pulpit  in  every  branch  of  that  body.  Never  was  there 
so  general  a  determination  to  give  publicity  to  the  opinions  they 
entertain  of  the  character  and  tendency  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion ;  nor  have  its  friends  and  abettors  been  silent  under  these  at- 
tacks. 

Much  curiosity  is  felt  in  Europe  as  to  how  far  the  increase  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States  arises  from  proselytism.  No 
doubt  it  may  partly  be  ascribed  to  that,  but  much  more  to  the  immi- 
gration of  Roman  Catholics,  and  of  persons  of  Roman  Catholic  ori- 
gin from  Europe.  As  for  proselytism,  the  Protestants  probably  gain 
as  much  as  the  Roman  Catholics  from  that  source.f 

The  Roman  Catholics  of  the  United  States  have  done  much  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  other  institutions  of  learning;  and 
among  their  priests  and  higher  clergy  there  is  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  men  of  distinguished  talents  and  extensive  erudition. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  the  sums  received  from  Europe  is  laid 
out  in  building  churches  and  cathedrals,  several  of  which  are  costly 
and  splendid  edifices.  That  at  Baltimore  cost  $300,000  ;  those  of 
Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  cost  much  less,  yet  are  large  and  showy 
buildings. 

A  visitor  from  Europe  would,  on  entering  the  Roman  Catholic 
churches  of  the  United  States,  be  struck  with  the  few  pictures  and 

*  Among  the  ablest  writers  on  this  subject  may  be  reckoned  the  Rev.  Drs.  Brown- 
lee,  R.  J.  Breckinridge,  Cheever,  Boardman,  and  Berg.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
late  Rev.  Drs.  John  Breckinridge  and  Nevins,  men  of  distinguished  piety  and  learn- 
ing, and  whose  memory  is  precious  to  many  of  the  churches  in  America.  Among  the 
Roman  Catholics,  the  late  Bishop  England  and  Archbishop  Hughes  have  been  the  most 
able  disputants. 

f  Captain  Marryat,  in  his  work  on  the  United  States,  asserts  that  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics are  increasing  rapidly  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  other  parts  of  the  Valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  states  it  as  his  opinion  that  theirs  will,  at  no  distant  day,  be  the 
predominant  religion  in  all  that  region.  But  his  mere  opinion,  unsupported  by  au- 
thentic statistical  documents,  is  really  of  very  little  worth  in  such  matters.  The 
gallant  captain  is  at  home  on  the  seas,  but  when  he  attempts  to  describe  the  moral 
and  religious  state  of  the  American  Confederation,  he  is  evidently  in  a  world  of  which 
he  knows  little  or  nothing.  A  man  who  could  allow  himself  to  be  hoaxed  as  he  was 
when  in  this  country — an  author  who  could  believe,  and  gravely  relate,  as  actual  oc- 
currences, some  of  the  most  ludicrous  absurdities  that  could  well  be  imagined — is 
hardly  fit  for  the  task  of  carefully  collecting  and  comparing  facts,  and  deducing  from 
them  fair  conclusions. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   ROMAN   CATHOLIC   CHURCH.  545 

other  such  ornaments  that  they  exhibit.  This  may  arise  from  the 
want  of  time  and  money  required  for  such  things.  The  priests,  too, 
dress  like  other  citizens  when  not  engaged  in  their  official  duties.  Nor 
will  it  escape  a  stranger  from  any  part  of  Roman  Catholic  Europe, 
that  processions  and  religious  services  in  the  streets  are  hardly  ever 
seen  in  the  United  States. 

By  the  rapid  multiplication  of  their  priests  in  the  United  States 
the  Roman  Catholics  have,  no  doubt,  checked  those  conversions  from 
their  Church  to  Protestantism  which  were  frequent  in  former  times. 
Bishop  England,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  the  Propaganda,  stated,  a 
few  years  ago,  that  "  the  Church"  had  lost  no  fewer  than  fifty  thou- 
sand of  her  legitimate  children  in  his  diocese  by  such  conversions,  for 
want  of  shepherds  to  look  after  them. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  fact  in  regard  to  the  increase  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  in  the  United  States,  or  whatever  may  be  the  .zeal  and 
activity  of  the  Protestants  to  prevent  that  increase,  there  is  no  well- 
informed  American  who  does  not  rejoice  in  the  perfect  religious  lib- 
erty which  exists  for  all ;  nor  is  there  wanting  a  good  degree  of 
kindness  and  social  intercourse  among  men  of  all  religious  opinions  ; 
while  as  to  the  government,  it  fulfills  the  declaration  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian queen : 

"Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discriminc  agetury 

Of  all  forms  of  error  in  the  United  States,  Romanism  is  by  far  the 
most  formidable,  because  of  the  number  of  its  adherents,  the  organ- 
ization, wealth,  influence,  and  worldly  and  unscrupulous  policy  of  its 
hierarchy.  That  Romanism  is  increasing  in  the  United  States  can  not 
be  denied ;  but  that  increase  is  not  from  conversion,  but  from  the 
natural  increase  of  the  population  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  the  im- 
migration of  Roman  Catholics  from  Europe  on  the  other.  The 
Roman  Catholic  population  may  be  reckoned  at  three  millions  or 
three  millions  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand;  but  nothing  very 
definite  can  be  asserted,  for  high  authorities  among  the  Romanists 
themselves  vary  in  their  estimates  from  two  to  four  millions.  Al- 
though Archbishop  Hughes  and  some  of  the  other  members  of  the 
hierarchy  often  boast  of  the  progress  of  their  Church  in  the  United 
States,  it  is  well  known  that  some  others  of  that  hierarchy  make  very 
remarkable  admissions  when  writing  to  their  friends  in  Ireland — ad- 
missions which  they  have  not  had  the  prudence  to  conceal.  These 
admissions  are  to  the  effect  that  large  numbers  of  the  young  men, 
especially  in  the  great  cities  and  in  the  rural  districts,  are  quitting 
the  Church  of  their  fathers,  sometimes  to  embrace  Protestantism, 
and  still  oftener,  at  least  for  a'time,  to  fall  into  infidelity.     There  is  a 

35 


546  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  TIL 

vast  amount  of  truth  in  all  this.  Father  Mullen,  an  Irish  priest,  who 
visited  the  country  extensively  three  or  four  years  ago,  believed  and 
published  that  this  awful  "  falling  away,"  as  he  termed  it,  had  cost 
Rome  the  loss  of  two  millions  of  her  children.  What  he  means  is, 
that  Rome  now  has  two  millions  less  of  followers  in  the  United  States 
than  she  would  have  had  if  this  declension  did  not  exist.  But  this  is 
an  over-estimate.  Still  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  her  loss  has  been 
immense  from  this  source.  The  freedom  of  the  press  in  the  United 
States,  the  freedom  of  speech,  the  constant  contact  with  Protestants 
to  which  young  Romanists  are  exposed,  the  manifest  superiority  of 
the  Protestant  population  in  intelligence,  enterprise,  wealth,  and  gen- 
eral influence,  all  conspire  to  make  Roman  Catholic  young  men  in- 
quire into  the  nature  and  claims  of  the  two  systems ;  and  inquiry 
leads  to  great  results.  The  infidelity  into  which  they  often  fall  is  not 
likely  to  be  lasting  where  favorable  opportunities  exist  for  learning 
the  truth.  Thanks  be  to  God,  much  is  now  doing  by  the  Protestants, 
in  a  kindly  way,  to  cause  the  truth  to  reach  the  minds  of  their  Ro- 
man Catholic  fellow-citizens. 

Two  or  three  things  have  occurred  to  arouse  the  American  people 
in  relation  to  Rome  and  her  movements.  1.  The  simultaneous  efforts 
which  have  been  of  late  made  by  her  hierarchy  in  many  of  the  States 
to  obtain  a  portion  of  the  funds  destined  to  the  support  of  public 
schools,  and  employ  them  for  the  support  of  their  own  sectarian 
schools,  in  which  neither  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  nor  any  portions  of 
them,  are  read,  but  avowedly  sectarian  instruction  is  given ;  and  this, 
not  so  much  for  the  benefit  of  their  own  children,  as  to  prosecute 
effectually  the  work  of  proselyting  the  children  of  Protestants.  This 
movement  has  been  most  signally  defeated  in  all  quarters.  2.  The 
efforts  making  by  the  hierarchy  to  bring  all  the  property  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church — church  edifices  especially,  priests'  houses, 
cemeteries,  schools,  colleges,  hospitals,  etc.,  into  the  possession  of  the 
bishops.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  this  movement,  in  which  Arch- 
bishop Hughes  has  been  very  prominent,  commenced  ;  and  already 
some  of  their  bishops  are  possessors  of  an  immense  amount  of  prop- 
erty. But  this  movement  has  awakened  an  extended  and  triumphant 
opposition ;  and  already  several  States'  have  enacted  laws  which  re- 
quire that  all  Church  property  shall  be  held  by  lay-trustees  appointed 
by  each  congregation,  and  accountable  to  them  for  the  proper  use  of 
it ;  the  great  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  taking  the  lead. 
This  is  a  most  important  step ;  and  we  can  not  doubt  that  similar 
laws  will  be  enacted  in  all  our  States.  3.  The  disposition,  long  well 
known,  of  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  great  political  parties,  to  court 
the  Romanists  for  their  votes  at  the  elections,  and  the  willingness  of 


CHAP.  III.]  UNTTARIANISM.  547 

the  hierarchy  to  be  regarded  as  a  "  great  power  in  the  State,"  and 
as,  in  fact,  holding  the  "  balance  of  power,"  as  has  been  often  said — 
this  obsequious  meanness  on  the  one  hand,  and  unbounded  arrogance 
on  the  other,  have  led  to  the  formation  of  a  political  party  called  the 
"  American  Party,"  which  has,  for  the  time  being,  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence  on  our  political  institutions.  All  this  has  been  eminently 
injurious  to  the  interests  and  pretensions  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  among  us. 


CHAPTER   III. 


ITNTTARIANISM. 


To  understand  the  history  of  Unitarianism  in  New  England,  the 
reader  must  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  leading  ecclesiastical  usages  of 
the  Puritans,  and  of  the  principles  on  which  they  were  founded. 

The  Puritans  held  that  all  men  are  by  nature  destitute  of  true 
piety  ;  that  they  naturally  grow  up  in  the  practice  of  sin ;  and  that 
no  one  becomes  religious  except  by  a  change  in  his  habits  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  conduct,  which  they  ascribed  to  the  special  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  its  supernatural  cause.  They  believed  that  the 
truly  pious  are  ordinarly  conscious  of  this  change  in  the  action  of 
their  own  minds  when  it  takes  place,  and  are  able  to  describe  it, 
though  they  may  not  then  know  that  the  change  of  which  they  are 
conscious  is  regeneration.  In  some  cases,  they  admitted,  the  man  is 
not  aware  of  any  change  at  the  time  of  his  conversion ;  yet  he  will 
be  conscious  of  exercises  afterward,  such  as  no  unregenerate  man 
ever  has,  and  he  can  describe  them.  Some  may  be  regenerated  in 
infancy,  which  it  is  lawful  for  us  to  hope  is  the  case  with  all  who  die 
before  they  are  old  enough  to  profit  by  the  external  means  of  grace. 
If  any  of  them  live  to  maturity,  they  will  not  be  able  to  remember 
the  time  of  their  change,  but  they  will  be  conscious  of  sensible  love 
to  God  and  holiness,  penitence  for  sin,  and  other  pious  exercises,  and 
can  give  an  account  of  them.  They  believed,  therefore,  that  every 
converted  person  who  has  arrived  at  the  age  of  discretion,  has  a  re- 
ligious "  experience"  which  he  can  tell,  and  by  hearing  which  other 
pious  persons  may  judge  of  his  piety.  The  evidence  thus  afforded, 
however,  was  to  be  compared  with  his  conduct  in  all  the  relations  of 
life,  and  if  this  also  was  "  such  as  becometh  saints,"  he  was  to  be  ac- 
counted a  pious  man. 


548  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMEKICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

A  church  they  held  to  be  "  a  company  of  faithful  persons,"  that  is, 
persons  who  have  saving  faith,  regenerate  persons,  agreeing  and  con- 
senting "  to  meet  constantly  together  in  one  congregation  for  the 
public  worship  of  God  and  their  mutual  edification ;  which  real  agree- 
ment and  consent  they  do  express  by  their  constant  practice  in  com- 
ing together  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  by  their  religious  subjec- 
tion," that  is,  by  subjecting  themselves  voluntarily,  from  religious 
motives,  "  to  the  ordinances  of  God  therein."* 

To  become  a  member  of  a  church,  according  to  these  principles,  a 
person  must  voluntarily  apply  for  admission.  But  if  the  admission 
were  open  to  all  applicants,  bad  men  would  come  in,  who  neither 
knew  their  duty,  nor  were  willing  to  perform  it.  With  such  mem- 
bers, Congregationalism  would  not  be  a  safe  system  of  Church  gov- 
ernment. The  applicant  must,  therefore,  furnish  evidence  of  his 
fitness  for  membership.  He  must  give  an  account  of  his  religious  ex- 
perience. This  being  satisfactory,  he  must  be  "  propounded  ;"  that 
is,  his  application  for  membership  must  be  announced  from  the  pul- 
pit, and  his  admission  must  be  deferred  for  a  given  time,  that  all  the 
members  might  have  opportunity  to  acquaint  themselves  with  his  life 
and  conversation.  These  being  found  such  as  the  Gospel  requires,  he 
was  allowed  to  become  a  member,  by  publicly  entering  into  cove- 
nant with  the  Church  and  with  God. 

It  must  be  particularly  observed,  that  the  burden  of  proof  rested 
on  the  applicant.  Every  man,  the  Puritans  held,  is  born  in  sin ;  and 
if  no  evidence  of  a  change  appears,  the  presumption  is,  that  he  is  still 
in  his  sins.  They  regarded  and  treated  all  in  whom  no  evidence  of 
regeneration  appeared  as  unregenerated ;  as  persons  who  must  yet  be 
converted  or  finally  perish. 

Throughout  Christendom,  in  that  age,  neither  Jews,  Turks,  pagans, 
infidels,  nor  excommunicated  persons  could  enjoy  the  full  privileges 
of  citizenship.  These  privileges  belonged  only  to  persons  who  were 
in  communion  with  the  churches  established  by  law.  The  same  rule 
was  adopted  in  New  England.  None  but  members  of  the  churches 
could  hold  offices  or  vote  at  elections.  Here,  however,  it  operated  as 
it  did  nowhere  else.  As  the  churches  contained  only  those  who 
were,  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  regenerate  persons,  a  large  portion 
of  the  people,  among  whom  were  many  persons  of  intelligence,  of 
good  moral  character,  and  orthodox  in  their  creed,  were  excluded 
from  valuable  civil  privileges. 

The  principles  on  which  this  system  was  founded,  the  Puritans 
brought  with  them  from  England ;  but  the  system  was  first  brought 
to  maturity  here ;  and  New  England  Congregationalists,  when  on 

*  Cambridge  Platform,  1648,  chap,  iv.,  sec.  4. 


CHAP.  III.]  UNITARIANISM.  549 

visits  to  their  fatherland,  did  much  toward  giving  its  form  and  char- 
acter to  the  Congregationalism  that  afterward  prevailed  there.  The 
system  appears  to  have  been  adopted  in  1648  with  a  good  degree  of 
unanimity ;  but  as  the  number  of  unconverted  adults  increased,  both 
by  immigration  and  by  the  growing  up  of  children  without  piety, 
there  was  an  increasing  dissatisfaction  with  it.  By  the  year  1662, 
such  a  change  of  opinions  had  been  wrought  that  what  was  called 
the  "  half-way  covenant"  was  introduced,  by  a  recommendation  of  a 
General  Synod.  According  to  this  new  system,  persons  baptized  in 
infancy  were  to  be  considered  members  of  the  church  to  which  their 
parents  belonged;  though  they  were  not  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Lord's  table  without  evidence  of  regeneration.  Such  persons,  on  ar- 
riving at  maturity,  "  understanding  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and  publicly 
professing  their  assent  thereto,  not  scandalous  in  life,  and  solemnly 
owning  the  covenant  before  the  church,  wherein  they  give  up  them- 
selves and  their  children  to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to  the 
government  of  Christ  in  the  church,"  had  a  right  to  Baptism  for 
their  children.  This  was  an  important  change.  It  relieved  the  ap- 
plicant for  church  membership  from  the  necessity  of  furnishing  evi- 
dence of  his  piety,  and  obliged  the  church,  if  it  would  exclude  him, 
to  prove  that  he  was  heretical  in  his  opinions  or  scandalous  in  his 
life.  This  change  was  strenuously  opposed ;  and  as  the  synod  had 
only  advisory  power,  and  many  churches  disapproved  its  decisions,  it 
never  became  universal. 

One  step  more  remained  to  be  taken.  In  1704,  "  the  venerable 
Stoddard,"  of  Northampton,  avowed  his  belief  that  unregenerate 
persons  ought  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  in  1708,  he  pub- 
lished a  sermon  in  defence  of  that  doctrine.  He  maintained  that  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  a  means  of  regeneration,  and  that  unrenewed  men, 
regarding  themselves,  and  being  regarded  by  the  Church  as  such, 
ought  to  partake  of  it  as  a  means  of  procuring  that  desirable  change 
in  their  own  hearts.  One  of  his  arguments  was,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  distinguish  the  regenerate  from  the  unregenerate,  so  as  to  admit 
the  former  and  exclude  the  latter.  After  some  controversy,  this 
doctrine  gained  an  extensive  prevalence  among  the  churches  which 
had  adopted  the  "half-way  covenant"  system.  Among  these 
churches,  the  principles  and  rules  of  admission  were  now  completely 
reversed.  The  church  was  now  obliged  to  convict  the  applicant  of  a 
scandalous  life,  or  of  heresy,  or  admit  him  to  full  communion ;  and 
one  reason  for  it  was,  the  supposed  impossibility  of  judging  whether 
he  was  regenerate  or  not. 

Stoddard  was  a  decided  Calvinist ;  but  his  system  fostered  the 
growth  of  Arminianism.     It  taught  the  impenitent  that  they  had 


550  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMEKICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

something  to  do  before  repentance,  as  a  means  of  obtaining  saving 
grace.  Tbe  unregenerate  communicant  supposed  himself  to  be 
obediently  walking  in  the  way  which  God  had  appointed  for  such 
persons  as  himself.  He  could  not,  therefore,  feel  much  to  blame  for 
being  what  he  was,  or  much  afraid  that  God  would  remove  him  from 
the  world  without  first  preparing  him  for  heaven.  This,  combined 
with  the  belief  that  the  regenerate  could  not  be  distinguished  from 
the  unregenerate  by  their  Christian  experience,  was  enough  to  throw 
the  conscience  into  a  profound  sleep. 

The  labors  of  the  great  Edwards,  and  the  "revival  of  1740,"  as  it 
is  usually  called,  form  the  next  turning-point  in  this  history.  Ed- 
wards was  the  grandson  of  "  the  venerable  Stoddard,"  and  his  suc- 
cessor at  Northampton.  In  consequence  of  the  manifest  increase  of 
Arminianism,  and  the  consequent  habit  of  relying  on  works  done  in 
impenitence  as  a  means  of  preparing  for  heaven,  Edwards  commenced 
his  course  of  sermons  on  justification  by  faith.  These  discourses,  and 
others  on  kindred  topics,  were  the  means  of  a  very  powerful  revival, 
which  became  fully  developed  at  Northampton  early  in  1735,  and 
spread  into  many  other  towns  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 
The  converts  in  this  revival  were  generally  able  to  give  a  clear  ac- 
count of  the  exercise  of  their  own  minds  in  their  awakening,  their 
conviction  of  sin,  their  submission  to  God,  and  acceptance  of  Christ 
as  their  all-sufficient  Saviour.  So  many  undeniable  instances,  in 
which  the  regenerate  could  be  distinguished  from  the  unregenerate 
by  the  history  of  their  religious  exercises,  gave  a  serious  shock  to  the 
doctrine  that  making  such  a  distinction  is  impossible.  It  taught 
ministers  to  hope  and  labor  for  conversions  of  which  evidence  could 
be  found.  It  made  those  who  had  no  evidence  of  their  own  conver- 
sion afraid  that  they  were  still  unregenerate.  By  special  request, 
Edwards  prepared  a  narrative  of  these  "  Surprising  Conversions," 
which  was  printed  in  London,  with  an  introduction  by  the  Rev.  Drs. 
Watts  and  Guise.  It  was  soon  reprinted  in  Boston,  and  was  exten- 
sively read,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic. 

From  this  time  there  continued  to  be  similar  revivals,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  in  various  parts  of  New  England.  In  1739,  and  the  beginning 
of  1 740,  they  were  evidently  increasing.  The  celebrated  Whitfield, 
who  was  ordained  in  1736,  had  already  excited  much  attention  in 
England,  and  was  preaching  with  great  success  in  the  Southern 
American  colonies,  To  help  forward  this  good  work,  he  was  invited 
to  Boston,  where  he  arrived  in  October  1740.  The  exciting  point  of 
his  doctrine  was  the  necessity  of  a  sensible  change  of  heart  in  order 
to  preparation  for  heaven.    Like  the  old  Puritans,  and  like  Edwards, 


CHAP.  III.]  T7NITAKIANISM.  551 

he  held  that  every  man  is  born  in  sin,  and  unless  some  evidence  ap- 
pears to  the  contrary,  is  to  be  esteemed  an  heir  of  perdition.  The 
believers  of  this  doctrine  had  always  been  numerous  and  powerful 
both  among  the  clergy  and  in  the  churches  of  New  England ;  and  by 
those  who  were  not  its  believers,  it  was  rather  neglected  than  op- 
posed. It  was  now  brought  home  to  men's  hearts  as  they  had  never 
known  it  to  be  before.  All  have  heard  of  the  eloquence  of  Whitfield; 
and  that  of  Edwards,  though  in  a  different  style,  was  at  least  equally 
effective,  and  more  sure  to  leave  permanent  results.  These  men  had 
powerful  allies  in  several  of  the  pastors  in  Boston  and  other  parts  of 
New  England,  and  especially  in  the  Tennents,  and  their  fellow-labor- 
ers in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 

These  men  assumed  as  an  established  truth,  and  proclaimed  with 
all  possible  distinctness  and  earnestness,  the  doctrine  that  regenera- 
tion is  a  change  accompanied  with  evidence  by  which  it  may  be 
proved,  and  that  all  in  whom  no  such  evidence  is  found  are  unregen- 
erate,  and  in  the  broad  road  to  perdition.  They  preached  to  them, 
accordingly,  not  as  Christians  who  needed  instruction,  but  as  impen- 
itent, enemies  of  God  and  righteousness,  who  must  be  converted  or 
perish  forever.  Multitudes  were  awakened,  convinced,  converted; 
and  in  a  few  years,  tens  of  thousands  were  added  to  the  churches ; 
and  other  multitudes  who  were  already  in  the  churches,  were  in  like 
manner  awakened  and  brought  to  repentance. 

Such  an  attack  on  men's  hopes  of  heaven  could  not  fail  to  provoke 
resistance.  As  has  been  shown  already,  the  habit  had  been  formed 
of  hoping  favorably  concerning  all  who  were  not  proved  guilty  of 
heresy  or  immorality,  and  of  admitting  all  such  to  the  communion  of 
the  churches,  for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  perhaps  they  were 
regenerate.  The  promoters  of  the  revival  made  unsparing  war  upon 
all  such  hopes,  and  pronounced  all  who  had  nothing  else  to  rest  upon, 
heirs  of  perdition.  This  their  opponents  called  "  censoriousness ;" 
and  those  who  practised  it  were  denounced  as  uncharitable,  as  usurp- 
ers of  God's  prerogative  of  judging  the  heart,  as  fanatics  who  de- 
lighted to  throw  orderly,  quiet  Christians  into  needless  alarm.  Such 
was  the  usual  language  of  that  part  of  the  clergy  who  leaned 
strongly  toward  Arminianism,  of  their  followers,  and  of  many  others. 
Some  zealous  promoters  of  the  revival  were  guilty  of  great  errors, 
and  really  deserved  these  reproaches ;  and  its  adversaries  were  not 
slow  in  seizing  the  advantage  thus  brought  within  their  reach. 
They  convinced  many  that  the  revival  was  made  up  of  unchari- 

tableness  and  fanaticism,  and  thus  succeeded  in  setting  limits  to  its 

progress. 

In  a  few  years  after  the  commencement  of  this  revival,  Edwards 


552  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

became  so  fully  convinced  that  the  prevailing  system  of  admission 
to  the  communion,  introduced  by  his  grandfather  and  predecessor, 
was  wrong,  that  he  could  no  longer  practise  it.  He  published  his 
"  Treatise  on  the  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion,"  in  which  he 
maintained  that  none  ought  to  be  admitted  without  such  a  declara- 
tion concerning  the  exercises  of  their  own  minds  as,  if  true,  would 
imply  that  they  were  regenerate  persons.  This  change  of  opinion  led 
to  his  dismission  in  1750.  His  doctrine  on  this  point,  however,  even 
then,  had  many  advocates.  It  spread  rapidly  among  the  friends  of 
the  revival,  and  is  now  held  by  all  the  Congregational  churches  of 
New  England  that  have  not  become  Unitarian.  Where  the  system 
of  Stoddard  and  the  half-way  covenant  have  not  been  abolished  by  a 
formal  vote,  they  have  fallen  into  disuse,  for  none  think  it  right  to 
practise  according  to  them.  The  ancient  doctrine  of  the  Puritans 
has  been  restored,  and  evidence  of  piety  is  required  of  those  who 
would  become  members  of  the  Church. 

The  principal  faults  charged  upon  the  promoters  of  the  revival  by 
its  opponents  were  censoriousness  and  undue  excitement.  They 
labored  to  exclude  both  from  their  own  parishes,  and,  as  far  as  they 
could,  from  the  country.  To  a  considerable  extent  they  were  suc- 
cessful. They  produced  a  profound  calm  on  the  subject  of  religion 
among  all  who  were  governed  by  their  influence — a  calm  which 
amounted  to  indifference.  And  as  to  censoriousness,  they  adhered 
to  the  practice  of  admitting  men  to  the  communion  of  the  church 
without  evidence  of  their  piety.  Their  doctrine  was,  that  every  man's 
piety  is  to  be  taken  for  granted,  unless  some  scandalous  error  of  doc- 
trine or  practice  proves  him  destitute  of  it.  The  most  important  char- 
acteristic— the  fundamental  element — of  New-England  Unitarianism 
was  now  fully  developed.  A  party  was  formed,  the  members  of  which 
condemned  and  avoided  all  solicitude  concerning  their  own  spiritual 
condition  or  that  of  others. 

When  this  state  of  mind  had  been  produced  and  confirmed,  the 
remainder  of  the  process  was  natural  and  easy.  As  in  this  party  there 
was  to  be  no  strong  feeling  with  respect  to  religion,  except  a  strong 
unwillingness  to  be  disturbed  by  the  "  censoriousness"  of  others,  there 
could,  of  course,  be  no  vigorous  opposition  to  a  change  in  doctrines,  no 
vigilance  against  error.  A  system  of  doctrines,  too,  was  wanted,  con- 
taining nothing  to  alarm  the  fears  or  disturb  the  repose  of  the  members 
of  the  party.  The  doctrines  of  man's  apostacy  from  God,  and  depend- 
ance  on  mere  grace  for  salvation,  of  the  necessity  of  an  atonement  by 
the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  regeneration  by  the  special  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  felt  to  be  alarming  doctrines.  They 
were  the  doctrines  by  which  Edwards  and  others  had  filled  their  hear- 


CHAP.  III.]  UNITARIANISM.  553 

ers  with  anxiety,  and  produced  excitement.  They  were  therefore  laid 
aside;  but  silently  and  without  controversy,  for  controversy  might 
have  produced  feeling.  Men  were  suffered  to  forget  that  the  Son  and 
the  Spirit  have  any  thing  important  to  do  in  the  work  of  man's  salva- 
tion ;  and  then  it  became  easy  to  overlook  their  existence.  In  this  way 
the  Unitarian  party  was  formed,  and  furnished  with  all  its  essential 
attributes  long  before  Unitarian  doctrines  were  openly  avowed,  and 
probably  long  before  they  were  distinctly  embraced  in  theory,  except 
by  a  very  small  number. 

Unitarianism  being  introduced  in  this  manner,  it  is  evident  that  no 
distinct  account  of  the  successive  steps  of  its  progress  can  be  given. 
The  revivalists  of  1740  asserted  that  "  Socinianism"  was  even  then  in 
the  land.  This  assertion  was  then  repelled  as  a  slander ;  but  Unita- 
rians now  admit  and  assert  that  several  leading  opponents  of  the  re- 
vival were  Unitarians  at  that  time,  or  soon  after.  The  prevalence  of 
Unitarianism,  however,  was  not  then  extensive.  The  greater  part  of 
those  who  are  now  claimed  as  having  then  belonged  to  the  "  liberal" 
party  were  only  Arminians,  or,  at  the  furthest,  Pelagians ;  and  some 
of  them  were  decided  Calvinists. 

From  1744  to  1762  the  colonies  were  engaged,  almost  incessantly, 
in  the  wars  that  secured  them  against  the  arms  of  France.  In  1765 
troubles  with  England  began,  and  continued  till  1783.  Then  came 
the  formation  of  our  system  of  government,  and  the  anxious  period 
of  its  early  operations.  Thus  the  attention  of  men  was  drawn  off 
from  religion,  and  fixed  on  other  subjects  for  about  half  a  century, 
affording  a  favorable  opportunity  for  habits  of  indifference  to  become 
confirmed,  and  for  error  to  make  progress  unobserved. 

Yet  it  was  not  wholly  unobserved.  In  1768,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hop- 
kins preached  in  Boston  on  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  and  published  the 
sermon,  assigning  as  a  reason  for  the  choice  of  this  subject,  his  belief 
that  it  was  needed  there.  From  time  to  time  other  testimonies  ap- 
peared of  similar  character. 

The  first  congregation  that  became  avowedly  Unitarian  was  that 
at  the  "King's  Chapel,"  in  Boston.  It  was  Episcopalian.  Being 
without  a  pastor,  they  employed  Mr.  Freeman,  afterward  Dr.  Free- 
man, as  reader,  in  1782.  In  1785  he  succeeded  in  introducing  a  re- 
vised liturgy,  from  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  struck  out. 
He  applied  to  several  American  bishops  for  ordination,  but  none 
would  ordain  him.  He  was,  therefore,  ordained  by  the  church- 
wardens, in  1787.  For  many  years  he  maintained  a  constant  corre- 
spondence with  the  leading  Unitarians  in  England,  and  was  a  con- 
venient medium  of  communication  between  them  and  the  secret 
adherents  of  the  same  doctrines  in  America. 


554  N0N-EV ANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

The  first  Unitarian  book  by  an  American  author  is  said  to  have 
been  "  Ballou  on  the  Atonement,"  published  in  1803.  Mr.  Ballou  was 
pastor  of  a  Universalist  society  in  Boston.  But  the  term  Universalist 
must  not  be  understood  here  as  it  often  is  in  Europe.  It  designates 
the  belief  that  all  intelligent  beings — men  and  devils,  if  there  are  any 
devils — will  be  saved.  Some  Universalists  hold  that  all  men  at  death 
pass  directly  into  heaven ;  others,  that  a  part  of  mankind  will  undergo 
a  limited  punishment  in  hell,  or,  rather,  in  purgatory,  in  proportion 
to  the  number  and  atrocity  of  their  sins.  The  doctrine  has  been 
favored  by  a  few  men  of  considerable  learning  and  respectable  mor- 
als ;  but  its  chief  success  has  been  among  the  ignorant,  the  vulgar, 
and  the  vicious,  not  one  of  whom  was  ever  known  to  be  reformed  by 
it.  Mr.  Ballou  was  a  man  of  some  genius,  but  little  learning.  His 
works  have  done  something  to  diffuse  Unitarian  opinions  among 
Universalists.  A  Mr.  Sherman,  in  Connecticut,  published  in  favor 
of  Unitarianism  in  1805.  He  was  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge 
about  the  same  time,  and  in  a  few  years  left  the  ministry  and  lost  his 
character.  In  1810,  Thomas  and  Noah  Worcester  began  to  publish 
their  modification  of  Arianism  in  New  Hampshire.  The  same  year 
the  church  in  Coventry,  Connecticut,  became  suspicious  that  their 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Abiel  Abbot,  was  a  Unitarian.  The  subject  was 
brought  before  the  Consociation  to  which  that  church  belonged,  and 
he  was  dismissed.  He  then  called  together  a  council,  composed 
chiefly  of  men  suspected  of  Unitarianism,  who  dismissed  him  a  sec- 
ond time,  and  gave  him  a  certificate  of  regular  standing.  The  irregu- 
larity of  this  transaction  called  forth  many  expressions  of  disapproba- 
tion. 

In  and  around  Boston  no  Congregational  church  had  yet  avowed 
itself  Unitarian.  Harvard  College  had  an  orthodox  president  and 
professor  of  theology  till  after  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. After  the  death  of  Professor  Tappan,  in  1 804,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Ware  was  elected  as  his  successor.  While  the  question  of  his  election 
was  pending,  a  suspicion  of  his  Unitarianism  was  suggested,  but  it 
was  repelled  by  his  friends  as  a  calumny.  Even  when  President  Kirk- 
land  was  elected,  in  1812,  it  has  been  said,  on  high  Unitarian  author- 
ity, that  he  could  not  have  been  elected  if  he  had  been  known  as  a 
defender  of  Unitarianism. 

No  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church  in  or  near  Boston  had  yet 
avowed  himself  a  Unitarian,  either  from  the  pulpit  or  the  press.  Yet 
the  style  of  preaching  adopted  by  many  was  such  as  to  excite  sus- 
picion ;  several  periodicals  openly  advocated  Unitarianism,  and  Uni- 
tarian books  were  imported  and  published  in  considerable  numbers. 
Orthodox  ministers,  when  attending  councils  for  ordaining  pastors, 


CHAP.  III.]  UNITARIANISM.  555 

found  themselves  opposed  and  thwarted  in  their  attempts  to  ascertain 
the  theological  views  of  the  candidates.  Many  other  circumstances 
indicated  the  presence  and  secret  diffusion  of  error ;  but  the  means 
were  wanting  of  fastening  the  charge  upon  individuals.  There  was, 
therefore,  an  increase  of  preaching  and  publishing  against  Unitarian- 
ism.  In  the  "  Panoplist,"  a  monthly  magazine  commenced  in  Boston  in 
1806,  this  subject  received  special  attention ;  but  all  its  warnings  were 
denounced  as  "  calumny."  The  facts,  however,  could  not  be  much 
longer  concealed. 

In  1812,  the  memoir  of  Lindsay,  by  Belsham,  was  published  in 
London.  Only  a  few  copies  of  the  work  were  imported,  and  these 
were  carefully  kept  from  the  sight  of  all  but  a  select  few  for  nearly 
three  years.  At  length,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morse,  after  months  of  fruitless 
effort,  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  a  copy.  The  account 
there  given  of  Unitarianism  in  America  was  extracted  and  published 
in  a  pamphlet.  It  contained  letters  from  several  Unitarians  in  Bos- 
ton, especially  Dr.  Freeman,  of  various  dates,  from  1796,  or  there- 
about, to  1812.  In  these  letters  the  spread  of  Unitarianism,  and  the 
means  used  to  promote  it,  were  described  without  reserve.  Conceal- 
ment was  no  longer  possible.  Unitarianism  was,  therefore,  openly 
avowed  by  those  who  had  been  detected,  and  by  others  whose  char- 
acter and  interests  were  closely  identified  with  theirs. 

The  ecclesiastical  results  of  this  disclosure  need  to  be  particularly 
explained.  Among  Congregationalists,  each  church,  that  is,  each 
congregation  of  covenanted  believers,  has  full  power  to  manage  its 
own  ecclesiastical  concerns,  without  subordination  to. any  earthly  tri- 
bunal. There  was  no  way,  therefore,  of  compelling  churches  that 
had  become  Unitarian  to  part  with  their  Unitarian  pastors.  On  the 
same  principle,  pastors  and  churches  that  continued  orthodox  were 
at  liberty  to  withhold  Christian  fellowship  from  those  in  whom  they 
had  no  confidence.  There  was  no  means  of  compelling  orthodox 
ministers  and  churches  to  perform  any  act  by  which  a  Unitarian 
would  be  virtually  acknowledged  as  a  Christian  minister,  or  his 
church  as  a  Christian  church.  Orthodox  ministers,  therefore,  refused 
to  exchange  pulpit  labors  on  the  Sabbath  with  those  whom  they  be- 
lieved to  be  Unitarians,  or  to  sit  with  them  in  ecclesiastical  councils, 
or  in  any  other  way  to  recognize  them  as  ministers  of  Christ.  This 
practice,  however,  was  adopted  gradually.  Many  orthodox  men  were 
slow  in  believing  that  one  and  another  of  their  neighbors  was  a  Uni- 
tarian ;  and  many  undecided  men  contrived  to  avoid  for  some  time  a 
declaration  in  favor  of  either  party,  and  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
both.  At  length,  however,  successive  disclosures  made  the  dividing 
line  so  visible,  throughout  its  whole  length,  that  every  man  knew  his 


556  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

own  side  of  it,  and  the  parties  are  completely  separated  without  any 
formal  excommunication  of  one  by  the  other.  They  meet  only  once 
a  year  in  the  "  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Ministers  of 
Massachusetts,"  and  they  continue  to  meet  together  there  only  on 
account  of  a  fund  of  about  $100,000  for  the  support  of  their  widows. 

On  the  publication  of  Mr.  Belsham's  disclosures,  it  was  found  that 
all  the  Congregational  churches  in  Boston  had  become  Unitarian,  ex- 
cept the  Old  South  and  Park-street,  which  last  had  been  established 
within  a  few  years  by  some  zealous  Trinitarians.  The  whole  number 
of  Unitarian  churches  in  various  parts  of  ISTew  England,  but  mostly 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  was  supposed  to  be  about  sev- 
enty-five, though  subsequent  disclosures  showed  it  to  have  been  con- 
siderably larger.  They  had  then  almost  entire  possession  of  Harvard 
College ;  and,  by  a  change  in  its  charter,  deliberately  planned  some 
years  before,  but  hurried  through  the  Legislature  at  a  favorable  mo- 
ment, they  secured  the  control  of  it  to  their  party. 

A  considerable  number  of  churches  in  Massachusetts  had  funds, 
given  by  the  pious  of  former  generations,  for  the  support  of  the  min- 
istry and  of  Christian  ordinances.  The  main  object  of  the  donors 
was  to  secure  to  their  descendants,  in  perpetuity,  the  services  of 
learned,  pious,  and  orthodox  pastors ;  and  the  funds  were  committed 
to  the  church,  and  not  to  the  parish,  because  the  church,  being  com- 
posed of  persons  of  approved  piety,  would  guard  them  most  effect- 
ually against  perversion.  Such  was  the  case  with  the  First  Church 
in  Dedham.  In  1818,  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish 
with  which  that  church  was  connected  chose  a  Unitarian  to  be  their 
pastor.  The  church  refused  to  receive  him  as  their  pastor.  A  few 
of  its  members,  however,  seceded  from  the  church,  chose  the  Unita- 
rian for  their  pastor,  and  commenced  a  lawsuit  against  the  church  for 
the  possession  of  its  property.  In  March,  1821,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Massachusetts  decided  in  their  favor,  and  established  the  principle 
that,  in  all  such  cases,  those  who  act  with  the  majority  of  the  parish 
are  the  church,  and  have  a  right  to  the  funds.  By  this  decision 
many  churches  have  been  deprived  of  their  funds,  their  houses  of 
worship,  and  even  the  furniture  of  their  communion-table ;  and  many 
Unitarian  churches  owe  their  existence  to  means  thus  obtained. 

After  this  decision  the  existence  of  a  church,  as  distinct  from  the 
parish,  became  unimportant  among  Unitarians.  Its  secular  interests 
were  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  parish,  and  might  as  well  be  held  by 
the  parish  directly.  Their  churches,  as  has  been  shown,  were  never 
intended  to  be  bodies  from  which  the  unregenerate  should  be  ex- 
cluded. There  was,  therefore,  no  longer  any  important  end  to  be 
answered  by  their  existence.    Generally,  it  has  not  been  thought  best 


CHAP,  in.]  UNITAEIANISM.  557 

to  disband  them ;  but  in  a  considerable  number  of  instances  they  have 
been  suffered  to  become  extinct,  and  there  remain  only  the  parish, 
and  the  pastor,  who  administers  the  ordinances  mdiscriminately  to 
all  who  desire  it.  According  to  some  of  their  own  writers,  the  result 
is  that  the  ordinances  become  cheap  in  men's  esteem,  and  few  care 
to  receive  them.  Church  discipline,  of  course,  has  fallen  into  entire 
disuse.  The  discipline  of  the  clergy  appears  to  be  also  extinct.  If 
any  of  their  clergy  become  scandalously  immoral,  they  are  not  form- 
ally deposed  from  the  ministry,  nor  visited  with  any  ecclesiastical 
censure,  but  are  allowed  to  continue  in  office  till  their  reputation  be- 
comes such  that  none  will  employ  them,  and  then  to  retire  silently  to 
private  life. 

In  1825  the  number  of  Unitarian  congregations  was  estimated  at 
one  hundred  and  twenty.  In  1855,  they  were  said  to  amount  to 
about  three  hundred  and  sixty,  of  which  all  but  eighty-six  were  in 
Massachusetts.  Out  of  New  England  there  were  but  thirty-nine. 
There  are  several  causes  of  this  increase. 

In  1825  the  process  of  taking  sides  was  not  completed.  Of  the 
few  which  then  remained  without  character,  a  part  have  doubtless 
become  decidedly  Unitarian. 

Mr.  Ballou's  work  on  the  atonement  has  already  been  mentioned 
as  the  first  Unitarian  work  by  an  American  author.  That  and  other 
works  of  a  similar  character  prepared  the  Universalists,  somewhat  ex- 
tensively, to  avow  Unitarian  opinions.  The  Unitarians  have,  to  a 
great  extent,  and  it  is  believed  generally,  embraced  the  doctrine  of 
the  final  salvation  of  all  men.  There  is,  therefore,  no  doctrinal  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  sects.  As  Unitarianism  is  esteemed  the 
more  genteel  religion  of  the  two,  Universalists  are  under  a  strong 
temptation  to  change  their  name,  and  call  themselves  Unitarians. 
Such  changes  very  naturally  occur  when  a  Universalist  congregation 
becomes  vacant,  and  a  Unitarian  preacher  of  acceptable  address  offers 
himself  as  a  candidate.  Sometimes  congregations  change  from  one 
of  these  sects  to  the  other,  and  back  again,  as  temporary  convenience 
dictates. 

Unitarianism,  as  has  been  shown,  originally  grew  out  of  a  dislike 
to  the  practice  of  requiring  evidence  of  piety  in  candidates  for  admis- 
sion to  the  churches.  There  are  many,  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, in  whom  this  fundamental  feeling  of  the  sect  is  very  strong,  but 
who  are  yet  unwilling  to  live  without  some  form  of  religion.  They 
are  easily  organized  into  a  society  which  requires  no  creed,  and  sub- 
jects them  to  no  discipline.  Societies  thus  formed,  however,  often 
vanish  as  easily  and  suddenly  as  they  are  made. 

In  1787  a  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians 


558  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VTI. 

and  others  in  North  America"  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts.  It  acquired  permanent  funds  to  the  amount  of 
89,000.  It  elects  its  own  members ;  and  a  majority  of  them  having 
proved  to  be  Unitarian,  the  society  has  passed  wholly  into  the  hands 
of  that  sect.  It  expends  the  income  of  its  fund  in  supporting  two  or 
three  preachers  among  the  remnants  of  Indian  tribes  in  New  England 
One  or  two  other  unimportant  societies,  not  originally  formed  by 
them,  have  in  like  manner  passed  under  their  control.  They  have 
no  organization  for  foreign  missions.  To  the  Bible  Society  they 
contribute  something,  but  the  amount  is  not  known. 

The  "American  Unitarian  Association,"  formed  in  1825,  is  their 
principal  organization  for  united  action.  Its  object  is  declared  to  be 
"  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  and  promote  the  interests  of  pure  Chris- 
tianity throughout  our  country."  This  association  aids  from  ten  to 
twenty  churches,  most  of  them  in  New  England,  and  publishes  a 
considerable  series  of  tracts.  Its  receipts  have  been  usually  about 
$5,000  annually. 

The  smallness  of  the  amount  expended  by  Unitarians  in  the  way 
of  associated  action  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  parsimony,  but  to  relig- 
ious indifference.  A  large  part  of  the  wealth  of  Boston,  and  of  the 
eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  is  in  their  hands  ;  and  their  capitalists 
have  made  many  splendid  donations  to  literary,  scientific,  and  humane 
institutions. 

Their  churches  probably  contain  some  truly  regenerate  persons, 
who  became  members  of  them  before  they  were  avowedly  Unitarian, 
and  who  remain  there  from  reverence  for  ancient  usages,  attachment 
to  the  places  where  their  ancestors  worshiped,  and  other  similar 
causes.  Others  of  them  are  men  of  stern  and  almost  Puritanic  moral- 
ity, who  have  had  from  infancy  great  reverence  for  religion  in  the 
gross,  but  have  never  seriously  studied  its  application  to  themselves 
in  the  detail  of  its  doctrines  and  duties,  and  who  would  have  re- 
mained steadfast  members  of  the  same  congregations  just  as  quietly 
had  those  congregations  remained  orthodox. 

In  philosophy  the  Unitarians  of  New  England  were  at  first,  and 
for  some  years,  followers  of  Locke  ;  holding  that  all  our  ideas,  or,  at 
least,  the  elements  of  which  they  are  formed,  are  received  through 
the  senses.  Very  naturally,  therefore,  they  built  their  belief  of  Chris- 
tianity wholly  on  evidence  addressed  to  the  senses.  They  believed 
that  miracles  had  been  wrought,  because  it  appeared  so  extremely 
improbable  that  the  apostles  were  deceived  concerning  them,  or  at- 
tempted to  deceive  others ;  or  that  the  canonical  writings  ascribed  to 
them  are  spurious ;  or  that  the  accounts  of  miracles  which  they  con- 
tain are  interpolations.   Those  miracles  they  held  to  be  the  testimony 


CHAP.  III.]  UNITAEIAOTSM.  559 

of  God,  addressed  to  the  senses  of  men,  proving  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity. Yet  they  did  not  admit  the  infallibility  of  the  apostolic 
writings  as  we  have  them.  Many  of  them  held  that  the  authors  of 
the  several  parts  of  the  New  Testament  had  no  inspiration  which 
secured  them  against  mistakes  and  false  reasoning :  and  they  very 
generally  held  that  strong  texts  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trin- 
ity, the  divinity  of  Christ,  or  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  must 
be  interpolations  or  corruptions.  Their  religious  guide,  therefore, 
was  so  much  of  the  Bible  as  they  judged  to  be  true ;  and  their  re- 
ligion was,  in  its  theory,  the  conformity  of  their  hearts  and  lives  to 
certain  external  rules,  which,  in  all  probability,  were  originally  given 
by  God,  and  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  in  a  record  which  is 
not  free  from  error.  To  this,  individuals  among  them  append  more 
or  less  of  sentiment  and  imagination,  according  to  the  prompting  of 
their  own  genius.  A  system  like  this  can  never  long  continue  to  sat- 
isfy any  community.  It  fails  to  meet  certain  feelings  of  spiritual 
want,  which  are  sure  to  spring  up  in  many  minds.  Hence  there  has 
been  among  the  more  serious,  ever  since  the  separation,  a  gradual 
going  over  to  orthodoxy,  which  has  retarded  the  growth  of  Unita- 
rianism.  Now  the  orthodox  Congregational  churches  in  Boston  are 
about  as  numerous  as  the  Unitarian,  and  the  worshipers  much  more 
numerous  ;  and  the  result  is  similar  in  the  surrounding  country. 

About  twenty-five  years  since,  German  Transcendentalism  made 
its  appearance  among  the  Unitarian  clergy,  and  has  spread  rapidly. 
Its  adherents,  generally,  are  not  very  profound  thinkers,  nor  very 
well  acquainted  with  the  philosophy  which  they  have  embraced,  or 
with  the  evidence  on  which  it  rests.  It  promises  to  relieve  its  disci- 
ples from  the  necessity  of  building  their  religious  faith  and  hopes  on 
probabilities,  however  strong,  and  to  give  them  an  intuitive  and  in- 
fallible knowledge  of  all  that  is  essential  in  religion ;  and  it  affords  an 
unlimited  range  for  the  play  of  the  imagination.  It  has  charms, 
therefore,  for  the  contemplative  and  for  the  enthusiastic. 

The  controversy  on  this  subject  became  public  in  1836.  It  was 
brought  out  by  an  article  in  the  Christian  Examiner,  maintaining  that 
our  faith  in  Christianity  does  not  rest  on  the  evidence  of  miracles  ; 
that  a  record  of  miracles,  however  attested,  can  prove  nothing  in 
favor  of  a  religion  not  previously  seen  to  be  true ;  and  that,  therefore, 
we  need  to  see  and  admit  the  reasonableness  and  truth  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  before  we  can  believe  that  miracles  were  wrought 
to  commend  it  to  mankind.  The  "  Old  School"  Unitarians,  as  they 
called  themselves,  pronounced  this  theory  infidelity,  for  it  struck  at 
the  foundation  of  the  only  reasoning  by  which  they  proved  the  truth 
of  Christianity.     The  controversy  was  protracted,  and  somewhat  bit- 


560  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN    AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

ter ;  but  no  attempt  was  made  by  the  "  Old  School"  to  separate 
themselves  from  those  whom  they  denounced  as  infidels. 

The  charge  of  Pantheism  is  brought  against  the  Transcendental- 
ists  generally,  by  their  Unitarian  opponents ;  and,  in  fact,  some  of 
their  publications  are  evidently  pantheistic,  while  others  are  ambigu- 
ous in  that  respect.  Some  of  them  have  borrowed  largely  from  Ben- 
jamin Constant,  and  maintain  that  all  religions,  from  Fetichism  to 
the  most  perfect  form  of  Christianity,  are  essentially  of  the  same  na- 
ture, being  only  developments,  more  or  less  perfect,  of  the  religious 
sentiment  which  is  common  to  all  men.  According  to  them,  all  men 
who  have  any  religious  thoughts  or  feelings  are  so  far  inspired ;  Mo- 
ses, Minos,  and  Numa,  and  a  few  others,  had  an  unusual  degree  of 
inspiration ;  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  most  of  all.  They  do  not  be- 
lieve, however,  that  even  Jesus  was  so  inspired  as  to  be  in  all  cases 
an  infallible  teacher ;  and  they  declare  themselves  by  no  means  sure 
that  we  shall  not  yet  see  His  superior.  They  reject  Christ  as  medi- 
ator in  every  sense  of  the  term,  and  declare  that,  in  order  to  be  true 
Christians,  we  must  hold  intercourse  with  God  as  Christ  himself  did, 
without  a  mediator. 

These  impious  doctrines  have  been  promulgated  in  periodicals  and 
otherwise,  from  time  to  time,  with  increasing  boldness.  In  the  spring 
of  the  year  1841,  they  were  put  forth  without  disguise  and  without 
reserve  in  a  sermon  at  an  ordination  at  South  Boston.  Several  of  the 
leading  Unitarian  clergy  of  the  "  Old  School"  were  present,  and  took 
part  in  the  services.  It  is  said  that  some  of  them,  in  performing  their 
parts,  uttered  sentiments  at  variance  with  those  of  the  preacher, 
from  which  attentive  hearers  might  infer  that  the  sermon  did  not 
meet  their  approbation  ;  but  there  was  no  explicit  condemnation  of 
the  sermon  either  then  or  afterward,  till  public  attention  was  called 
to  the  subject  by  three  evangelical  clergymen  who  attended  the  or- 
dination as  hearers,  and  took  notes  of  the  discourse.  These  three 
witnesses,  some  weeks  after  the  ordination,  published  extracts  from 
the  sermon  in  several  religious  newspapers,  and  called  on  the  members 
of  the  ordaining  Council  to  say  whether  they  recognized  the  preacher 
as  a  Christian  minister.  Public  attention  was  roused.  Several  intel- 
ligent Unitarian  laymen  united  in  the  demand.  Continued  silence 
became  impracticable.  A  number  of  articles  appeared  in  newspapers 
and  magazines,  in  which  individual  Unitarian  ministers  denounced 
the  sermon,  and  pronounced  its  doctrines  deistical;  but  they  carefully 
avoided  the  question,  whether  its  author  was  recognized  by  them 
as  a  Christian  minister.  Others  of  them  preached  and  wrote  in  his 
defence.  His  ecclesiastical  relations  still  remained  undisturbed.  Some 
of  his  Unitarian  neighbors  recognized  his  ministerial  character  by 


CHAP.  III.]  UNITAEIANISM.  561 

exchanging  pulpits  with  him  on  the  Sabbath ;  and  he,  in  his  turn, 
preached  the  weekly  lecture  maintained  by  the  Unitarian  clergy  of 
the  Boston  Association.  It  is  understood,  therefore,  that  the  public 
avowal  of  doctrines  like  his,  forms  no  obstacle  to  a  regular  standing 
in  the  Unitarian  ministry. 

Why  was  not  this  defection  arrested  in  its  progress  by  ecclesiasti- 
cal authority  ?    The  answer  is  easy. 

In  Connecticut,  where  one  or  two  ministers  became  Unitarian 
while  the  community  remained  orthodox,  it  was  done.  Those  Uni- 
tarian ministers  were  removed  from  their  places,  and  the  progress  of 
error  was  arrested.  In  Massachusetts,  the  defection  was  carried  on 
by  a  different  process.  Men  did  not  fall,  one  at  a  time,  from  ortho- 
doxy into  open  Unitarianism,  but  almost  the  whole  community  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  sunk  down  gradually  and  together.  For  a 
long  time  there  was  no  proof  by  which  any  one  could  be  convicted 
of  heresy ;  and  when  proof  was  obtained,  the  heretics  were  found  to 
be  the  majority  in  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  to  which  they  belonged, 
and  of  course,  if  any  process  had  been  commenced,  would  have  de- 
cided all  questions  in  their  own  favor. 

The  friends  and  abettors  of  the  Congregational  independence  of 
individual  churches  maintain  that  it  has  been  the  means  of  saving 
New  England  from  universal  apostacy.  Had  the  Synod,  in  1662, 
they  say,  instead  of  being  merely  advisory,  possessed  jurisdiction 
over  these  churches,  it  would  have  imposed  the  half-way  covenant 
upon  them  all.  As  it  was  only  advisory,  a  considerable  number  of 
churches  rejected  its  advice,  and  adhered  to  the  ancient  practice  of 
the  Pilgrims.  So,  half  a  century  later,  had  there  been  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal government  to  which  all  the  churches  owed  obedience,  Stoddard's 
doctrine  of  admitting  the  unregenerate  to  full  communion  would 
have  been  enforced  upon  all ;  for  numbers  and  influence  were  in  its 
favor.  And  when  Edwards,  after  the  great  revival  of  1740,  pro- 
claimed the  ancient  doctrine  concerning  church  membership,  had 
there  been  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal  having  authority  over  all  the 
churches,  he  and  his  Reformation  would  have  been  put  down  at  once, 
and  the  admission  of  the  unregenerate  to  the  Lord's  Table  would 
have  been  required  of  all.  And,  finally,  consider,  they  still  further 
say,  the  state  of  things  in  1815,  when  conclusive  proof  was  first  ob- 
tained of  the  existence  of  Unitarianism  among  the  Congregational 
clergy  in  eastern  Massachusetts.  The  Unitarians  had  the  majority 
in  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  which  they  were  members.  Had  these 
bodies  possessed  jurisdiction  over  all  churches  within  their  bounds, 
they  might  have  established  Unitarianism  in  them  all,  and  might 
have  forbidden  all  efforts  for  the  revival  or  preservation  of  orthodoxy. 

36 


562  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

If  there  had  been  a  body  representing  all  the  churches  in  the  State, 
and  having  authority  over  all,  the  majority  would  have  been  ortho- 
dox ;  but  the  Unitarians  were  numerous  and  powerful  enough  to  have 
thrown  off  its  jurisdiction,  and  to  have  subsisted  by  themselves,  as 
they  now  do.  If  the  civil  government  had  been  invested  with  power 
to  enforce  religious  uniformity,  it  could  have  prevented  such  a  result ; 
but  it  would  not  have  done  it :  for  the  most  important  powers  of  the 
civil  government  were  then,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  have  been  ever 
since,  wielded  by  Unitarian  hands. 

In  all  these  instances,  the  independence  of  the  churches,  its  friends 
firmly  believe,  secured  to  the  most  orthodox  the  privilege  of  adher- 
ing to  the  whole  truth,  both  in  doctrine  and  practice,  and  of  exerting 
themselves  in  its  defence  and  for  its  diffusion.  This  privilege  there 
have  always  been  some  to  claim  and  to  use.  Error,  therefore,  has 
always  been  held  in  check  till  truth  could  rally  its  forces  and  regain 
its  ascendency. 

Many  readers,  however,  will  be  of  opinion  that,  but  for  the  isolation 
of  ministers  and  congregations  under  the  Congregational  system, 
error  must  have  been  much  sooner  discovered,  and  checked  in  its  be- 
ginnings. The  same  remark  applies  to  the  apostacy  of  many  nomin- 
ally Presbyterian  ministers  and  congregations  in  England.  These 
never  were  Presbyterians  in  fact.  Error  thus  had  leave  to  work  its 
way  unchecked  by  the  oversight  either  of  bishop  or  presbytery.  We 
will  only  add  that  the  number  of  Unitarian  ministers  in  the  United 
States  is  about  two  hundred  and  sixty.  They  have  but  two  theo- 
logical schools,  one  at  Cambridge,  the  other  at  Meadville,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CHRIST-IAN    CONNECTION. 

The  body  that  assumes  the  title  of  Christians  is  of  purely  Ameri- 
can origin.  They  are  more  generally  called  in  the  United  States 
Christ-ians,  the  i  in  the  first  syllable  being  pronounced  long,  though 
this  pronunciation  is  rejected  by  themselves. 

Dating  their  rise  from  about  the  year  1803,  they  appeared,  it  seems, 
in  New  England,  Ohio,  and  Kentucky,  some  say  also  in  the  South, 
nearly  about  the  same  time.  They  boast  of  having  no  founder — no 
Luther  or  Calvin,  no  Whitfield  or  Wesley — that  can  claim  any  spe- 
cial influence  among  them.     They  are  the  largest  no-creed  sect  in 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   CHRIST-IAN   CONNECTION.  563 

America,  and  had  their  origin  in  the  dissatisfaction  that  existed  in 
some  minds  with  what  they  called  the  "  bondage  of  creeds,"  and  still 
more,  with  the  bondage  of  discipline  that  prevails,  as  they  insist,  in 
all  other  churches.  This  may  be  easily  accounted  for.  Many  of  the 
most  active  promoters  of  the  new  sect  had  been  excluded  from  other 
communions  because  of  their  denial  of  some  important  doctrine,  or 
their  refusal  to  submit  to  discipline  and  government. 

The  Christ-ians,  according  to  some  of  their  leading  authorities,  had 
a  threefold  origin.  The  first  members  of  their  societies,  or  churches, 
in  New  England,  were  originally  members  of  the  Regular  Baptist 
connection ;  in  the  West  they  had  been  Presbyterians,  and  in  the 
South  Methodists.  Their  Churches  have  all  along  been  constituted  on 
the  following  principles  :  "  The  Scriptures  are  taken  to  be  the  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  each  individual  being  at  liberty  to  deter- 
mine for  himself,  in  relation  to  these  matters,  what  they  enjoin  ;  no 
member  is  subject  to  the  loss  of  church  fellowship  on  account  of  his 
sincere  and  conscientious  belief,  so  long  as  he  manifestly  lives  a  pious 
and  devout  life  ;  no  member  is  subject  to  discipline  and  church  cen- 
sure but  for  disorderly  and  immoral  conduct ;  the  name  Christian  to 
be  adopted,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  sectarian  names,  as  the  most  ap- 
propriate designation  of  the  body  and  its  members  ;  the  only  condi- 
tion or  test  of  admission,  as  a  member  of  a  church,  is  a  personal 
profession  of  the  Christian  religion,  accompanied  with  satisfactory 
evidence  of  sincerity  and  piety,  and  a  determination  to  live  according 
to  the  Divine  rule  or  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  each  body  is  considered 
an  independent  body,  possessing  exclusive  authority  to  regulate  and 
govern  its  own  affairs."* 

Although  their  founders  continued  to  cleave  more  or  less  closely 
to  some,  at  least,  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  various  bodies  in  which 
they  had  been  brought  up,  a  process  of  assimilation  to  each  other  has 
been  gradually  going  on,  and  has  at  length  brought  them  to  a  consid- 
erable degree  of  uniformity  on  most  points  of  doctrine.  Trinitarians 
for  the  most  part  at  the  outset,  they  have  now  almost  unanimously 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  unscriptural ;  and  although 
they  refuse  to  be  tied  down  to  a  creed,  the  following  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a  fair  outline  of  the  doctrines  that  prevail  among  them :  "  That 
there  is  one  living  and  true  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  who  is  un- 
originated,  independent,  and  eternal,  the  Creator  and  Supporter  of  all 
worlds ;  and  that  this  God  is  one  spiritual  intelligence,  one  infinite 
mind,  ever  the  same,  never  varying  :  that  this  God  is  the  moral  Gov- 
ernor of  the  world,  the  absolute  source  of  all  the  blessings  of  nature, 

*  See  an  u  Account  of  the  Christian  Connection,  or  Christ-ians,"  by  the  late  Rev. 
Joshua  V.  Himes,  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge." 


564  NON-EVANGELIC  AT,   DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.       [BOOK  VU. 

providence,  and  grace,  in  whose  infinite  wisdom,  goodness,  mercy, 
benevolence  and  love,,  have  originated  all  his  moral  dispensations  to 
man  :  that  all  men  sin  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  and,  con- 
sequently fall  under  the  curse  of  the  law  :  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God,  the  promised  Messiah,  and  Saviour  of  the  world,  the  Mediator 
between  God  and  man,  by  whom  God  has  revealed  his  will  to  man- 
kind ;  by  whose  sufferings,  death,  and  resurrection,  a  way  has  been 
provided  by  which  sinners  may  obtain  salvation — may  lay  hold  on 
eternal  life ;  that  he  is  appointed  of  God  to  raise  the  dead,  and 
judge  the  world  at  the  last  day :  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
power  and  energy  of  God — that  holy  influence  of  God  by  whose 
agency,  in  the  use  of  means,  the  wicked  are  regenerated,  converted, 
and  recovered  to  a  virtuous  and  holy  life,  sanctified  and  made  meet 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light ;  and  that,  by  the  same  Spirit, 
the  saints,  in  the  use  of  means,  are  comforted,  strengthened,  and  led 
in  the  path  of  duty :  the  free  forgiveness  of  sins,  flowing  from  the 
rich  mercy  of  God,  through  the  labors,  sufferings,  and  blood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ:  the  necessity  of  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith 
toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  the  absolute  necessity  of  holiness 
of  heart  and  rectitude  of  life  to  enjoy  the  favor  and  approbation 
of  God :  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  immortality :  the  doctrine 
of  a  righteous  retribution,  in  which  God  will  render  to  every  man 
according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body :  the  baptism  of  believers 
by  immersion :  and  the  open  communion  at  the  Lord's  Table  of 
Christians  of  every  denomination  having  a  good  standing  in  their 
respective  churches."* 

Although  each  church  is  wholly  independent  of  all  others  in  the 
management  of  its  affairs,  yet,  for  the  promotion  of  their  mutual 
prosperity,  they  have  associations  called  "  State  Conferences,"  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  clergy  and  the  churches,  but  with  only 
advisory  powers.  In  1855  there  were  in  the  United  States,  it  was 
estimated,  five  hundred  ministers,  six  hundred  churches,  and  about 
thirty-five  thousand  members.  The  population  supposed  to  be  under 
their  influence  is  estimated  at  three  hundred  thousand,  which  is  man- 
ifestly too  high,  for  many  of  their  congregations  are  very  small,  par- 
ticularly in  the  West. 

Generally  speaking,  their  ministers  are  men  of  little  education,  but 
a  laudable  desire  for  improvement  in  this  respect  has  been  showing 
itself.  They  have  lately  established  a  college  in  Ohio,  called  "  An- 
tioch  College."  It  is  said  to  be  flourishing.  They  have  no  theological 
seminaries.    For  some  years  past  they  have  had  a  religious  journal 

*  See  "  Account  of  the  Christian  Connection,  or  Christ-ians,"  by  the  late  Revk 
Joshua  V.  Himes,  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge." 


CHAP.  V.]  THE  UISTIVERSALISTS.  565 

called  "  The  Christian  Palladium,"  published  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  two  or  three  other  journals,  one  published  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, the  other  in  Illinois.  They  have  a  Book  Association  also. 
Upon  the  whole,  much  inferior  as  the  Christ-ians  are  to  the  Unitarians 
in  point  of  wealth,  the  size  of  their  churches,  the  learning  and  elo- 
quence of  then  ministers,  and  the  rank  and  respectability  of  their 
members,  yet  being  far  more  numerous,  and  having  doctrines  of  quite 
as  elevated  a  character,  their  influence  upon  the  masses,  while  kindred 
in  nature,  is  perhaps  greater  in  extent. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE     UNIVERS  ALISTS. 

In  our  chapter  on  the  Unitarians,  we  expressed  our  views  of  the 
moral  influence  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Universalists.    The  latter 
were  little  known  as  a  sect  in  America  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  when  a  few  persons  of  reputation  partially  or  wholly 
embraced  their  doctrines.     These  were  afterward  preached  by  the 
Rev.  John  Murray,  who  came  from  England  in  1770,  and  were  em- 
braced by  the  Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester,  a  Baptist  minister  of  con- 
siderable talent.     Both  Murray  and  Winchester  held  the  doctrine  of 
restoration,  that  is,  that  after  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment,  the 
wicked,  after  suffering  in  hell  for  a  time,  and  in  a  measure  propor- 
tioned to  their  guilt,  will  eventually  be  recovered  through  the  influ- 
ences of  the  Spirit,  and  saved  by  the  atonement  of  Christ.    About 
the  year  1790,  the  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  appeared  as  a  Universalist 
preacher,  and  taught  that  all  punishment  is  in  this  life,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  the  souls  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  alike  pass  im- 
mediately at  death  into  a  state  of  happiness— a  doctrine  which,  being 
much  more  acceptable  to  the  unrenewed  heart,  became  much  more 
popular  than  that  of  restoration  as  above  described.     The  restora- 
tionist  preachers  in  the  United  States  hardly  exceed  twelve  or  fifteen 
in  number,  and  their  churches  are  even  fewer ;  whereas  the  Univer- 
salists, properly  so  called,  have  rapidly  increased  here  within  the  last 
fifty  years.     In  1801  there  were  but  twenty-two  avowed  Universalist 
preachers ;  they  now  state  their  numbers  to  be  as  follows :  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  preachers,  eight  hundred  and  twenty-eight  churches, 
under  a  General  Convention,  and  many  Associations,  and  six  hundred 
thousand  of  the  population  under  their  influence.     The  last  item,  we 
suspect,  is  much  too  high.   Their  congregations  are  mostly  small,  and 
many  attend  from  mere  curiosity. 


566  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

The  doctrines  of  the  American  Universalists  are  well  expressed  in 
three  articles  adopted  as  a  "  Profession  of  Belief"  by  the  General 
Convention  of  Universalists,  held  in  1803.  It  is  said  to  be  "per- 
fectly satisfactory  to  the  denomination,"  and  is  as  follows : 

1.  "We  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  contain  a  revelation  of  the  character  of  God,  and  of  the 
duty,  interest,  and  final  destination  of  mankind. 

2.  "  We  believe  that  there  is  one  God,  whose  nature  is  love ;  revealed 
in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  one  Holy  Spirit  of  grace,  who  will  finally 
restore  the  whole  world  of  mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness. 

3.  "  We  believe  that  holiness  and  true  happiness  are  inseparably  con- 
nected ;  and  that  believers  ought  to  be  careful  to  maintain  order  and 
practise  good  works ;  for  these  things  are  good  and  profitable  unto 
men." 

Although  their  churches  are  all  severally  independent  of  each 
other,  yet  for  consultation  they  have  local  associations,  State  Con- 
ventions, and  a  General  Convention.  They  have  begun  of  late  years 
to  pay  some  attention  to  education,  and  have  now  what  they  call  a 
university  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  and  three  or  four  inferior  insti- 
tutions. Most  of  their  preachers,  though  men  of  little  learning,  by 
directing  all  their  thoughts  to  one  point,  and  mustering  every  plausi- 
ble argument  in  favor  of  their  doctrines,  become  wonderfully  skillful 
in  wielding  their  sophistry,  so  as  readily  to  seduce  such  as  want  to 
find  an  easier  way  to  Heaven  than  can  be  found  in  the  Scriptures, 
when  these  are  not  tortured  and  perverted  to  serve  some  particular 
end.  They  say  that  they  have  no  fewer  than  twenty  newspapers,  ad- 
vocating their  doctrines  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

The  only  Universalists  whose  preaching  seems  to  have  any  moral 
influence,  are  the  handful  of  Restorationists — the  rest  are  heard  with 
delight  chiefly  by  the  irreligious,  the  profane,  Sabbath-breakers, 
drunkards,  and  all  haters  of  evangelical  religion.  Their  preaching 
positively  exercises  no  reforming  influence  on  the  wicked,  and  what 
worse  can  be  said  of  it  ?* 

I  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  of  late  there  seems  to  be  a  growing 

conviction  among  some  of  the  leading  Universalists  that  there  must 

be  some  punishment  for  the  wicked  in  the  world  to  come. 

*  On  the  opening  of  a  Universalist  place  of  worship  in  any  of  our  cities  and  vil- 
lages, it  is  flocked  to  chiefly  by  low,  idle,  and  vicious  persons.  Curiosity  sometimes 
attracts  others  of  a  better  description  for  a  time ;  but  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  estab- 
lished by  the  testimony  of  Universalists  on  becoming  converted  to  the  Truth,  that 
few  can,  however  desirous,  ever  bring  themselves  to  believe  the  doctrine  of  universal 
salvation.  Most  are  like  the  New  England  farmer  who,  at  the  close  of  a  Universalist 
service,  went  forward  and  thanked  the  preacher  for  his  sermon,  saying  that  he  vastly 
liked  the  doctrine,  and  would  give  him  five  dollars  if  he  would  only  make  it  true ! 


CHAP.  VII.]  THE  JEWS.  567 


CHAPTER   VI. 

SWEDENBOEGIANS. 

The  New  Jerusalem  Church,  or  Swederiborgians,  are  not  numerous 
in  America.  Their  doctrines  were  first  propagated  here,  I  believe, 
by  some  missionaries  from  England.  Their  churches,  which  are 
small,  are  about  forty-five  in  number,  and  isolated  members  of  the 
sect  are  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  They  have 
about  thirty-five  ministers,  with  hardly  ten  thousand  souls  under 
their  instruction.  Their  churches,  in  point  of  government,  are,  in 
the  main,  Independent,  with  consultative  conventions  of  their  minis- 
ters, held  from  time  to  time.  Their  doctrines,  which,  the  reader 
must  be  aware,  are  of  Swedish  origin,  and  have  for  their  author  Baron 
Emanuel  Swedenborg,  are  a  strange  "  amalgamation,"  as  some  one 
has  justly  remarked,  "  of  Sabellianism,  the  errors  of  the  Patripassians, 
many  of  the  anti-Scriptural  notions  of  the  Socinians,  and  some  of  the 
most  extravagant  vagaries  of  mysticism.  Their  mode  of  interpreting 
Scripture  is  totally  at  variance  with  every  principle  of  sound  philology 
and  exegesis,  and  necessarily  tends  to  unsettle  the  mind,  and  leave  it 
a  prey  to  the  wildest  whimsies  that  it  is  possible  for  the  human  mind 
to  create  or  entertain."  They  practise  both  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper.  They  have  two  or  three  periodicals,  in  which  their  doc- 
trines are  expounded  and  defended.* 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    JEWS. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  early  legislation  of  the  Anglo- 
American  colonies  in  regard  to  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  it  is 
certain  that  the  Jew  now  finds  an  asylum,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of 
his  civil  rights,  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Yet  I  know  not 
how  it  has  happened,  unless  it  be  owing  to  the  distance  of  our  coun- 

*  The  Swedenborgians  say  that  they  are  increasing  faster  in  America  than  any- 
where else  at  present.  If  this  be  so,  their  increase  throughout  the  world  must  be 
slow  indeed.  The  late  Judge  Young,  of  Greensburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Bush,  of  New  York,  and  a  few  other  men  of  some  influence,  have  been  reckoned 
among  their  converts.  In  some  instances  men  who  have  grown  tired  of  the  coldness 
of  Unitarianism,  have  betaken  themselves  to  Swedenborgianism.  Dr.  Bush  is  their 
ablest  writer. 


568  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

try  from  Europe,  and  its  presenting  less  scope  for  the  petty  traffic 
which  forms  their  chief  employment  in  the  Old  World,  that  it  has 
been  only  at  a  comparatively  recent  period  that  any  considerable 
number  of  Jews  have  found  their  way  to  our  shores.  So  much  have 
they  increased,  however,  among  us  during  the  last  twenty  years,  that 
it  is  now  computed  that  there  are  no  fewer  than  fifty  thousand  in  the 
United  States.  They  have  about  fifty  synagogues  and  the  same 
number  of  Rabbies.  Five  or  six  synagogues  are  now  to  be  found  in 
New  York,  instead  of  one,  as  a  few  years  ago.  There  is  one  in 
which  the  service  is  conducted  in  English,  at  Charleston,  in  South 
Carolina,  and  no  doubt  in  other  cities  also.  A  few  instances  of  con- 
version to  Christianity  have  taken  place,  but  only  a  few,  the  atten- 
tion of  Christians,  we  may  truly  say,  not  having  been  sufficiently 
turned  to  that  object.  This  may  have  been  from  the  fewness  of  the 
Jews,  until  of  late  years,  causing  them  to  be  overlooked,  or  from  the 
want  of  suitable  persons  to  devote  themselves  to  the  work.  We  are 
pleased  to  see  that  some  interest  has  begun  to  be  taken  in  this  sub- 
ject during  the  last  few  years. 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

RAPPISTS,    SHAKEES,    MOKMONS,    ETC. 

The  Mappists  are  a  small  body  of  German  Protestants,  who  came 
to  the  United  States  from  Wurtemburg,  about  the  year  1803,  under 
their  pastor,  a  Mr.  George  Rapp,  now  deceased.  They  settled  at  a 
place  called  Economy,  on  the  Ohio,  about  fifteen  miles  below  Pitts- 
burg. From  Economy  part  of  them,  headed  by  Mr.  Rapp,  went  to 
the  Wabash  River,  in  Indiana,  and  on  its  banks  formed  a  new  settle- 
ment, called  Harmony,  but  this  they  afterward  sold  to  the  well- 
known  Robert  Owen,  and  returned  to  Economy,  in  Pennsylvania. 
Their  distinguishing  principle  is  an  entire  "  community  of  goods," 
upon  what  they  suppose  to  have  been  the  example  of  the  primitive 
Christians.  The  whole  scheme,  however,  of  this  small  community, 
for  it  comprises  but  a  few  hundred  members,  seems  mainly  of  a 
worldly  and  merely  economical  character,  though  they  keep  up  the 
form  of  religious  observances  and  services. 

The  Shakers  are  a  fanatical  sect  of  English  origin.  About  1747, 
James  Wardley,  originally  a  Quaker,  imagining  that  he  had  super- 
natural dreams  and  revelations,  founded  a  sect  which,  from  the 
bodily  agitations  practiced  in  some  parts  of  their  religious  services, 


CHAP.  VIII.]  EAPPISTS,    SHAKEES,    M0EM0NS,   ETC.  569 

were  called  Shakers,  or  Shaking  Quakers ;  it  is  not,  however,  to  be 
supposed  for  a  moment  that  they  are  connected  with  the  respectable 
people  called  Quakers  or  Friends.  Ann  Lee,  or,  rather  Mrs.  Standley, 
(for  she  had  married  a  man  of  that  name,)  the  daughter  of  a  black- 
smith in  Manchester,  England,  adopted  Wardley's  views  and  the 
bodily  exercises  of  his  followers.  From  the  accounts  we  have  of  her 
she  must  have  become  a  thorough  adept  during  the  nine  years  which 
she  spent  in  convulsions,  fastings,  etc. ;  for  she  is  said  to  have  clenched 
her  fists  in  the  course  of  her  fits  so  as  to  make  the  blood  pass  through 
the  pores  of  her  skin,  and  wasted  away  so  that  at  last  she  had  to  be 
fed  like  an  infant.  About  1770  she  discovered  the  wickedness  of 
marriage,  and  began  "testifying  against  it."  She  called  herself 
"  Ann  the  Word,"  meaning  that  the  Word  dwelt  in  her.  And  to 
this  day  her  followers  say  that  "the  man  who  was  called  Jesus, 
and  the  woman  who  was  called  Ami,  are  verily  the  two  first  pillars 
of  the  Church,  the  two  anointed  ones."  In  other  words,  they  hold 
that,  as  the  first  Adam  'was  accompanied  by  a  woman,  so  must  be 
the  second  Adam. 

In  May,  1774,  Ann  Lee,  otherwise  Mrs.  Standley,  together  with 
three  elders,  and  others  of  the  sect,  emigrated  to  America,  and  two 
years  after  formed  a  settlement  at  Niskayuna,  a  few  miles  from 
Albany,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  From  that,  as  from  a  centre, 
they  put  forth  shoots,  until  at  length  there  are  now  about  fifteen 
Shaker  settlements,  or  villages,  in  different  parts  of  the  United 
States,  comprising  some  six  or  eight  thousand  souls.  Their  doctrines 
are  a  strange  mixture  of  the  crudest  errors  with  some  few  Gospel 
truths,  but  it  would  be  a  sad  misnomer  to  call  them  Christian. 
They  call  themselves  the  Millennial  Church.  They  hold  that  the 
millennium  has  begun,  and  that  they  are  the  only  true  church,  and 
have  all  the  apostolic  gifts.  They  insist  that  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  ceased  with  the  apostolic  age  ;  that  the  wicked  will  be  pun- 
ished for  a  definite  period  only,  except  such  as  apostatize  from  them, 
and  these  will  be  punished  forever ;  that  the  judgment  has  already 
commenced  ;  that  Christ  will  not  again  appear  in  the  world,  except  in 
the  persons  of  his  followers,  that  is,  the  Shakers ;  that  marriage  is 
sinful,  and  that  "  they  that  have  wives  should  be  as  though  they  had 
none,"  even  now,  and  that  thus  alone  purity  and  holiness,  and  the 
consequent  beatitude  of  the  heavenly  state,  can  be  attained ;  that 
sin  committed  against  God  is  committed  against  them,  and  can  be 
pardoned  only  for  Christ's  sake  through  them.  Such  are  some  of 
their  absurd  tenets.  The  discipline  of  their  churches  rests  for  the 
most  part  with  their  "  elders,"  who  follow  the  instructions  left  by 
"  Mother  Ann  Lee."     In  their  religious  worship,  they  range  them- 


570  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AiTEEICA.       [BOOK  VH. 

selves  at  intervals  in  rows,  and  then  spring  upward  a  few  inches ; 
sometimes,  however,  they  become  so  excited  in  this  exercise  as  to 
throw  off  their  upper  garments,  and  jump  as  if  they  would  touch 
the  ceiling — all,  as  they  say,  to  express  their  joy  in  the  Lord.  After 
this  they  sit  down  and  listen  awhile  to  their  preachers,  and  then, 
when  tired  of  hearing,  resume  their  dancing  freaks. 

They  maintain  the  doctrine  of  a  communion  of  goods.  The  men 
and  women  live  apart.  The  children  of  the  proselytes  are  instantly 
separated,  the  boys  being  sent  into  the  male  apartment,  and  the  girls 
into  the  female.  Of  course  it  is  only  from  such  recruits  that  a  com- 
munity of  this  kind  can  keep  up  its  numbers. 

The  Shakers  have  the  reputation,  in  general,  of  being  honest  and 
industrious,  but  I  have  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  what  their  in- 
terior life  and  conduct  may  be,  beyond  this,  that  no  small  number  of 
their  members  have  left  them  in  disgust,  and  are  far  from  speaking 
well  of  them.  The  reader  will  perceive  their  insignificance  in  point 
of  numbers,  yet  to  believe  some  European  travelers,  there  is  cause  to 
fear  that  the  United  States  may  one  day  be  overrun  with  this  igno- 
rant and  deluded  sect.  But  the  absurd  importance  which  such 
writers  would  fain  attach  to  the  Shakers  is  easily  accounted  for ; 
their  eccentricities  afford  a  topic  sufficiently  marvelous  and  amusing 
to  fill  a  chapter  or  two  in  a  "Diary"  or  "  Note-book,"  while  in  the 
United  States  nobody  thinks  it  worth  while  to  bestow  much  thought 
upon  them.  So  long  as  they  respect  the  persons,  rights,  and  prop- 
erty of  others,  the  government  suffers  them  to  gratify  their  fancies 
undisturbed.  Accordingly,  they  remain  a  small  and  quiet  obscure 
community,  that  must  in  time  utterly  disappear  instead  of  growing 
into  something  like  importance,  which  would  be  the  probable  result 
if  they  were  persecuted.  Were  the  Shakers  to  appear  in  some  Euro- 
pean countries,  a  very  different,  and,  in  my  opinion,  a  far  less  prudent 
course  would  be  followed.  Accustomed  to  meddle  with  every  thing, 
even  with  conscience  itself,  their  governments  would  probably  inter- 
fere, under  the  plea  of  saving  the  children  from  being  brought  up  in 
such  delusion.  But  we  prefer  letting  them  alone,  under  the  convic- 
tion that,  all  things  considered,  it  is  better  to  do  so,  and  with  the 
hope  that  the  light  that  surrounds  them,  and  with  which  they  must 
come  into  contact  in  their  intercourse  with  the  world,  will,  in  God's 
own  time,  reach  their  minds.  To  interfere  with  those  parental  ties, 
and  that  consequent  responsibility  which  God  himself  has  established, 
must  always  be  a  difficult  and  dangerous  task  even  for  the  best  and 
wisest  of  governments.* 

*  A  book  of  a  character  somewhat  remarkable  was  published  a  few  years  ago  by 
these  deluded  people.    It  is  entitled  "  A  Holy,  Sacred,  and  Divine  ROLL  AND 


CHAP.  VIII.]  EAPPISTS,    SHAKERS,    MORMONS,   ETC.  571 

The  Mormons,  or  Latter  Day  Saints,  as  they  call  themselves. 
The  annals  of  modern  times  furnish  few  more  remarkable  examples 
of  cunning  in  the  leaders,  and  delusion  in  their  dupes,  than  are  pre- 
sented by  what  is  called  Mormonism.     An  ignorant  but  ambitious 

BOOK,  from  the  LORD  GOD  OF  HEAVEN,  to  the  Inhabitants  op  the  Earth  ; 

REVEALED  IN   THE  UNITED   SOCIETY  AT  NEW  LEBANON,  COUNTY  OF  COLUMBIA,  STATE 

of  New  York,  United  States  of  America.  Read  and  understand  all  ye  in  mortal 
clay.     Published  at  Canterbury,  N.  H.,  1843." 

The  history  of  this  strange  production  is  as  follows :  A  certain  Philemon  Stewart 
asserts  that  a  holy  angel  from  the  Lord  came  to  him  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of 
May,  1842,  at  New  Lebanon,  and  commanded  him  to  appear  before  the  Lord  on  the 
Holy  Mount,  bowing  himself  seven  times  as  he  approached.  He  obeyed  the  heavenly 
messenger,  and  met  a  mighty  angel  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  or  mount,  who  read  to 
him  six  hours  every  day  from  the  Roll  which  he  had  in  his  hand,  in  order  that  he, 
Philemon  Stewart,  might  write  down  the  sacred  revelation. 

The  contents  of  this  volume  are  various.  First,  there  is  a  Proclamation  of  the 
Almighty  to  all  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  announcing  that  he  was  going  to  make  a 
great  revelation  through  his  holy  angel,  who  is  Jesus  Christ.  Next  comes  a  procla- 
mation from  God  to  his  holy  angel.  Then  follows  a  proclamation  of  the  angel  him- 
self. After  this,  we  have  the  introduction  to  the  Sacred  Roll,  by  the  holy  angel, 
given  also  at  New  Lebanon  (after  the  volume  had  been  written),  on  the  2d  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1843,  at  twelve  o'clock,  M.  Then  comes  the  "Sacred  Volume  and  Sealed 
Roll,  opened  and  read  by  the  mighty  angel,"  consisting  of  thirty -three  chapters,  each 
of  which  is  divided  into  verses,  after  the  manner  of  the  Scriptures. 

To  give  any  thing  like  an  adequate  idea  of  its  contents  in  a  short  space  is  impossi- 
ble. I  will  only  say,  that  it  proposes  to  give  an  account  of  the  character  of  God ;  the 
creation  of  man ;  of  his  fall  through  the  temptation  of  the  serpent  [irrational  or  ani- 
mal propensities]  ;  of  God's  dealing  with  mankind ;  of  Jesus  Christ ;  of  the  departure 
from  the  Gospel ;  of  the  second  advent,  or  the  Christ  in  the  female  (Mother  Ann  Lee) ; 
of  the  way  by  which  holiness  may  be  attained,  viz.,  the  renunciation  of  sexual  and 
sensual  desires,  and  living  as  brothers  and  sisters,  instead  of  husbands  and  wives;  of 
the  terrible  judgments  which  men  will  encounter  if  they  do  not  obey  this  revelation, 

As  it  is  important  that  this  book  should  be  known  to  all  mankind,  it  is  enjoined 
by  the  mighty  angel  that  every  minister  of  the  Gospel  should  have  a  copy,  as  soon  as 
he  can  procure  one,  in  the  sacred  pulpit,  that  people  may  see  it.  All  boards  of  mis- 
sions are  commanded  to  have  it  translated  into  foreign  languages.  One  edition  has 
been  printed  by  the  "  Society"  for  gratuitous  distribution.  Copies  have  been  sent,  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  the  principal  booksellers,  and  a  modest  request  is  made  that 
they  would  publish  and  circulate  the  work,  and  some  directions  respecting  the  man- 
ner of  doing  so  are  given.* 

We  learn,  furthermore,  from  a  letter  dated  the  18th  of  December,  1843,  addressed 
to  the  Messrs.  Harper,  that  the  committee  or  agents  of  the  Society  have  resolved 
upon  a  pretty  wide  and  thorough  dissemination  of  the  five  hundred  copies  which 
they  had,  agreeably  to  the  Divine  command,  printed  for  general  distribution.  "  We 
do  not  feel  it  our  province,"  say  they,  "to  judge  of  the  work  and  designs  of  the  Al- 

*  In  fact,  on  page  161,  it  is  expressly  ordained  that  the  book  must  be  "bound  in  yellow  paper, 
with  red  backs,  edges  also  yellow ;  and  it  is  my  command,  saith  the  Lord,  that  if  any  person  or  per- 
sons shall  add  aught  to  this  book,  he  or  they  shall  not  prosper  in  time,  nor  find  rest  in  eternity." 


572  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

person  of  the  name  of  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  then  residing  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  pretended  that  an  angel  appeared 
to  him  in  1827,  and  told  him  where  he  should  find  a  stone  box,  con- 
taining certain  golden  plates,  with  a  revelation  from  heaven  in- 
scribed on  them.  Four  years  after  this,  the  plates  having,  of  course, 
been  found  as  described,  the  impostor  set  about  the  writing  out  of 
this  revelation,  and  pretended,  with  the  aid  of  a  pair  of  stone  spec- 
tacles, found  also  in  the  box,  to  read  it  off  to  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Harris,  and  afterward  to  one  called  Cowdery,  these  acting  as  his 
amanuenses.  The  "prophet,"  as  he  is  now  called,  took  care,  of 
course,  that  neither  of  them,  nor  any  one  else,  should  see  the  plates, 
the  part  of  the  room  he  occupied  having  been  partitioned  off  from  that 
where  they  sat  by  a  blanket.  After  three  years  spent  in  concocting 
this  new  revelation,  the  book  at  last  was  completed,  and  published  as 
a  12mo  volume  of  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  pages,  at  Palmyra,  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  It  is  commonly  called  the  Mormon's  pible, 
but  more  properly  The  Booh  of  3formon,  and  is  divided  into  fifteen 
books  or  parts,  each  purporting  to  be  written  by  the  author  whose 
name  it  bears.  These  profess  to  give  the  history  of  about  a  thousand 
years  from  the  time  of  Zedekiah,  king  of  Judah,  to  a.  d.  420.  The 
whole  work  claims  to  be  an  abridgment  by  one  Moroni,  the  last  of 
the  Nephites,  of  the  seed  of  Israel,  from  the  records  of  his  people. 
Not  to  trouble  the  reader  with  details  respecting  this  most  absurd  of 
all  pretended  revelations  from  heaven,  we  need  only  say  that  it  un- 
dertakes "  to  trace  the  history  of  the  Aborigines  of  the  American 
Continent,  in  all  their  apostacies,  pilgrimages,  trials,  adventures,  and 
wars  from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Jerusalem,  in  the  reign  of  Zede- 
kiah, under  one  Lehi,  down  to  their  final  disaster,  near  the  hill  of 
Camorah,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  where  Smith  found  his  golden 
plates.     In  that  final  contest,  according  to  the  prophet  Moroni,  about 

mighty  in  this  matter ;  but  we  feel  ourselves  under  the  most  solemn  obligations  to 
obey  His  divine  command,  which  has  been  revealed  to  us  by  the  inspiration  of  His 
holy  angel,  with  that  degree  of  evidence  which  we  can  not  doubt.  "We  have,  there- 
fore, made  arrangements  to  forward  four  copies  to  each  of  the  governments  of  Europe 
and  Asia,  part  of  which  are  already  on  the  way  to  Europe ;  four  to  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  these  United  States,  and  two  to  the  executive  of  each  State,  and  also  to  the 
different  boards  of  foreign  missions. 

"  We  are  aware  that  the  manner  in  which  the  book  was  revealed  and  written,  in 
the  name  of  inspiration  from  the  Almighty,  is  not  according  to  the  generally-received 
opinions  and  present  sense  and  ideas  of  mankind,  but  we  solemnly  testify  that  this 
work  was  not  directed  nor  dictated  by  any  mortal  power  or  wisdom." 

The  whole  is  a  strange  mixture,  in  which  entire  passages,  as  well  as  verses,  of  the 
Scriptures  are  mingled  up  with  the  speculations,  often  both  impious  and  absurd,  of 
the  professed  author. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  EAPPISTS,    SHAKERS,    M0RM0XS,    ETC.  573 

two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  were  slain  in  battle,  and  he  alone 
escaped  to  tell  the  tale."* 

But  the  JBook  of  Mormon,  which  they  do  not  consider  so  much  in 
the  light  of  a  substitute  for  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  of  a  supplement 
to  them,  does  not  contain  all  Joseph  Smith's  revelations ;  a  1 2mo 
volume,  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  called  ''''The  Booh  of 
Covenants  and  Revelations  ^  and  filled  with  the  silliest  things  imagin- 
able, of  all  sorts,  has  been  added  to  it  by  way  of  another  supplement. 
Thoroughly  to  comprehend  the  whole  system,  however,  one  must 
read  Mr.  Parley  P.  Pratt's  "  Voice  of  Warning,"  for  he  is  an  oracle 
among  the  Mormons,  and  also  the  newspapers  which  they  publish  as 
an  organ  for  the  dissemination  of  their  doctrines.  We  may  add  that, 
aided  by  his  wonderful  spectacles,  Smith  undertook  to  make  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible,  although  quite  unacquainted  with  Hebrew 
and  Greek ! 

The  publication  of  Ins  own  Bible,  in  1830,  may  be  considered  as 
the  starting-point  of  the  sect.  For  some  years  he  made  but  few  con- 
verts, but  having  removed  to  Kirtland,  Ohio,  he  was  there  joined  by 
Sidney  Rigdon,  formerly  a  heterodox  Baptist  preacher,  who  had 
been  preparing  the  way  for  Mormonism  by  propagating  certain  doc- 
trines of  his  own,  and  being  a  much  better-informed  man  than  Smith, 
it  was  chiefly  under  his  plastic  hand  that  the  religious  economy  of  the 
sect  has  been  formed.  From  Ohio  they  began  to  remove,  in  1834, 
to  Jackson  comity,  in  Missouri,  where  they  were  to  have  their 
"  Mount  Zion,"  the  capital  and  centre  of  their  great  empire.  The 
people  of  Missouri,  a  few  years  after,  compelled  them  to  leave  it ; 
upon  which  they  went  to  Illinois,  and  there  they  set  about  building 
the  city  of  Nauvoo,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thither 
their  disciples  flocked,  until  their  numbers  amounted  to  several  thou- 
sands. Smith  and  Rigdon  were  long  their  chief  prophets.  At  last 
Smith  was  killed  by  the  hands  of  those  whom  he  cruelly  injured  in 
their  domestic  relations,  and,  driven  by  the  enraged  people  of  Illinois, 
the  community  removed  to  Salt  Lake,  in  what  is  now  Utah,  where 
they  have  founded  a  city  and  a  large  settlement. 

For  a  while,  they  had  many  to  sympathize  with  them  on  account 
of  the  severity  with  which  they  had  been  supposed  to  be  treated  in 
Missouri,  but  so  much  has  lately  come  to  light  in  proof  of  the  inordin- 
ate ambition,  and  vile  character  and  conduct  of  their  leaders,  who 
want  to  found  a  kind  of  empire  in  the  West,  that  their  destruction 
as  a  sect  would  seem  inevitable.  One  dupe  after  another  is  leaving 
them,  and  exposing  the  abominations  of  the  fraternity  and  its  chiefs. 
Their  leaders  are  evidently  atrocious  impostors,  who  have  deceived  a 

*  Turner's  "Mormonism  in  all  Ages." 


574  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

great  many  weak-minded  persons,  by  holding  out  to  them  promises 
of  great  temporal  advantage.  But  they  will  soon  find  that  America 
is  not  another  Arabia,  nor  "  Joe  Smith"  another  Mohammed ;  and 
their  hope  of  founding  a  vast  empire  in  the  Western  hemisphere 
must  soon  vanish  away. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  them  are  from 
Great  Britain.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  this.  Their  leaders 
know  well  that  there  is  a  large  population  in  England  of  a  low  and 
ignorant  character,  who  may  be  readily  tempted,  by  the  prospect  of 
bettering  their  fortunes,  to  take  part  in  such  an  enterprise.  They 
have  received  a  good  many  "  recruits"  to  their  ranks  from  Denmark 
and  Norway. 

Unfortunately  for  the  ambitious  schemes  of  these  men,  they  had 
not  long  been  established  at  Salt  Lake,  in  the  midst  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  before  the  Government  of  the  United  States  obtained 
possession  of  California  ;  and  now  our  population  is  advancing  toward 
them  from  the  west  as  well  as  the  east.  It  is  probable  that  one  of 
the  railroads  which  must,  before  many  years  pass  away,  unite  the  Pa- 
cific coast  to  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  will  pass  through  Utah 
and  its  capital.  Every  thing  is  conspiring  to  defeat  the  nefarious 
projects  of  these  people.  And  now  that  their  abominable  doctrines 
and  practices  have  become  well  known,  at  least  in  the  United  States, 
not  only  does  the  recruitment  of  their  ranks  from  our  American  peo- 
ple diminish  rapidly,  but  it  is  certain  that  there  will  be  but  little 
sympathy  felt  for  them  if  they  should  be  made  to  feel  the  strong  arm 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  the  moment  they  attempt 
to  establish  their  own  independence,  a  consummation  for  which  they 
have  for  years  been  laboring.  It  is  probable  that  their  own  corrupt 
doctrines  and  conduct,  however,  will  lead  to  the  explosion  of  their 
scheme.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  wisely  abstained 
from  using  physical  force  to  suppress  them  ;  for,  until  now,  this  would 
have  created  sympathy  for  them  and  augmented  their  numbers.  But 
the  time  for  sympathy  is  passed.  Should  the  community  continue  to 
exist  till  the  day  comes  for  the  admission  of  Utah  into  the  confeder- 
ation as  a  State,  there  will  be  a  decided  crisis ;  for  it  can  not  for  a 
moment  be  believed  that  it  will  be  received  so  long  as  polygamy  is 
not  only  allowed,  but  sustained  by  the  sanctions  of  a  pretended  reve- 
lation from  heaven.  For  a  long  time  the  leaders  held  out  the  idea  to 
their  more  serious  dupes,  that  the  book  of  Mormon  was  only  a  sup- 
plement to  the  Christian  Scriptures.  To  the  poor,  especially,  in  the 
Old  World,  they  offered  great  temporal  advantages.  But  now  that 
the  true  character  of  the  whole  infernal  scheme  is  becoming  well 
known,  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  the  evil  has  reached  its  apogee, 


CHAP.  IX.]      ATHEISTS,    DEISTS,    SOCIALISTS,    FOURRIERLTES,    ETC.  575 

and  that  the  destruction  of  the  community  will,  before  very  many 
years  pass  away,  be  effected  by  moral  influences.  I  am  not  able  to 
state  the  number  of  Mormons,  including  a  small  community  on  an 
island  appertaining  to  the  State  of  Michigan  ;  but  I  do  not  think  it 
can  exceed  forty  or  fifty  thousand.  Every  year  some  people  are  leav- 
ing them,  and  many  more  would,  it  is  believed,  if  they  could.  This 
difficulty  will  grow  less,  however,  as  our  population  approaches  them 
from  the  east  and  the  west. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ATHEISTS,    DEISTS,    SOCIALISTS,    FOURRIERISTS,   ETC. 

These  sects  can  hardly  be  placed  with  propriety  among  religious 
denominations  of  any  description :  the  most  they  pretend  to,  being  a 
code  of  morals,  such  as  it  is.  The  avowed  Atheists  are,  happily,  few 
in  number,  and  are  chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  frequenters  of  our 
remaining  groggeries  and  rum-holes. 

As  for  our  Deists,  including  unbelievers  in  Christianity  of  all  classes, 
there  is  a  considerable  number,  especially  in  New  York,  and  some  of 
our  other  large  cities  and  towns.  A  very  large  proportion  of  them 
are  foreigners.  The  infidelity  of  the  present  times,  however,  in  the 
United  States,  is  remarkably  distinguished  from  what  was  to  be  found 
there  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  when  that  of  France,  after  having  dif- 
fused itself  in  the  plausible  speculations  of  a  host  of  popular  writers, 
wherever  the  French  language  was  known,  became  at  length  associ- 
ated with  the  great  Revolution  of  that  country,  and  obtaining  credit 
for  all  that  was  good  in  a  work  which  it  only  corrupted  and  marred, 
became  fashionable  in  America  as  well  as  in  Europe,  among  the  pro- 
fessed admirers  of  liberty,  in  what  are  called  the  highest  classes  of 
society.  At  the  head  of  these,  in  the  United  States,  stood  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, who  was  President  from  1801  to  1809,  and  who  in  conversa- 
tion, and  by  his  writings,  did  more  than  any  other  man  that  ever 
lived  among  us  to  propagate  irreligion  in  the  most  influential  part  of 
the  community.  In  the  same  cause,  and  about  the  same  period,  la- 
bored Mr.  Thomas  Paine,  and,  at  a  later  date,  Mr.  Thomas  Cooper, 
who  endeavored  to  train  to  infidelity  by  sophistical  reasoning,  and 
still  more,  by  contemptible  sarcasms  and  sneers,  the  youth  whom  it 
was  his  duty  to  teach  better  things. 

Now,  however,  it  is  much  otherwise.     When  men  dislike  evangeli- 


576  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS  IN  AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

cal  truth,  they  take  refuge  in  something  which,  under  the  name  of 
Christianity,  makes  a  less  demand  on  their  conscience  and  their  con- 
duct. Open  infidelity,  meanwhile,  has  descended  to  the  lower  ranks. 
It  now  buiTows  in  the  narrow  streets  and  lanes,  and  purlieus  of  our 
large  cities  and  towns,  where  it  finds  its  proper  aliment — the  ignor- 
ant and  the  vicious  to  mislead  and  to  destroy. 

Owenism,  Socialism,  and  Fourrierism,  are  of  foreign  origin.  The 
first  two  are  from  England,  and  are  but  economical  or  political 
schemes,  in  which  infidelity  seeks  to  imbody  and  sustain  itself.  Four- 
rierism is  also  an  economical  scheme.  It  is  not  necessarily  allied  to 
infidelity,  and  has  had  but  little  success  in  the  United  States,  nor 
is  it  likely  to  have. 

Robert  Owen,  from  Scotland,  and  Miss  Frances  Wright,  from 
England,  endeavored,  some  years  ago,  to  form  the  first  infidel  com- 
munity upon  the  social  principle  adopted  by  the  Shakers  and  the 
Mormons ;  failing  in  which,  they  set  about  endeavoring  to  bring  over 
the  laboring  classes  of  New  York,  and  other  great  cities,  to  certain 
agrarian  schemes.  But  after  much  labor  in  traveling,  lecturing,  and 
forming  societies  for  the  circulation  of  infidel  tracts  and  books,  their 
efforts  have  proved  almost  fruitless.  Their  lectures  at  first  attracted 
crowds  both  of  Americans  and  foreigners,  who  attended  them  from 
curiosity,  but  before  long  their  audiences  consisted  chiefly  of  foreign- 
ers, and  such  is  the  state  of  things  at  present.*  That  there  is  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  infidelity  in  America,  is  not  denied,  but  it  can 
not  be  compared  to  the  vast  amount  of  true  religion,  much  less  with 
the  much  vaster  amount  of  respect  for  religion,  and  religious  belief, 
which  so  largely  pervades  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  country. 
Of  the  truly  great  men  of  the  nation,  very  few  are  infidels. 

SUMMAKY    OF   THE  NON-EVANGELICAL  BODIES. 

It  will  appear  from  what  we  have  just  said  that  the  number  of 
ministers  in  the  non-evangelical  bodies,  great  and  small,  is  three  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  fifteen ;  of  organized  churches,  three  thousand 
six  hundred  and  forty-three.    Under  this  head,  however,  we  only 

*  At  one  time  it  was  feared  that  vast  numbers  of  the  laboring  classes  in  New 
York,  as  well  as  in  Philadelphia  and  other  cities,  would  be  carried  away  by  the 
plausible  but  vile  discourses  of  Miss  Frances  Wright.  But  facts  soon  proved  that 
those  fears  were  groundless.  Even  in  the  acme  of  her  popularity,  a  friend  of  mine 
who  was  present  at  one  of  her  lectures  told  me  that  she  was  hissed  no  less  than 
two  or  three  times  for  making  and  repeating  the  assertion,  that  Washington  was  an 
infidel !  There  are  few  people  in  the  United  States  who  would  not  consider  it  a  dis- 
honor done  to  the  name  of  that  great  and  good  man,  whom  Humanity  claims  as  her 
own,  to  call  him  an  infidel. 


CHAP.  X.]      REMARKS  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THEOLOGICAL  OPINION.  577 

reckon  the  Romanists,  Unitarians,  Universalists,  Christ-ians,  and 
Swedenborgians.  The  rest,  however — Jews,  Shakers,  Mormons, 
etc. — ought  to  be  called  non-Christian  rather  than  non-evangelical, 
and  take  rank  with  Deists  and  other  Infidels. 

As  to  the  number  of  members  belonging  to  the  non-evangelical 
bodies  in  the  United  States,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak  with  any  thing 
like  precision.  We  may  safely  say  that  the  Unitarians,  Christ-ians, 
Universalists,  and  Swedenborgians,  have  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  members.  But  as  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  we  have  no  very 
precise  information.  They  publish  no  statistics  which  give  us  any  fight 
on  the  subject.  They  include  in  their  statistics  all  who  are  called  Ro- 
man Catholics — men,  women,  and  children — but  tell  us  not  how  many 
are  communicants.  Finally,  the  population  which  is  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  non-evangelical  bodies,  may  be  estimated  at  from  four  to 
five  millions. 


CHAPTER  X. 

GENERAL    REMARKS    ON   THE    STATE    OF   THEOLOGICAL    OPINION    IN 

AMERICA. 

Having  concluded  these  notices  of  the  various  denominations — 
evangelical  and  non-evangelical — in  the  United  States,  I  would  now 
offer  a  few  remarks  on  the  history  and  present  state  of  theological 
opinion  in  this  country.  Fully  and  philosophically  treated,  this  could 
not  fail  to  interest  sincere  inquirers  after  truth  in  all  countries,  but  it 
would  require  not  a  chapter,  but  a  volume,  and  would  hardly  be  con- 
sistent with  the  nature  of  this  work.  We  must  leave  such  a  discus- 
sion to  another  time,  and,  probably,  to  other  hands,  and  shall  now 
merely  touch  on  a  few  general  topics. 

I.  Let  us  first  mark  some  of  the  causes  and  influences  to  which  the 
diversity  of  religious  doctrines  may  be  traced.  The  chief  of  these 
are, 

1.  Differences  of  origin  and  ancestry.  This  we  have  already  no- 
ticed, but  must  refer  to  it  again. 

Had  the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States  been  originally  set- 
tled by  one  class  of  men,  holding  the  same  system  of  religious  opin- 
ions, more  uniformity  of  doctrine  might  reasonably  have  been  looked 
for.  But  what  philosophical  inquirer,  knowing  the  different  origins 
of  New  England,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  New  York,  would  ex- 
pect that  the  mere  federal  union  of  States  that  differ  so  much  in  their 
original  inhabitants,  could  ever  bring  them  all  to  complete  religious 

37 


578  NON-EVANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

uniformity  ?  Let  us  but  look  at  the  number  of  different  religious 
bodies — different,  I  mean,  in  their  origin — to  be  found  in  these  and 
the  other  States  of  the  Union.  (1.)  The  New  England  Congrega- 
tional churches,  formed  by  emigrant  Puritans,  and,  down  to  the 
epoch  of  our  Revolution,  sympathizing  strongly  with  all  the  changes 
of  opinion  among  the  English  dissenters.  (2.)  The  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  its  larger  and  smaller  branches,  very  much  of  Scotch  and 
Irish  origin,  and  still  aiming  at  an  imitation  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land as  its  pattern.  (3.)  The  Episcopal  Church,  an  off-shoot  from  the 
Church  of  England,  dreading  and  almost  scorning  to  borrow  ideas 
from  any  quarter  save  its  Mother  Church.  (4.)  The  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  which  long  received  its  ministers  from  Holland,  and  still 
glories  in  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  the  decrees  of  the  Synod  of 
Dort.  (5.)  The  Lutherans,  the  Reformed,  and  other  German  churches, 
who  preserve  their  old  nationality,  both  by  being  still  organized  as 
distinct  communions,  and  by  the  constant  emigration  of  ministers  and 
people  from  their  original  fatherland.  Now,  why  should  we  expect 
to  see  all  these  fused  and  amalgamated  in  the  United  States  more 
than  in  Europe  ? 

2.  Mark,  too,  that  none  of  their  ministers  can  extend  any  such 
direct  influence  over  other  churches  than  their  own,  as  might  make 
the  exercise  of  brotherly  love  pass  into  close  intimacy  and  final  amal- 
gamation. Each  denomination  has  its  own  colleges  and  theological 
seminaries ;  each  its  own  weekly,  monthly,  or  quarterly  periodicals ; 
and  some  of  them  may  almost  be  said  to  have  an  independent  religious 
literature,  edited  and  published  by  their  own  responsible  agents.  All 
this  is  counterbalanced  only  by  many  ministers  of  different  denomi- 
nations receiving  their  classical  and  scientific  education  at  the  same 
institutions,  preparatory  to  their  more  strictly  professional  studies. 

3.  The  freedom  allowed  in  the  United  States  to  all  sorts  of  inquiry 
and  discussion  necessarily  leads  to  a  diversity  of  opinion,  which  is 
seen  not  only  in  there  being  different  denominations,  but  different 
opinions  also  in  the  same  denomination.  Perhaps  there  is  not  a  single 
ecclesiastical  convention  in  which  there  are  not  two  parties  at  least, 
whose  different  views  lead  sometimes  to  discussions  keenly  maintained, 
yet  turning  generally  upon  points  which,  however  interesting,  are 
confessedly  not  of  fundamental  importance.  On  what  may  be  called 
vital  or  essential  points  there  is  little  disputation,  just  because  there 
is  much  harmony  in  all  the  Evangelical  Communions.  Nor  could  it 
be  well  otherwise,  seeing  that  in  doctrine  and  practice  they  all  take 
the  Bible  as  their  inspired  and  sole  authoritative  guide. 

4.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  what  may  be  called  provincial  pecu- 
liarities necessarily  lead  so  far  to  diversities  of  religious  sentiment. 


CHAP.  X.]      EEMARKS  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THEOLOGICAL  OPINION.  579 

A  true  Eastern  man  from  Connecticut,  and  a  true  Western  man, 
born  and  brought  up  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  speculate  alike  on  dubious  points  in  theology,  any  more 
than  on  many  other  subjects.  So,  also,  are  the  inhabitants  of  the 
North  and  South  distinguished  from  each  other  by  peculiarities  fully 
as  marked  as  those  that  distinguish  the  northern  from  the  southern 
inhabitants  of  Great  Britain. 

II.  Yet  it  is  not  difficult  to  draw  a  line  between  the  various  un- 
evangelical  sects  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  that  may  be  classed  to- 
gether as  evangelical  denominations  on  the  other.     The  chief  of  the 
former,  as  we  have  said,  are  the  Roman  Catholics,  Unitarians,  Christ- 
ians, Universalists,  Hicksite  Quakers,  Swedenborgians,  Jews,  Shakers, 
and  so  on  down  to  the  Mormons,  beginning  with  the  sect  that  has 
buried  the  Truth  amid  a  heap  of  corruptions  of  heathenish  origin, 
and  ending  with  the  grossest  of  all  the  delusions  that  Satanic  ma- 
lignity or  human  ambition  ever  sought  to  propagate.     Now  it  will  be 
observed  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  first  two,  these  sects  have 
few  elements  of  stability.    Their  ministers  are  almost  all  men  of  little 
learning,  and  that  little  is  almost  all  concentrated  in  specious  en- 
deavors to  maintain  their  tenets,  by  perverting  the  Scriptures,  by 
appealing  to  the  prejudices  of  their  hearers,  and  by  misrepresenting 
and  ridiculing  the  doctrines  of  opponents  who  meet  their  subtle 
arguments  with  the  plain  declarations  of  Scripture,  as  well  as  with 
unanswerable  arguments  drawn  from  sound  reason.     The  congrega- 
tions of  the  Universalists  and  Christ-ians— the  latter  of  whom  are 
Unitarian  Baptists,  and  the  most  numerous  of  the  non-evangelical 
sects  next  to  the  Roman  Catholics? — are  far  from  large,  except  in 
some  of  the  largest  cities  and  towns  in  New  England,  and  they  often 
last  but  a  few  years,  disappearing  almost  entirely  before  the  extension 
of  the  evangelical  communions.     At  times  a  religious  revival  almost 
annihilates,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  the  attempts  made  by  some 
Universalist  preacher  to  form  a  society  of  that  sect,  at  places  where 
the  faithful  herald  of  the  Gospel  has  lifted  up  a  standard  for  Truth. 
And  as  none  of  the  unevangelical  bodies,  not  even  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, can  absolutely  debar  their  members  from  attending  the  preach- 
ing of  evangelical  ministers  when  they  come  into  their  neighborhood, 
they  present  no  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  advance  of  Truth. 

A  better  and  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  state  of  society 
in  the  United  States  than  foreigners  can  well  possess,  seems  necessary 
to  account  for  the  number,  variety,  and  numerical  magnitude  of  some 
of  our  unevangelical  sects,  and  thus  to  abate  the  surprise  which  these 
may  occasion  to  many  of  our  readers.  Nevertheless,  to  a  certain 
extent,  this  may  be  brought  within  the  comprehension  even  of  those 


580  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

who  have  never  seen  the  country.  First,  then,  be  it  observed  that 
not  only  can  a  far  larger  proportion  of  the  white  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  read  than  is  to  be  found  in  almost  any  other  country, 
but  they  actually  do  read  and  pursue  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  in 
almost  every  possible  way.  Novelty,  accordingly,  has  always  great 
attractions  for  them.  Next,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Scotland, 
in  no  other  country  is  there  so  little  work  done  on  the  Lord's  day ;  not 
only  does  the  law  require  observance,  but  the  disposition  of  the  people 
enforces  it ;  and  as  they  are  not  at  all  of  a  character  that  would  incline 
them  to  spend  the  day  at  home  in  idleness,  they  naturally  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  opportunities  within  reach  of  attending  public  meet- 
ings, and  listening  to  what  may  be  said  there.  And  religion  being  a 
subject  to  which  they  attach  more  or  less  importance  almost  uni- 
versally, it  is  what  they  most  like  to  hear  discussed  on  the  Sabbath. 
Thirdly,  where  there  is  no  evangelical  preaching,  vast  numbers,  par- 
ticularly of  such  as  have  no  decided  religious  convictions,  will  resort 
to  a  Universalist,  or  even  to  an  Infidel  preacher,  if  one  is  announced 
in  their  neighborhood,  rather  than  go  nowhere  at  all.  No  doubt  curi- 
osity leads  them  thither  first,  and  perhaps  for  a  long  time  afterward. 
Fourthly,  absolute  religious  liberty  being  the  principle  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  people  may  everywhere  have  what  preaching  they  please, 
if  they  can  find  it,  and  choose  to  be  at  the  expense  of  maintaining  it ; 
and,  accordingly,  they  who  dislike  faithful  evangelical  preaching,  often 
combine  to  form  a  congregation  where  some  heterodox  preacher  may 
hold  forth  doctrines  more  acceptable  to  them.  Congregations  so 
formed,  especially  in  cities  and  large  towns,  may  last  for  years,  or 
even  become  in  some  sense  permanent,  but  in  far  the  greater  number 
of  cases  they  disappear,  part  of  their  numbers  removing  to  some  other 
place,  and  others  becoming  converts  to  the  orthodox  creed  of  the 
surrounding  evangelical  churches. 

Thus  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  unevangelical  sects  in  the  United 
States  are  mainly  composed  of  persons  who,  in  other  countries,  would 
remain  stupidly  indifferent  to  religion,  spending  their  Sabbaths  in 
employments  or  amusements  wholly  secular.  Even  this  may  be 
thought  better  by  some  than  that  they  should  "  give  heed  to  doc- 
trines of  devils,"  upon  the  principle  that  no  religion  is  better  than  a 
false  one.  This  may  be  true  in  many  cases,  but  hardly  in  all.  Ex- 
perience proves,  I  think,  very  decidedly  in  America,  that  persons  that 
occupy  their  minds  with  the  subject  of  religion,  even  when  they  doubt 
the  Truth  or  embrace  positive  error,  are  more  accessible  to  the  faith- 
ful preaching  of  the  Gospel,  than  others  that  are  sunk  in  stupid  in- 
difference and  infidelity.  The  forms  of  error  in  that  coimtry  have, 
with  one  exception,  no  element  of  stability — no  vigorous  dogmatism 


CHAP.  X.]      EEMAEKS  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THEOLOGICAL  OPINION.  581 

or  permanent  fascinations  to  oppose  to  the  solid  orthodoxy  of  evan- 
gelical preaching.  The  one  exception  is  Romanism,  which  presents 
a  sort  of  mosaic  of  truth  and  error,  so  artfully  combined  as  to  exert 
a  charm  over  the  minds  of  those  who  have  once  received  it,  which  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  dissipate. 

Next  to  Romanism,  Unitarianism  is,  of  all  forms  of  error  that  as- 
sume the  title  of  Christian,  the  most  stable.  Its  professors  are  chiefly 
to  be  found  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Massachusetts  ;  but  as  those,  as 
well  as  other  parts  of  New  England,  are  constantly  sending  out  emi- 
grants to  tho  new  settlements,  small  knots  of  persons  with  Unitarian 
preferences  may  be  found  in  the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States. 
Still,  this  dispersion  of  Unitarianism,  and  its  sprouting  up  at  various 
points,  elsewhere  than  in  Massachusetts,  has  rather  the  appearance  than 
the  reality  of  increase.  It  may  be  more  than  doubted  whether  it  be 
not  positively  declining  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity.  Except  that  it  by 
no  means  prevails  in  the  same  proportion,  it  is  very  much  in  America 
what  Rationalism  is  in  Protestant  Europe— a  disease  caught  by  the 
Church  from  the  epidemic  skepticism  of  the  eighteenth  contury — a 
skepticism  which  is  now  in  both  hemispheres  taking  the  form  of  a 
mystical  pantheism.  The  career  of  Unitarianism,  which  one  of  its 
former  advocates*  called  not  a  "  religion,  but  a  fashion,"  as  a  sect  or 
party,  is  manifestly  drawing  to  a  close  ;  and  such,  I  rather  think,  is 
the  impression  of  its  most  intelligent  and  eminent  leaders.  It  seems 
to  be  given  up  as  incapable  of  diffusion  ;  and  the  forty  years'  expe- 
rience it  has  had  of  a  separate  organization  confirms  to  my  mind  this 
conclusion,  though  others  may  think  differently.  At  all  events,  no 
one  who  is  well  informed  with  regard  to  the  present  aspect  of  things 
in  America,  can  claim  for  Unitarianism  much  vigor  or  any  greater 
positive  increase  than  that  of  the  natural  increase  of  the  population 
within  its  pale ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  is  increasing  even 
so  much  as  that. 

A  certain  amount  of  moral  influence  for  good  may  fairly  be  attrib- 
uted to  some  of  the  unevangelical  sects,  but  this  can  hardly  be  said 
of  the  Universalists — and  they  comprise  nearly  the  whole — who  deny 
a  future  judgment  and  all  punishment  beyond  this  life  ;  while  as  for 
the  Atheists,  Deists,  and  Socialists  of  every  hue,  it  is  hardly  slander 
to  say  that  their  influence  upon  society  is  positively  mischievous. 

As  for  the  Shakers,  Mormons,  and  other  such  agglomerations,  they 
may  be  accounted  for,  I  apprehend,  on  two  principles.  First,  the 
blinding  nature  of  human  depravity,  which  makes  men  prefer  any 
thing,  however  absurd,  that  looks  like  religion,  and  suits  their  fancies 

*  The  Rev.  0.  A  Brownson,  who  was  once,  and  for  years,  a  Unitarian,  but  is  now 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  editor  of  their  chief  quarterly  review. 


582  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.       [BOOK  VII. 

and  their  passions,  to  retaining,  or,  rather,  to  obtaining,  the  true 
knowledge  of  God.  Next,  these  bodies  always  hold  out  some  tem- 
poral good — some  economical  advantage — which,  far  more  than  any 
religious  consideration,  tempts  persons  to  enter  them.  One  would 
suppose,  for  example,  that  a  religion  which,  like  that  of  the  Shakers, 
makes  the  sinfulness  of  marriage  a  fundamental  principle,  and  obliges 
married  proselytes  to  live  single,  could  never  find  followers.  Yet,  as 
persons  sometimes  grow  tired  of  the  marriage  relation,  or,  rather, 
of  those  with  whom  it  has  bound  them  as  husband  and  wife,  so  some 
may  be  found  willing,  even  by  becoming  Shakers,  to  rid  themselves 
of  a  burden  they  feel  to  be  grievous.  So,  also,  in  the  separation 
of  children  from  their  parents,  and  the  entire  breaking  up  of  the 
family  relationships,  weak  people  may  always  be  found  ready  to 
snatch  at  any  opportunity  of  ridding  themselves  of  parental  respon- 
siblity,  by  shifting  it  upon  other  shoulders.  This  despicable  and  un- 
manly selfishness  may  be  regarded  as  the  main  foundation  of  all  the 
forms  of  Socialism. 

III.  We  have  yet  to  consider  the  extent  of  doctrinal  agreement 
and  diversity  in  and  among  the  communions  classed  together  as  evan- 
gelical— a  subject  already  noticed,  but  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
turn, in  order  that  the  reader  may  perceive  its  connection  with 
certain  other  interesting  and  important  topics. 

1.  They  agree  generally  in  holding  the  body  of  doctrines  professed 
by  the  Reformed  Churches  of  France  and  Switzerland,  and  embodied 
in  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Catechisms,  and  in  the  doctrinal  ar- 
ticles of  the  Church  of  England.  In  particular,  they  hold  the 
supremacy  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith,  and  that  whatever 
doctrine  can  be  proved  from  Holy  Scripture  without  tradition  is  to 
be  received  unhesitatingly,  and  that  nothing  that  can  not  so  be 
proved  shall  be  deemed  an  essential  point  of  Christian  belief.  They 
hold  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  ;  the  three  Persons  in  the  Di- 
vine Unity ;  the  holiness  of  the  first  human  pair  as  created  and  placed 
upon  probation ;  their  fall,  and  the  involved  or  consequent  apostacy 
of  the  whole  human  race  ;  the  necessity  of  some  atonement  (sufficient 
to  vindicate  the  justice  of  God's  government)  in  order  to  the  pardon 
of  sin  ;  the  fact  of  such  an  atonement  having  been  made  by  the  hu- 
miliation, sufferings,  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  both  God  and 
man  ;  the  offer  of  forgiveness  to  all  mankind,  as  provided  for  them 
by  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ ;  the  free  justification  of  the  believer, 
not  for  his  works  past  or  foreseen,  nor  for  his  faith,  but  for  Christ's 
sake  alone  ;  the  necessity  of  an  inward  spiritual  renovation  in  order 
to  salvation  ;  the  fact  that  this  spiritual  renovation  is  the  result  not  of 
human  endeavors,  but  of  the  Holy  Spirit  operating  upon  the  soul, 


CHAP.  X.]      REMARKS  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THEOLOGICAL  OPINION.  583 

and  thus  making  the  call  of  God  in  His  Word,  and  by  all  instrument- 
alities outward  to  the  soul,  an  effectual  call ;  the  dependence  of  the 
believer,  for  his  progress  in  holiness,  on  the  continued  communion 
with  God  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead ;  the  universal  judgment ;  the  eternal  state  of  happiness  for 
the  saved,  and  of  misery  for  the  lost. 

2.  The  Methodists  and  some  smaller  bodies  reject  the  Calvinistic 
or  Reformed  doctrine  of  predestination,  especially  in  its  application 
to  the  individuals  who,  in  the  fulfillment  of  God's  counsels,  become 
the  subjects  of  renewing  grace.  They  also  deny  the  doctrine  that  all 
who  are  once  renewed  to  holiness  are  effectually  and  certainly  kept 
by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation.  But  in  other 
communions  these  doctrines  are  held  as  clearly  taught  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  as  of  great  practical  value. 

3.  A  considerable  proportion,  perhaps  a  third,  of  the  clergy  and 
members  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  agree  with  what  is  called  the  Ox- 
ford party  in  the  Church  of  England ;  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  ascribe  to 
sacraments  and  other  external  institutions,  a  certain  spiritual  efficacy 
not  recognized  by  other  Protestants. 

4.  The  theological  discussions  and  disputes  which  sometimes  agi- 
tate these  various  communions  are  such,  for  the  most  part,  as  to  make 
it  no  easy  matter  to  convey  a  just  idea  of  them  to  a  foreigner.  In 
many  instances,  indeed,  the  disputants  themselves  can  hardly  state 
the  point  in  debate  to  each  other's  satisfaction.  For  instance,  I  could 
not  expect  to  state  minutely  the  differences  between  the  "  Old  School" 
and  "  New  School,"  in  the  Presbyterian  Churches,  without  giving 
offence  to  one  party  or  the  other,  or  perhaps  to  both  parties. 

Let  it  suffice,  then,  to  say  that,  generally,  the  debates  among  theo- 
loorians  in  America  are  debates  about  the  constitution  of  the  human 
mind,  the  analysis  of  responsibility  and  moral  agency,  and  the  old 
question  of  "  fate  and  free-will."  Some  hold  that  all  mankind,  indi- 
vidually, are  literally  responsible  before  God  for  the  sin  of  their  first 
parents  ;  others  hold  only  that,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  all  his 
posterity  are  sinners.  Some  hold  that  sin  consists  in  a  propensity  to 
sin  concreated  in  the  soul,  or,  at  least,  existing  in  the  soul  from  the 
indivisible  instant  in  which  its  existence  commences,  anterior  to  all 
choice,  all  intelligence,  all  desire  or  emotion ;  others  hold  that  sin 
consists  only  in  the  perversion  of  the  powers  of  human  nature.  Some 
hold  that  the  "  new  birth"  is  not  only  figuratively  and  morally,  but 
literally  and  physically,  a  new  creation  ;  that  it  is  a  change  in  the  be- 
ing itself,  from  which  a  moral  renovation  inevitably  proceeds ;  that 
anterior  to  repentance,  to  faith,  to  any  right  movement  of  the  soul, 
there  is  not  merely  an  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  soul,  but 


584  NON-EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMERICA.      [BOOK  VII. 

a  subjective  change  within  the  soul,  which  change  they  call  repent- 
ance.    Others,  on  the  contrary,  hold  that  conversion,  or  the  turning 
of  the  soul  to  God  in  repentance  and  faith,  is  regeneration,  and  is  the 
effect  of  a  Divine  influence  upon  the  soul.     Some  hold  that  the  re- 
newed man  will  persevere  in  holiness,  because  the  power  of  God 
upon  him  is  such  that  he  can  not  fall  away;  others  that  God's 
promise  to  keep  him  can  not  fail,  and  that,  therefore,  he  will  not  fall 
away.     Some  hold  that  God,  in  His  works  of  creation,  providence, 
and  redemption,  has  not  constituted  the  best  system  possible  to  Him, 
and  that  He  could  have  done  much  better  than  He  has  done ;  others 
hold  that  the  system  of  the  universe,  including  all  events,  is  abso- 
lutely the  best ;  the  best  which  the  mind  of  God  could  conceive;  bet- 
ter, with  all  the  sin  which  exists,  than  it  could  have  been  if  all 
creatures  had  retained  forever  their  allegiance  to  God ;  and  others 
still  hold  that  this  system,  including  all  the  evil  which  exists  under 
it,  is  good  and  glorious,  but  not  better  than  if  all  God's  creatures  had 
remained  holy  and  happy.     Some  hold  that  in  every  instance  in 
which  sin  takes  place,  God,  on  the  whole,  prefers  that  sin  to  holiness 
in  its  stead ;  others  hold  that  God  never  chooses  evil  rather  than 
good,  or  sin  rather  than  holiness,  yet  that  in  every  instance  in  which 
sin  actually  takes  place,  He,  for  some  wise  reason,  chooses  to  permit 
rather  than  to  interj)ose  His  power  to  prevent  it.     Some  hold  that 
all  the  acts  of  voluntary  agents  are  predestined  in  such  a  way  that 
the  agent  has  no  power  to  act  otherwise  than  he  does  ;  others  hold 
that  while  all  the  acts  of  moral  agents  are  certain  beforehand  in  the 
counsels  of  God,  nothing  in  that  certainty  is  inconsistent  with  the 
power  of  the  voluntary  agent  to  act  otherwise. 

Such  is  a  specimen  of  the  controversial  theology  in  the  evangelical, 
and  particularly  in  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  denomina- 
tions. Were  I  to  indicate  the  probable  direction  of  religious  opinion 
and  theological  science  in  .the  United  States,  amid  this  metaphysical 
strife,  I  should  little  hesitate  to  say  that  it  is  tending,  on  the  whole, 
toward  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  simplest  and  most  Scriptural 
Christianity,  that  is,  of  the  Gospel  as  "  glad  tidings"  to  all  men, 
tidings  of  forgiveness  for  guilt  through  the  expiation  made  by  the 
Son  of  God,  and  tidings  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  lead  sinners 
to  repentance,  and  to  carry  on  a  work  of  sanctification  in  the  hearts 
of  the  believing.  The  demand  is  everywhere  for  a  Christianity  that 
can  be  preached,  and  that,  being  preached,  will  commend  itself  to 
every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God.  Under  such  a  demand, 
wire-drawn  speculations  about  Christianity — remote  from  any  appli- 
cation to  the  conscience,  to  the  sinner's  fears,  and  to  the  hopes  and 
devout  affections  of  the  believer — are  felt  to  be  impertinent.    Thus 


CHAP.  X.]      REMARKS    ON  THE  STATE   OF   THEOLOGICAL    OPINION.      585 

the  Gospel  is  preached  less  and  less  as  a  matter  of  traditionary  dog- 
matism and  speculation,  and  more  and  more  as  Gospel,  the  message 
of  God's  mercy  to  needy  and  guilty  man,  to  be  received  by  every 
hearer  as  suited  to  his  wants,  and  to  be  hailed  with  faith  and  joy  as 
life  from  the  dead.  Against  this  general  tendency  there  is,'  and 
there  will  be,  occasional,  local,  and  party  resistance ;  the  surface  may 
be  ruffled  from  time  to  time  by  some  wind  of  doctrine,  or  specula- 
tion, rather,  and  the  current  may  seem  to  be  setting  in  the  opposite 
direction.  But  I  am  fully  persuaded  that,  on  the  whole,  if  not  from 
year  to  year,  at  least  from  one  period  of  change  to  another,  the 
progress  of  religious  opinion  will  be  found  to  be  toward  the  simplest 
and  most  Scriptural  views  of  the  Gospel  as  God's  gracious  message, 
which  every  man  may  embrace,  and  should  embrace  immediately, 
and  away  from  those  philosophical  and  traditionary  expositions  of 
Christianity  which  it  only  embarrasses  the  preacher  to  deliver,  and 
the  hearer  to  receive. 

The  increased  attention  which  the  theologians  of  America  are  giv- 
ing to  the  accurate  and  learned  investigation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
may  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  the  tendency  of  theological 
science  in  this  country.  That  the  Scriptures  are  the  only  authority 
in  matters  of  faith,  is  not  only  universally  acknowledged  in  theory, 
but  more  and  more  practically  acted  upon.  Thus  the  science  and  art 
of  interpretation  are  more  and  more  appreciated.  The  best  theolo- 
gian must  be  he  who  best  understands,  and  who  can  best  explain  the 
Bible.  The  questions,  What  did  Edwards  hold?  What  did  the 
Puritans  hold  ?  What  did  the  Reformers  hold  ?  What  did  Augus- 
tine, Jerome,  or  the  earlier  fathers  hold  ?  though  admitted  to  be  im- 
portant in  their  places,  are  regarded  as  of  small  importance  in  com- 
parison with  the  questions,  What  saith  the  Scripture  ?  What  did 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  teach  ?  Under  this  influence,  the  tendency 
of  theological  science,  as  well  as  of  the  popular  exposition  of  Christi- 
anity from  the  pulpit,  is  toward  the  primitive  simplicity  of  Christian 
truth. 

The  great  achievement  of  American  theology  is,  that  it  has  placed 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  for  sin  in  the  clearest  light,  by  illustra- 
tions drawn  from  the  nature  of  a  moral  government.  Nowhere  is  the 
distinction  between  the  work  of  Christ  as  the  propitiation  for  the  sins 
of  men,  and  that  of  the  Holy  Sprit  in  renewing  and  sanctifying  the 
sinner,  more  clearly  drawn — nowhere  is  the  necessity  of  each  to  the 
salvation  of  the  soul  more  constantly  and  forcibly  exhibited.  The 
tendency  of  our  theology,  under  the  impulse  of  the  Edwardean  expo- 
sition of  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  is  to  avoid  the  habit — so  com- 
mon to  philosophers  and  philosophizing  theologians — of  contemplat- 


586  NON-EV ANGELICAL   DENOMINATIONS   IN  AMEEICA.        [BOOK  VII. 

ing  God  exclusively  as  the  First  Cause  of  all  beings  and  all  events, 
and  to  fix  attention  upon  Him  as  a  Moral  Governor  of  beings  made 
for  responsible  action.  Here  it  is  that  the  God  of  the  Bible  differs 
from  the  God  of  Philosophy.  The  latter  is  simply  a  first  cause — a 
reason  why  things  are — sometimes,  if  not  always,  a  mere  hypothesis 
to  account  for  the  existence  of  the  universe,  another  name  for  nature 
or  for  fate.  The  former  is  a  moral  governor,  that  is,  a  lawgiver,  a 
judge,  a  dispenser  of  rewards  and  penalties.  God's  law  is  given  to 
the  universe  of  moral  beings  for  the  one  great  end  of  promoting  the 
happiness  of  that  vast  empire.  As  a  law,  it  is  a  true  and  earnest  ex- 
pression of  the  will  of  the  lawgiver  respecting  the  actions  of  His  crea- 
tures. As  a  law,  it  must  be  sanctioned  by  penalties  adequate  to  ex- 
press God's  estimation  of  the  value  of  the  interests  trampled  on  by 
disobedience.  As  the  law  is  not  arbitrary,  but  the  necessary  means 
of  accomplishing  the  greatest  good,  it  may  not  be  arbitrarily  set  aside. 
Therefore,  when  man  had  become  apostate,  and  the  whole  human 
race  was  under  condemnation,  God  sent  His  Son  into  the  world,  in 
human  nature,  "to  be  made  a  sin-offering  for  us ;"  and  thus,  by  His 
voluntary  sufferings  magnifying  the  law,  "  to  declare  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  that  God  may  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  who  be- 
lieveth."  Thus  it  is  that  God,  as  a  moral  governor,  is  glorified  in  the 
forgiveness  of  sinners ;  that  He  calls  upon  all  men  to  repent,  with  a 
true  and  intense  desire  for  their  salvation ;  that  He  sends  into  a  world 
of  rebellion  the  infinite  gift  of  His  Spirit,  to  impart  life  to  those  who 
are  dead  in  sin  ;  that  in  a  world  of  sinners,  who,  if  left  to  themselves, 
would  all  reject  the  offered  pardon,  He  saves  those  whom  He  has 
chosen  out  of  the  world ;  that  He  uses  the  co-operation  of  redeemed 
and  renewed  men  in  advancing  the  work  of  saving  their  fellow-men. 
Men  are  saved  from  sin  and  condemnation,  not  by  mere  power,  but 
by  means  that  harmonize  with  the  nature,  and  conduce  to  the  ends 
of  God's  moral  government.  This  method  of  illustrating  the  Gospel 
carries  the  preacher  and  the  theologian  back  from  the  Platonic  dreams 
and  dry  dogmatizing  of  the  schools,  to  the  Bible.  It  sets  the  theolo- 
gian upon  studying,  and  the  preacher  upon  imitating,  the  freedom, 
simplicity,  and  directness,  with  which  the  Apostles  addressed  the  un- 
derstandings and  sensibilities  of  men.  And  thus  it  may  be  regarded 
as  coinciding  with  other  indications  of  the  tendency  of  religious  opin- 
ion in  the  various  evangelical  bodies  of  America. 

I  would  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  few  things  in  the  history  of  the 
Gospel  more  strikingly  prove  its  inherent  life  and  divinity,  than  the 
extent  to  which  it  has  secured  and  retains  a  hold  upon  the  American 
people.    Their  Christianity  is  not  the  dead  formalism  of  ecclesiastical 


CHAP.  X.]      REMAKKS    ON  THE   STATE    OF   THEOLOGICAL    OPINION.      587 

institutions — upheld  by  law,  tradition,  or  the  force  of  fashion.*  It  is 
not  a  body  of  superstitions,  lying  with  oppressive  weight  upon  the 
common  mind,  and  giving  support  to  a  domineering  priesthood.  It 
is  not  that  Rationalism  which,  retaining  little  of  Christianity  but  the 
name,  has  had  a  brief  ascendency  in  some  parts  of  Protestant  Europe. 
It  is  evangelical  Christianity — the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament. 
Wherever  the  stranger  sees  a  place  of  worship  in  our  cities,  or  in  the 
country,  the  presumption  is,  the  probability  is,  with  few  exceptions, 
ten  to  one — that  there  God  is  worshipped  in  the  name  of  the  one 
Mediator,  with  faith  and  penitence ;  that  there  pardon  is  offered  to 
the  guilty,  freely  through  Christ  the  Lamb  of  God ;  and  that  there 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  looked  for,  and  is  given  to  renew  the  heart  of  the 
sinner,  and  to  fill  the  believing  soul  with  joy  and  peace.  The  wor- 
ship may,  in  many  instances,  be  such  as  would  offend  the  sensibilities 
of  certain  cultivated  minds — most  unlike  the  choral  pomp  of  old  ca- 
thedrals— still,  rude  as  it  may  be,  it  is  often  that  only  acceptable  wor- 
ship which  is  offered  in  spirit  and  hi  truth.  The  Gospel  may  be 
preached  there  ignorantly,  and  with  many  imperfections,  still  it  is  the 
Gospel,  and  often  does  it  become  "  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation." 

*  Much  has  been  said  in  Europe  about  the  tyranny  of  public  opinion  in  the  United 
States,  but  I  confess  I  never  have  been  able  to  comprehend  what  this  expression 
means.  M.  de  Tocqueville  employs  it,  but  without  giving  any  clear  idea  upon  the 
subject,  as  has  been  well  remarked  by  the  Hon  John  C.  Spencer,  in  his  Notes  to  the 
American  edition  of  M.  de  T.'s  work.  If  public  opinion  be  strong  and  decided  in 
America,  it  is  because  the  character  of  the  people  makes  it  so.  "When  they  form  an 
opinion,  more  especially  on  any  matter  in  which  the  judgment  or  the  conscience  is 
concerned  (and  what  subject  of  a  practical  kind  does  not  involve  one  or  other  of 
these  ?),  they  are  not  willing  to  change  it  but  for  good  reasons.  And  in  all  matters 
of  religion,  and  morals  especially,  the  Protestant  Faith,  which  has  so  much  influence 
with  a  large  proportion  of  the  population,  concurs  with  the  earnestness  and  steadiness 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  character,  to  make  public  opinion,  not  only  strong,  but  right,  on 
all  points  upon  which  it  has  been  sufficiently  informed.  Mr.  Laing,  in  his  excellent 
work  on  Sweden,  has  some  judicious  remarks  on  this  subject,  proving  that  he  takes  a 
philosophic  view  of  it. 


BOOK    VIII. 

EFFORTS   OF  THE  AMERICAN  CHURCHES  FOR 
THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY     REMARKS. 


We  can  not  well  close  our  view  of  the  religious  condition  of  the 
United  States  without  a  brief  notice  of  what  the  Churches  here  are 
doing  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  other  lands.  This  forms  a 
natural  sequel  to  what  has  been  said  of  their  endeavors  to  plant  and 
to  sustain  its  institutions  on  their  own  soil. 

Some  readers,  indeed,  may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  our  Churches 
are  doing,  any  thing  at  all  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  other  countries, 
while  they  have  so  much  to  do  in  their  own.  When  they  hear 
that  our  population  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight 
hundred  thousand  souls  annually,  so  that  nothing  short  of  the 
most  gigantic  efforts  can  effect  a  proportionate  increase  of  ministers 
and  congregations;  when  they  read  of  several  hundred  thousand 
immigrants*  arriving  every  year  from  Europe,  the  greater  number  of 
whom  are  ignorant  of  the  true  Gospel,  and  many  of  them  uneducated, 
poor,  and  vicious :  they  may  be  astonished  that  the  American  churches, 
imaided  by  the  government  in  any  way,  receiving  no  tithes,  taxes,  or 

*  From  1844  to  1855,  a  period  often  years,  three  million  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety-five  persons  arrived  from  foreign  lands. 
In  1854  alone,  four  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-four  ar- 
rived. But  in  1855,  the  number  of  immigrants  was  only  two  hundred  thousand  four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  (deducting  natives  of  the  United  States),  owing  to  "  better 
times"  in  the  Old  World,  especially  in  Ireland,  and  partially,  also,  to  the  influence  of  the 
"  American"  movement,  as  it  has  been  called.  Of  the  two  hundred  thousand  four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  persons  who  arrived  in  1855,  nearly,  if  not  quite  one  half 
were  from  the  British  realm:  the  remainder  were  mainly  from  the  Continent  of  Eu- 
rope. Not  less  than  seventy  thousand  were  from  Germany,  including  Prussia.  More 
than  three  thousand  five  hundred  were  from  China,  and  came  to  California. 


CHAP.  H.]        EARLIER  EFFORTS   TO   CONVERT  THE   ABORIGINES.  589 

public  pecuniary  grants  of  any  kind,  even  for  the  support  of  religion 
at  home,  do  nevertheless  raise  large  sums  for  sending  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  feeling  of  enlightened  and 
zealous  Christians  in  America  itself.  They  feel  that,  while  called 
upon  to  do  their  utmost  for  religion  at  home,  it  is  at  once  a  duty  and 
a  privilege  to  assist  in  promoting  it  abroad.  They  feel  assured  that 
he  that  watereth  shall  himself  be  refreshed,  and  that,  in  complying 
so  far  as  they  can  with  their  Saviour's  command  to  "  preach  the  Gos- 
pel to  every  creature,"  they  are  most  likely  to  secure  the  blessing  of 
that  Saviour  upon  their  country.  And  facts  abundantly  prove  that 
they  judge  rightly. 

Moreover,  our  Churches  have  a  special  reason  for  the  interest  they 
take  in  foreign  missions.  No  Churches  owe  so  much  to  the  spirit  of 
missions  as  they  do.  Much  of  the  country  was  colonized  by  men 
who  came  to  it  not  only  as  a  refuge  for  their  faith  when  persecuted 
elsewhere,  but  as  a  field  of  missionary  enterprise ;  and  their  descend- 
ants would  be  most  unfaithful  to  the  high  trust  that  has  been  be- 
queathed to  them,  did  they  not  strenuously  endeavor  to  carry  out 
the  principles  of  their  forefathers.  Alas !  we  have  to  mourn  that  we 
have  not,  after  all,  done  far  more  to  impart  the  glorious  Gospel,  to 
which  our  country  owes  so  much,  to  nations  still  ignorant  of  it ! 
Still,  we  have  done  something,  and  the  candid  reader  will  perhaps 
admit  that  we  have  not  been  greatly  behind  the  Churches  of  most 
other  countries  in  this  enterprise. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARLIER  EFFORTS  TO  CONVERT  THE  ABORIGINES. 

Notwithstanding  the  common  mistake  at  the  present  day,  of 
those  who  conceive  that  religious  liberty,  and  to  some  extent,  also, 
the  enjoyment  of  political  rights,  were  the  sole  inducements  that  led 
to  the  original  colonization  of  the  United  States,  we  have  seen  that 
the  plantations  of  both  Virginia  and  New  England  were  designed  to 
conduce  to  the  spread  of  Christianity  by  the  conversion  of  the  Ab- 
origines, as  is  proved  both  by  the  royal  charters  establishing  those 
early  colonies,  and  by  the  expressed  sentiments  of  the  Massachusetts 
settlers. 

The  royal  charter  granted  to  the  Plymouth  Company,  having  re- 
ferred to  the  depopulation  of  the  country  by  pestilence  and  war,  and 
its  lying  unclaimed  by  any  other  Christian  power,  goes  on  to  say,  "  In 


590  EFFORTS   FOR   THE    CONVERSION   OF   THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  Till. 

contemplation  and  serious  consideration  whereof,  we  have  thought  it  fit, 
according  to  our  kingly  duty,  so  much  as  in  us  lieth,  to  second  and  fol- 
low God's  sacred  will,  rendering  thanks  to  His  Divine  Majesty  for  His 
gracious  favor  in  laying  open  and  revealing  the  same  unto  us  before 
any  other  Christian  prince  or  state ;  by  which  means,  without  offence, 
and  as  we  trust  to  His  glory,  we  may  with  boldness  go  on  to  the  set- 
tling of  so  hopeful  a  work,  which  tendeth  to  the  reducing  and  con- 
version of  such  savages  as  remain  wandering  in  desolation  and  dis- 
tress, to  civil  society  and  the  Christian  religion."     And  in  this,  the 
charter  professes  to  favor  the  "  worthy  disposition"  of  the  petitioners 
to  whom  it  was  granted.     Nothing  could  be  more  natural,  therefore, 
than  that  John  Robinson,  pastor  of  that  part  of  the  church  which  re- 
mained at  Leyden,  in  Holland,  should  exclaim,  in  his  letter  to  the 
governor  of  the  colony  at  Plymouth,  "  Oh  that  you  had  converted 
some  before  you  killed  any !"     But,  in  fact,  the  Plymouth  colonists 
applied  themselves  to  the  conversion  of  the  natives  from  the  very 
first.     They  endeavored  to  communicate  the  knowledge  of  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  scattered  Indians  around  them,  and  took  pains  to  establish 
schools  for  their  instruction.    The  result  was,  that  several  gave  satis- 
factory evidence,  living  and  dying,  of  real  conversion  to  God.     A 
poor,  small  colony,  struggling  for  its  very  existence  with  all  manner 
of  hardships,  could  not  be  expected  to  do  much  in  this  way,  yet  in 
1636  we  find  that  it  made  a  legal  provision  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Indians,  and  for  the  establishment  of  courts  to 
punish  trespasses  committed  against  them. 

The  Massachusetts  charter  sets  forth  that,  "  to  win  and  incite  the 
natives  of  that  country  to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only 
true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  the  Christian  Faith,  in  our 
royal  intention  and  the  adventurer's  free  profession,  is  the  principal 
end  of  the  plantation."  The  seal  of  the  colony  had  for  its  device  the 
figure  of  an  Indian,  with  the  words  of  the  Macedonian  entreaty, 
"Come  over  and  help  us."  And  here,  as  at  Plymouth,  some  at- 
tempts not  altogether  abortive  were  made  to  convert  the  natives  from 
the  very  first. 

Thus,  these  two  colonies  might  be  considered  as  self-supporting 
missions,  and  rank  among  the  earliest  Protestant  missionary  enter- 
prises. The  Swedes  had  in  the  preceding  century  done  something 
for  their  benighted  countrymen  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian Peninsula.  French  Huguenots,  too,  as  we  have  seen,  made 
an  attempt,  as  early  as  1556,  under  the  auspices  of  the  brave  and 
good  Coligny,  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  America,  by  founding  a  settle- 
ment in  Brazil.  Calvin  furnished  several  pastors  for  it  from  his  school 
at  Geneva,     But  Yillagagnon,  who  took  the  lead,  having  relapsed  to 


CHAP.  II.]        EARLIER  EFFORTS   TO   CONVERT  THE  ABORIGINES.  591 

Romanism,  put  three  of  the  Genevan  pastors  to  death ;  whereupon 
some  of  the  colonists  returned  to  Europe,  and  the  remainder  were 
massacred  by  the  Portuguese.  A  subsequent  attempt,  made  under 
the  same  auspices,  to  plant  a  Protestant  colony  in  Florida,  also  failed. 
Thus,  even  assuming,  which  is  not  very  evident,  that  these  attempts 
were  of  a  missionary  character,  certain  it  is  that  the  New  England 
colonies  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  successful  enterprises  of  the 
kind. 

In  1646,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  passed  an  act  for  the  en- 
couragement of  Christian  missions  among  the  Indians,  and  that  same 
year  the  celebrated  John  Eliot  began  his  labors  at  Nonantum,  now 
forming  part  of  the  township  of  Newton,  about  six  miles  from  Bos- 
ton. Great  success  attended  this  good  man's  preaching  and  other 
modes  of  instruction.  Nor  were  his  labors  confined  to  the  Indians 
near  Boston.  .  From  Cape  Cod  to  Worcester,  over  a  tract  of  country 
near  one  hundred  miles  long,  he  made  repeated  journeys,  preaching 
to  the  native  tribes,  whose  language  he  had  thoroughly  mastered,  and 
translated  the  Scriptures  .  and  other  Christian  books  into  it.  Both 
editions  of  his  Indian  Bible,  the  one  of  fifteen  hundred  copies  in 
1663,  the  other  of  two  thousand  copies  in  1685,  were  printed  at  Cam- 
bridge, near  Boston,  and  were  the  only  Bibles  printed  in  America 
until  long  after.  Eliot,  who  has  ever  since  been  called  the  "Apostle 
of  the  Indians,"  died  in  1690,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  "Welcome 
joy,"  was  one  of  his  last  expressions.  His  labors,  and  those  of  others 
whom  he  engaged  in  the  same  great  work,  were  blessed  to  the  con- 
version of  many  souls,  and  many  settlements  of  "  praying  Indians" 
were  formed  in  the  country  round  Boston. 

But  Eliot  was  not  the  first  who  preached  the  Gospel  with  success 
to  the  Indians  in  New  England.  Thomas  Mayhew  began  his  labors 
among  them  on  the  island  called  Martha's  Vineyard,  in  1643.  In 
1646  he  sailed  for  England  to  solicit  aid  ;  but  the  ship  was  lost  at  sea. 
His  father,  Thomas  Mayhew,  the  proprietor  of  the  island,  though 
seventy  years  of  age,  then  undertook  the  task,  and  continued  it  till 
1681,  when  he  died,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  His  grandson  suc- 
ceeded ;  and  for  five  generations,  till  the  death  of  Zachariah  Mayhew 
in  1803,  aged  eighty-seven  years,  that  family  supplied  pastors  to  the 
Indians  living  on  Martha's  Vineyard. 

In  the  Plymouth  colony  we  find  honorable  mention  made,  among 
those  who  labored  to  evangelize  the  Indians  during  Eliot's  life-time, 
of  Messrs.  Treat,  Tupper,  and  Cotton ;  while  in  Massachusetts,  be- 
sides Eliot,  there  were  Messrs.  Goskin,  Thatcher,  and  Rawson  ;  and 
in  Connecticut,  Messrs.  Fitch  and  Pierson.  The  result  of  their  united 
efforts  were  seen  in  1675,  in  fourteen  settlements  of  "praying  In- 


592  EFFORTS  FOR  THE  COKTERSION    OF   THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

dians,  twenty-four  congregations,  and  twenty-four  Indian  preachers." 
Besides  religious  instruction,  the  Indians  were  taught  agriculture,  and 
the  other  most  necessary  arts  of  civilized  life. 

But  that  very  year  (1675),  King  Philip,  the  chief  of  the  Pokanoket 
tribe,  instigated  by  his  hatred  of  Christianity,  and  still  more,  proba- 
bly, by  jealousy  of  the  growing  power  of  the  English  settlers,  made 
an  unprovoked  war  upon  the  colonies.  It  ended  in  the  annihilation 
of  his  party,  not,  however,  without  vast  injury  to  the  "praying  set- 
tlements." Still,  though  the  Gospel  experienced  a  check,  it  soon  be- 
gan again  to  make  progress,  so  that  in  1696  there  were  thirty  Indian 
churches  in  Massachusetts  colony,  and  two  years  later  three  thousand 
reputed  "  converts." 

In  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  also  Long  Island  (which  be- 
longed to  the  province  of  New  York,  though  its  eastern  part  was 
colonized  by  emigrants  from  New  England),  missionary  efforts  were 
less  successful.  Still,  the  Gospel  was  not  wholly  without  effect,  and 
portions  of  the  Narragansett,  Pequod,  Nantick,  Mohegan,  and  Mon- 
tauk  tribes  were  converted  to  Christianity,  and  long  formed  "  Chris- 
tian settlements,"  some  remnants  of  which  exist  to  this  day. 

The  news  respecting  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians 
in  New  England  excited  so  much  interest  in  the  mother  country  from 
the  first,  that  "  The  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  En- 
gland" was  incorporated  in  England  so  early  as  1649,  and  though  its 
charter  was  annulled  at  the  Restoration  in  1660,  a  new  one  was  granted 
the  following  year,  reorganizing  the  society,  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen  Nations  of 
New  England  and  the  parts  adjacent  in  America."  The  celebrated 
Robert  Boyle  took  a  great  interest  in  it,  and  was  its  "  governor"  or 
president  for  thirty  years.  The  good  Baxter  was  its  friend.  In 
1698,  "  The  Society  for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge"  was  founded 
by  members  of  the  Established  Church  in  England ;  and  in  1701,  "The 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts"  was  instituted. 
This  last  joined  with  the  first  in  aiding  the  American  missions,  as  did 
also,  at  a  later  day,  "  The  Society  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowl- 
edge," which  was  founded  in  Scotland.  A  considerable  portion  of 
the  funds  expended  by  these  societies,  in  the  missions  among  the  In- 
dians, was  contributed  by  the  churches  in  America ;  for,  before  the 
Revolution,  they  had  no  independent  missionary  organizations  of 
their  own,  owing  to  their  dependent  condition  as  colonies.  In  1762, 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature  incorporated  a  society  formed  at  Bos- 
ton, "for  promoting  Christian  knowledge  among  the  Indians  in 
North  America,"  but  the  ratification  of  this  act  by  the  crown  being 
refused,  the  missions  had  still  to  be  conducted  on  behalf  of  the  soci- 


CHAP.  II.]   EARLIER  EFFOETS  TO  CONTERT  THE  ABORIGINES.     593 

eties  in  Great  Britain  through  American  committees  formed  at  Boston 
and  New  York. 

In  1734,  Mr.  John  Sergeant  began  to  labor  among  some  Mohegans 
whom  he  had  gathered  round  him  at  Stockbridge,  in  Massachusetts, 
whence  the  name  given  them  ever  after  of  "  Stockbridge  Indians." 
That  good  man,  whose  labors  were  greatly  blessed,  died  in  1749, 
whereupon  these  Indians  passed  under  the  care  of  the  great  Jonathan 
Edwards,  who  had  been  settled  at  Northampton.  It  was  while 
laboring  as  an  humble  missionary  at  Stockbridge  that  he  wrote  his 
celebrated  treatises  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will"  and  "  Original 
Sin."  Having  spent  six  years  at  Stockbridge,  he  was  called  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey. 

After  the  Revolution,  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  many  of  them  being 
Christians,  removed  to  the  central  part  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
thence  to  Indiana,  thence  to  Green  Bay,  and  at  last  to  their  present 
settlement  on  the  east  of  Lake  Winnebago,  where  they  have  a  church 
and  a  missionary. 

Cotemporaneously  with  the  commencement  of  Mr.  Sergeant's 
labors  at  Stockbridge,  the  Moravians  began  a  mission  in  Georgia, 
whence  they  were  compelled  by  supervening  difficulties  to  remove 
soon  after  to  Pennsylvania.  In  compliance  with  applications  trans- 
mitted by  them  to  Herrnhut,  in  Germany,  the  Society  sent  over  sev- 
eral missionaries,  and  these  worthy  men  began  in  1740  to  labor  very 
successfully  among  the  Mohegans  on  the  borders  of  the  States  of 
Connecticut  and  New  York.  But  the  opposition  of  wicked  white 
men  compelled  them  at  length  to  remove,  with  as  many  of  the  In- 
dians as  would  accompany  them,  to  the  neighborhood  of  Bethlehem 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  there  they  remained  for  several  years,  but  suf- 
fered much  in  consequence  of  the  hostilities  between  France  and 
Great  Britain  in  1755-63.  From  that  place  they  went  first  to  the 
banks  of  the  upper  Susquehanna,  and  afterward  beyond  the  western 
borders  of  Pennsylvania,  where  they  joined  some  Indian  converts  of 
the  excellent  David  Zeisberger  from  the  Allegheny  River.  These 
quarter^  they  exchanged  in  1772  for  others  on  the  Muskingum  River, 
in  Ohio,  where  they  enjoyed  great  spiritual  prosperity  for  a  season. 
From  that  point  they  moved  afterward  to  the  Sandusky  River,  in 
the  same  State.  After  many  calamities  and  much  suffering  during 
the  Revolutionary  war,  in  which  the  Indians  generally  took  part 
against  the  Americans,  and  after  several  changes  of  quarters  subse- 
quent to  the  return  of  peace,  they  finally  settled  on  the  River 
Thames,  in  Upper  Canada,  where  they  built  the  town  of  Fairfield,  at 
which  they  now  reside. 

David  Brainerd  commenced  his  short  but  useful  career  in  1743 

38 


594  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONVERSION    OF   THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  YTII. 

among  the  Indians  between  Albany  and  Stockbridge,  near  what  is 
now  called  New  Lebanon.  He  preached  afterward  to  the  Indians  at 
the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  in  Pennsylvania,  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  Easton.  And,  finally,  he  labored  for  a  short  time,  but  with 
amazing  success,  among  the  New  Jersey  Indians  at  Crossweeksung. 
On  the  termination  of  his  labors  by  death,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  his 
brother  John  continued  them,  and  was  much  blessed  in  the  attempt. 
Upon  John's  death  in  1783,  his  Indian  flock  had  the  ministration  of 
the  Word  continued  chiefly  by  the  pastors  in  the  neighborhood  until 
1802,  when  it  joined  the  Stockbridge  Indians  at  their  settlement  in 

New  York. 

A  school  for  Indian  youth  was  opened  at  Lebanon,  in  Connecticut, 
in  1748,  under  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Wheelock,  and  there  the  well-known 
Indian  preacher,  Mr.  Occum,  and  the  celebrated  Mohawk  chief, 
Brant,  were  educated,  It  was  afterward  removed  to  Hanover,  in 
New  Hampshire,  where  it  is  still  to  be  found,  and  is  nominally  con- 
nected, I  understand,  with  Dartmouth  College.  Its  proper  title  is 
"Moor's  Charity  School." 

One  of  the  most  useful  of  the  more  recent  missionaries  among  the 
Indians  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland,  who  began  his  labors  with 
the  Oneidas  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1764,  and  died  in  1808, 
having  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  Indians,  with  some  short  interrup- 
tions, for  more  than  forty  years. 

We  have  elsewhere  referred  to  something  being  done  in  the  way 
of  Indian  missions  in  Virginia,  but  in  none  of  the  Southern  colonies 
was  there  any  thing  of  this  kind  accomplished  deserving  of  particular 
mention.  The  wars  between  the  Aborigines  and  the  immigrants, 
that  broke  out  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  latter,  and  were  repeat- 
edly renewed  afterward,  extinguished  any  little  zeal  they  may  have 
ever  felt  in  such  a  cause. 

These  notices  will,  no  doubt,  surprise  such  of  our  readers  as  have 
been  under  the  impression  that  the  colonists  never  did  any  thing  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  the  Gospel.  Still,  who  can  but  re- 
gret that  more  was  not  done  to  bring  the  original  occupants  of  the 
soil  to  that  knowledge  both  of  Christianity,  and  the  arts  of  civilized 
life,  by  which  alone  the  gradual  extinction  of  so  many  of  their  tribes 
could  have  been  arrested  ?  The  efforts  of  the  colonists,  however, 
encountered  many  obstacles.  The  wars  between  France,  when  mis- 
tress of  the  Canadas,  and  the  British  empire,  of  which  the  United 
States  were  then  a  part,  invariably  drew  their  respective  colonies, 
together  with  the  intervening  Indian  tribes,  into  hostilities.  These 
were  protracted,  bloody,  and  cruel,  so  as  to  leave  deep  traces  of  ex- 
asperation in  the  minds  of  all  who  did  not  possess  a  large  share  of  the 

v 


CHAP.  II.]        EARLIER   EFFORTS   TO    CONVERT  THE   ABORIGINES.  595 

spirit  of  the  Gospel.  All  war  is  dreadful,  but  Indian  warfare  is  horri- 
ble to  a  degree  altogether  beyond  the  conception  of  those  who  have 
heard  of  it  at  a  distance ;  and  it  ultimately  begat  such  a  spirit  of 
hatred  and  revenge  among  the  colonists  as  proved  exceedingly  un- 
favorable to  missions.  I  stop  not  here  to  inquire  who  was  in  the 
wrong  in  the  first  instance.  Only  let  me  remark,  in  passing,  that 
they  are  egregiously  mistaken  who  assume  that  the  colonists  were 
always  in  the  wrong. 

Again,  the  churches  in  the  colonies  were  neither  numerous  nor 
rich,  so  that,  upon  the  whole,  those  in  New  England,  and  perhaps 
those,  also,  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  did  as  much,  probably,  in 
proportion  to  their  ability,  then  as  they  do  now. 

At  length  came  the  long  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  still 
longer  period  that  followed  of  distraction,  confusion,  and  spiritual 
desolation.  Small,  indeed,  was  the  prospect  then  of  sufficient  atten- 
tion being  paid  to  missions  among  the  Indians,  many  of  whose  tribes 
were  far  from  being  peaceably  disposed  toward  the  United  States' 
government.  And  no  sooner  did  the  country  and  the  government 
begin  to  recover  from  this  state  of  moral  syncope,  than  they  fell  into 
fresh  troubles  in  consequence  of  the  wars  between  the  British  and 
French,  following  upon  the  French  Revolution — troubles  which  ulti- 
mately brought  on  the  war  of  1812-1815,  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain.  Thus,  it  was  not  until  the  peace  of  1815,  and  the 
general  restoration  of  good-will  between  the  Indian  tribes  and  the 
United  States,  that  a  favorable  opening  for  missions  among  the  former 
was  again  presented.  Blessed  be  God,  our  churches  have  ever  since 
been  becoming  more  and  more  interested  every  year  in  this  good  cause, 
as  will  appear  from  the  operations  of  our  societies  for  foreign  missions. 

It  is  no  easy  task,  indeed,  to  Christianize  and  civilize  savages  who, 
from  times  unknown,  have  been  devoted  to  hunting  and  to  war;  and, 
when  not  thus  occupied,  lounge  like  their  dogs  about  their  miserable 
hovels  and  tents,  clad  in  skins,  and  leaving  to  their  women,  or 
squaws,  the  drudgery  of  cultivating  a  little  patch  of  maize  or  "  Indian 
corn,"  making  the  fires,  and  even  dressing  the  animals  that  have 
been  slain  in  the  chase,  as  well  as  all  other  domestic  cares.  Their 
aversion  to  the  methodical  labor  required  for  the  arts  of  civilized  life, 
is  such  as  none  can  conceive  without  a  personal  knowledge  of  them. 
Not  a  single  noble  aspiration  seems  ever  to  enter  their  souls,  but  all 
they  care  about  seems  to  be  that  they  may  pass  away  their  life  as  their 
fathers  did,  and  then  die  amid  the  vague  and  shadowy  visions 
of  the  unknown  future.  In  short,  as  long  as  their  forests  last,  and 
game  can  be  found,  they  seem  not  to  have  a  thought  of  adopting  the 
habits  of  civilized  life. 


1 


596  EFFORTS  FOR   THE   CONVERSION    OF   THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  VITI 

Some  persons  are  forever  indulging  mawkish  lamentations  over 
the  disappearance  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  North  America,  and,  if 
one  may  interpret  their  sentimental  distress  on  this  subject,  they 
would  rather  see  this  vast  continent  occupied  by  a  few  hundred 
thousand  savages,  roaming  the  forests,  and  continually  at  war  with 
each  other,  than  covered  with  a  civilized  and  Christian  population ; 
either  forgetting,  or  else  never  having  known,  that  a  savage  state  is 
not  only  wretched,  but  necessarily  tends  to  annihilation. 

But  how  civilized  men  are  to  share  the  same  continent  with  the  un- 
civilized, without  the  latter  being  supplanted  and  made  to  disappear, 
is  a  question  by  no  means  of  easy  solution.  On  the  discovery  of 
a  continent  of  great  natural  resources,  and  possessing  every  thing 
calculated  to  invite  civlized  men  to  its  shores,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  time  can  not  be  distant  when  civilized  men,  by  natural  increase 
and  immigration,  will  crowd  upon  and  displace  the  uncivilized.  To 
save  the  latter  from  extinction,  under  such  circumstances,  one  or 
other  of  two  courses  must  be  pursued :  either  the  two  races  must  be 
amalgamated,  which  is  next  to  impossible  while  one  remains  uncivil- 
ized, and  can  only  be  done  by  reducing  one  of  them  to  a  species  of 
slavery,  and  thus  bringing  them  into  the  bosom  of  civilized  society, 
as  was  very  much  the  course  pursued  by  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico 
and  South  America ;  or  the  uncivilized  race  be  allowed  to  preserve 
their  natural  existence  as  tribes  in  some  distinct  territory.  The  plan 
pursued  by  the  Spaniards  was  revolting  to  the  feelings  of  the  English 
colonists,  and  they  adopted,  accordingly,  that  of  letting  the  Indians 
enjoy  a  separate  existence. 

But  even  this,  easy  as  it  may  seem  at  first  sight,  is  attended  with 
many  difficulties.  It  would  be  very  practicable  if  all  men  were  what 
they  ought  to  be ;  for  then,  after  the  immigrants  had  purchased  the 
territory  they  required,  the  Indians  would  be  left  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  what  they  chose  to  reserve  to  themselves,  and  the  two 
races  would  live  in  each  other's  presence,  respecting  each  other's 
rights,  and  each  contented  with  its  own  possessions.  But  this,  alas ! 
is  not  a  likely  result  among  fallen  men  whom  even  Christianity  has 
only  partially  restored.  As  the  civilized  inhabitants  increased  in 
numbers,  they  desired  more  and  more  territory,  which  the  Indians 
did  not  hesitate  to  sell  as  long  as  their  own  domain  seemed  almost 
boundless,  and  so  the  white  men  went  on  pushing  the  red  further 
and  further  toward  the  West.  Meanwhile,  the  latter  disappointed 
the  expectations  of  those  who  had  looked  forward  to  their  adopting 
the  manners  and  customs  of  civilized  life.  Living  in  close  proximity 
to  the  white  men's  settlements,  they  often  visited  these  with  the  skins 
of  animals  or  blankets  thrown  over  their  shoulders,  and  their  extrem- 


CHAP.  II.]   EARLIER  EFFOKTS  TO  CONVERT  THE  ABORIGINES.      597 

ities  exposed  in  the  coldest  weather ;  and  then,  after  lounging  about 
the  houses  of  the  colonists,  and  taking  such  presents  as  might  be 
offered,  they  returned  to  their  comfortless  wigwams  without  having 
acquired  the  slightest  desire  to  exchange  their  wretched  mode  of 
living  for  the  conveniences  and  comforts  they  had  just  witnessed. 
They  were  too  fond  of  the  habits  in  which  they  had  been  nurtured, 
and  too  averse  to  every  thing  like  steady  industry,  to  seek  any 
change. 

'Nov  were  the  colonists  wanting  in  efforts  to  induce  their  savage 
neighbors  to  adopt  civilized  usages.  Provision  was  made  in  almost 
every  treaty  that  they  should  be  supplied  with  articles  of  comfort, 
and  agricultural  and  other  useful  implements.  But  brandy,  alas!  was 
included  at  times,  that  being  thought,  in  those  days  of  ignorance,  one 
of  the  first  requisites  of  life — equally  necessary  to  the  civilized  and 
uncivilized  man.  Addresses  without  number  were  presented  to 
"  chiefs"  and  "  councils"  by  the  colonial  governors  in  favor  of  civili- 
zation, but  these  were  all  in  vain.  The  little  that  was  done  must  be 
ascribed  to  the  missionaries  sent  to  them  chiefly  by  the  churches  in 
the  colonies.  These  succeeded,  in  several  instances,  in  partially  civil- 
izing the  Indians  among  whom  they  labored,  and  to  this  the  still  ex- 
tant remnants  of  tribes  may  be  said  to  owe  their  preservation  to  this 
day,  inasmuch  as  those  in  which  Christianity  never  gained  any  foot- 
ing, and  in  which  agriculture  and  the  mechanical  arts  never  made  any 
progress,  almost  wholly  disappeared,  either  by  becoming  extinct,  or 
by  being  merged  in  other  uncivilized  and  heathen  tribes. 

The  result  would,  doubtless,  have  been  much  more  favorable  had 
the  missionary  spirit  of  the  earliest  colonists  continued  to  distinguish 
their  followers.  But,  alas !  mere  cupidity  tempted  many  to  those 
shores  for  the  sole  object  of  enriching  themselves  by  all  practicable 
means,  however  unjustifiable,  and  often  by  overreaching  the  poor 
ignorant  savage.  Nay,  even  good  men  suffered  themselves  to  be  too 
much  influenced  by  the  horrid  massacres  often  committed  by  the  In- 
dians upon  the  frontier  settlements  in  their  wars  with  the  colonists. 
These  atrocities  could  hardly  fail  to  cool  the  zeal  for  promoting  the 
best  interests  of  their  barbarous  neighbors,  which  those  men  had  pre- 
viously felt. 

Add  to  other  untoward  influences  that  of  the  phraseology  of  the 
royal  charters,  where  what  were  called  "rights"  to  certain  lands  were 
granted,  without  the  slightest  reference  being  made  to  the  previous 
"  rights"  of  the  uncivilized  occupants  of  the  soil.  This  seems  to 
have  suggested  almost  all  the  subsequent  efforts  made  to  obtain,  per 
fas  aut  nefas,  the  territories  marked  out  by  those  charters.  Thus 
the  poor  Indians  had  no  certain  resting-place.    A  few  reservations 


598  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONTERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

which  certain  remnants  of  partially  Christianized  and  civilized  tribes 
have  retained  in  some  parts  of  New  England  and  New  York,  are  now 
the  only  Indian  settlements  to  be  found  in  all  the  Atlantic  States. 
Had  the  wise  though  much  vilified  plan,  pursued  for  some  years  past 
by  the  United  States  government,  been  sooner  adopted — had  the 
tribes  whose  lands  were  included  in  the  royal  charters  been  all  col- 
lected on  one  territory,  beyond  the  boundaries  of  any  charter,  and 
ample  enough  for  their  support  by  hunting  in  the  first  instance,  and 
afterward  by  tillage,  even  the  limited  attempts  that  were  made  to 
civilize  them  might  have  taken  effect.  But  where  was  there  a  ter- 
ritory ample  enough  to  be  found  over  which  no  charter  extended 
its  claims  ?  At  last,  by  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  this  desideratum 
was  supplied,  and  men,  as  benevolent  as  America  has  ever  possessed, 
soon  comprehended  the  important  use  that  might  be  made  of  it,  and 
pressed  it  upon  the  attention  of  the  government.  Accordingly,  the 
country  lying  between  the  State  of  Arkansas  and  the  Great  Ameri- 
can Desert,  which  stretches  as  far  west  as  the  Oregon  Mountains,  was 
set  apart  for  the  purpose,  being  sufficiently  large,  and  containing 
much  good  land,  and  to  it  the  government  has  succeeded  in  remov- 
ing above  twenty  tribes,  or  remnants  of  tribes,  from  its  own  organ- 
ized States  and  Territories.  Soon  all  that  remain  will  follow,  so  that 
there  will  probably  be  an  Indian  population  of  above  one  hundred 
thousand  souls  on  a  compact  territory,  stretching  about  four  or  five 
hundred  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  about  two  hundred  from  east 
to  west.  Thither,  also,  have  the  missionaries,  who  had  been  laboring 
among  those  tribes,  gone ;  and  though  the  removal  of  the  several  na- 
tions from  their  ancient  homes,  and  from  the  graves  of  their  fore- 
fathers, has  been  followed  by  some  years  of  that  hardship  and 
suffering  which  all  removals  from  ancient  settlements,  whether  more 
or  less  civilized,  to  the  denser  forests  must  occasion,  yet  they  are  sur- 
mounting these,  and  gradually  establishing  themselves  in  their  new 
homes.  In  process  of  time  they  will  have  their  little  farms  and  lots 
of  ground  cleared,  comfortable  houses  erected,  mills  built,  and  the 
more  necessary  arts  of  civilized  life  introduced  among  them.  Great 
progress  is  already  making,  and  the  time,  I  trust,  will  come  when  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Indian  Territory  will  accept  the  offer  made  by 
Congress  to  the  Cherokees,  shortly  after  the  Revolution,  to  receive  a 
delegation  from  them  to  the  National  Congress,  and  thus  admit 
them  as  a  constituent  portion  of  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  its 
laws. 

As  this  removal  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  a  territory  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi has  subjected  the  General  Government  to  great  misrepresent- 
ation, and,  in  my  opinion,  to  most  unjust  censure,  I  may  say  a  few 


CHAP.  II.]    EARLIER  EFFORTS  TO  CONTERT  THE  ABORIGINES.     599 

words  further  respecting  it.  "What  has  been  most  censured  is  the 
removal  of  the  Cherokees,  a  tribe  of  Indians  formerly  situated  chiefly 
in  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  by  far  the  most  advanced  in  civilization 
of  all  the  aboriginal  race. 

By  the  charter  granted  to  Oglethorpe  and  his  friends,  Georgia 
claimed  an  extensive  territory  to  the  west  of  her  present  limits,  out 
of  which  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi  have  since  been 
formed.  This  territory  she  agreed  to  cede  to  the  United  States,  pro- 
vided the  General  Government  would  buy  out  the  claims  of  the  In- 
dians residing  within  her  present  limits,  and  remove  them  elsewhere. 
The  General  Government  accordingly  removed  the  Creek  Indians, 
after  buying  up  their  claims,  from  the  south-western  part  of  the  State 
to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi.  But  the  Cherokees,  whose  lands  lay 
in  the  north-western  corner,  refused  to  sell  them,  although  the  Gene- 
ral Government  for  years  tried  every  method  that  it  deemed  proper 
to  induce  them  to  do  so.  Georgia  at  length  resolved  to  survey  those 
lands,  and  to  extend  her  jurisdiction  over  both  their  Indian  occupants 
and  all  who  lived  among  them ;  upon  which  the  missionaries  retired, 
with  the  exception  of  two,  who  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  State,  on  the  ground  that  Georgia  had  no  right  of  jurisdiction 
over  the  Cherokee  territory.  Being  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison 
for  this,  they  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
which  gave  judgment  in  their  favor,  and  ordered  them  to  be  set  at 
liberty.  This  was  demanded,  accordingly,  by  the  marshal  of  the 
United  States  residing  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  The  Governor  of 
Georgia  refused  compliance.  This  was  reported  by  the  marshal  to 
the  Supreme  Court.  Its  next  yearly  meeting  was  now  drawing  on, 
and  the  Constitution  then  required  that  the  chief  justice  should  call 
upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  enforce  compliance,  which, 
by  his  oath  of  office,  the  latter  was  obliged  to  do.  At  this  crisis,  the 
Governor  of  Georgia,  well  aware  that  the  President  would  do  his  duty, 
first  offered  pardon  to  the  imprisoned  missionaries,  and  as  they  re- 
fused to  accept  this,  as  a  last  resort  he  convened  the  Legislature,  and 
it,  on  some  trivial  ostensible  pretext,  abolished  the  penitentiary  or 
State  prison,  and  so  turned  the  missionaries  out  of  doors.  Thus  the  af- 
fair ended.  The  cause  of  the  Indians  was,  in  fact,  sustained  by 
the  General  Government,  and  though  they  received  much  trouble 
from  their  Georgian  neighbors,  they  remained  several  years  longer  on 
their  lands,  and  then  sold  them  to  the  United  States  for  a  great  price,* 
and  removed  west  of  the  Mississippi,  where  they  are  now  settled. 

*  Five  millions  of  dollars,  besides  the  expenses  of  their  removal,  and  a  year's  sup- 
port in  their  new  homes.  All  this  was  in  addition  to  the  lands  which  they  received 
in  exchange  for  their  former  country. 


600  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONVERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  Vin. 

Although  their  removal  was  attended  with  much  hardship,  and  a 
good  deal  of  sickness,  they  are  represented  as  doing  well  in  their  new 
territory,  where  they  are  placed  beside  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws, 
Creeks,  and  other  tribes. 

It  is  hard  to  see  wherein  the  General  Government  was  to  blame  in 
all  this.  It  was  in  favor  of  removing  the  Indians,  believing  that  it 
would  be  best  for  them  to  leave  a  territory  where  they  could  never 
live  in  tranquillity,  and  place  themselves  in  another,  which,  being  the 
absolute  property  of  the  United  States,  could  not,  under  any  pretext, 
be  claimed  by  any  State.  There,  if  anywhere,  they  can,  and,  I  have 
no  doubt,  will  be  protected. 

So,  also,  the  course  pursued  by  the  General  Government  in  relation 
to  the  Seminole  Indians  in  Florida  has  been  held  up  as  cruel  and  un- 
just in  the  highest  degree,  as  designed  to  uphold  slavery,  etc.,  etc. 
Now,  though  far  from  believing  that  in  this  matter  the  government 
has  acted  wisely,  I  think  it  obvious  that  the  situation  of  the  long, 
narrow  peninsula  in  question,  although  nineteen  twentieths  of  it  are 
quite  unfit  for  any  species  of  culture,  might  make  the  possession  of  it 
desirable.  A  large  sum,  accordingly,  was  offered  for  it  to  the  three 
or  four  thousand  Indians  who  roamed  over  it,  and  whose  depredations 
on  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  country  adjoining  had  long  been  ex- 
ceedingly vexatious.  A  treaty  was  made,  as  the  government  thought, 
with  the  chiefs  having  full  authority  to  that  effect.  But  this  the  In- 
dians refused  to  keep ;  hence  hostilities  broke  out,  which  having 
lasted  for  years  are  now  terminated.  That  the  government  was  de- 
ceived by  its  agents  is  very  probable,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  its 
intentions  were  unjust. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  think  that  the  National  Government,  in  its  trans- 
actions with  the  Indians,  has  sincerely  aimed  at  doing  them  justice. 
Its  influence  is  happily  exercised  in  promoting  peace  among  the  tribes 
of  the  West,  the  disputes  constantly  arising  among  which  its  officers 
and  agents  do  their  best  to  terminate  in  a  peaceful  way,  and  by  the 
influence  of  persuasion  alone.  It  has  often,  indeed,  to  bear  the  blame 
due  only  to  unfaithful  agents,  by  whom  it  is  sometimes  both  deceived 
and  committed. 

The  General  Government  has  been  blamed  because  rum  and  other 
ardent  spirits  are  carried  by  unprincipled  men  to  the  Indians  on  the 
borders,  yet  no  government  could  well  do  more  to  prevent  this.  It 
has  not  only  forbidden,  but  has  taken  measures  to  prevent  all  such 
traffic ;  and  these  have  not  been  wholly  in  vain.  But  what  govern- 
ment on  earth  could  effectually  guard  such  an  immense  frontier  of 
almost  boundless  forests  as  that  of  the  United  States  ?  England  and 
France  find  it  impossible  to  guard  effectually  a  few  hundred  miles  of 


CHAP.  II.]   EARLIER  EFFORTS  TO  CONVERT  THE  ABORIGINES.     601 

coast  against  smuggling ;  how  much  more  difficult  the  task  which  the 
United  States  are  blamed  for  not  accomplishing  !  But  the  formation 
of  Temperance  Societies  among  the  Indians,  and  the  passing  of  se- 
vere laws  among  themselves  against  every  villain,  white  or  red,  who 
may  be  found  engaged  in  such  commerce,  will  be  a  more  effectual 
remedy. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  state  that  the  United  States  government  has 
done  much  incidentally,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  to  promote 
missions  among  the  Indian  tribes,  by  a  yearly  grant  of  $10,000  for 
the  establishment  of  schools,  blacksmiths'  shops,  and  other  trades. 
This  sum  is  generally  expended  through  the  several  missionary  so- 
cieties, and  of  course  by  the  missionaries,  as  the  persons  most  compe- 
tent for  the  task ;  many,  if  not  all  of  them  being  well  acquainted  with 
the  various  handicrafts  most  necessary  to  the  partially  civilized  people 
among  whom  they  live.  The  late  Secretary  of  "War,  the  Hon.  John 
C.  Spencer,  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  judicious  manner  in 
which  this  money  has  been  applied,  and  of  the  good  which  has  been 
accomplished.  A  similar  testimony  has  been  rendered  by  a  commit- 
tee of  Congress,  to  which  the  same  subject  had  been  referred.  It  is 
pleasant  to  state  a  fact  which  shows  the  favorable  disposition  of  the 
government  toward  the  benevolent  enterprise  of  Christianizing  and 
civilizing  the  tribes  on  our  borders,  to  whom  we  are  far  from  hav- 
ing done  all  our  duty.  Many  of  the  tribes,  it  may  be  added,  appro- 
priate large  sums  from  the  yearly  pensions  they  receive  from  the  Unit- 
ed States  government,  to  the  establishment  of  schools  and  the  pro- 
motion of  the  arts.* 

Several  of  the  aboriginal  nations  now  assembled  on  the  territory 
which  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  assigned  them,  and 
which  lies,  as  we  have  said,  west  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  are  making 
astonishing  progress  in  civilization.  As  a  proof  of  this,  the  fact  may 
be  cited  that  in  some  of  them,  particularly  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws, 

*  The  United  States  government  has  done  much  to  procure  a  favorable  reception 
for  the  missionaries  among  the  Indians,  and  to  induce  the  latter  to  set  apart  large 
sums  from  the  price  paid  for  their  lands  by  the  United  States,  and  which  is  generally 
done  in  the  shape  of  annuities,  for  the  promotion  of  education  and  religion,  as  well  as 
the  useful  arts.  These  annuities  now  exceed  $1,000,000.  To  preserve  these  tribes, 
or,  rather  all  the  tribes  to  which  it  can  find  access,  from  the  ravages  of  the  smallpox, 
the  United  States  government  also  sends  fit  persons  from  time  to  time  to  vaccinate 
them. 

Within  the  territory  claimed  by  the  United  States,  there  are  now  above  fifty  mis- 
sionary stations  among  the  Indians,  about  fifty  missionaries,  above  forty  assistant 
missionaries,  American  and  native,  and  not  much  under  10,000  communicants  or 
members  of  churches.  There  is  also  a  very  considerable  number  of  schools  and 
scholars. 


602  EFFORTS  FOE  THE   COISVERSION   OF   THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  VTTI. 

and  Creeks,*  many  schools  are  now  maintained ;  some  of  them  by 
the  several  missionary  societies  who  employ  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
and  teachers  among  them,  and  others  by  the  governments  of  those 
tribes.  In  some  cases,  individual  natives  bear  the  expense  of  a  school 
themselves,  for  the  benefit  of  their  children.  Many  of  the  natives  are 
sufficiently  well  educated  to  be  good  teachers. 

The  Choctaw  government  has  made  provision  for  the  education  of 
their  youth,  which  may  well  cause  many  nations  more  advanced  in 
civilization  to  blush.  Their  National  Council  in  November,  1842,  re- 
solved to  establish  three  academies  for  boys,  and  four  for  girls.  For 
the  former  (one  of  which,  I  believe,  is  a  sort  of  college)  they  made  an 
annual  appropriation  of  618,500,  and  for  the  latter  $7,800,  making  to- 
gether the  sum  of  $26,300  as  a  public  annual  appropriation  for  the 
support  of  the  schools !  And  yet,  a  few  years  ago,  these  people  were 
ignorant  savages,  of  whom  not  one  could  read !  And  who  have, 
under  God,  been  the  authors  of  this  change  ?  The  missionaries  who 
are  laboring  among  them,  and  who  are  all  Protestants. 

As  to  the  Cherokees,  the  progress  of  civilization  among  them  is  not 
less  wonderful.  Very  many  of  them  can  now  read.  Thirty  years 
ago,  one  of  their  men,  who  had  been  educated  by  the  missionaries, 
invented  a  syllabic  alphabet,  by  which  the  art  of  reading  has  been 
wonderfully  diffused  among  them — a  phenomenon  which  has  had  no 
equal  in  any  community  in  the  whole  world  these  two  thousand  years. 
There  are  several  printing-presses  in  this  nation,  one  of  which  has 
been  introduced  by  their  government  for  the  purpose  of  printing  a 
Cherokee  newspaper ! 

In  the  course  of  the  following  notices  of  the  various  Missionary  So- 
cieties in  the  United  States,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of 
what  has  been  done  since  1815  to  introduce  Christianity  among  the 
Indians. 

*  The  Report  for  1855  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  contained  the  following  important  statement  respecting  these 
people :  "  All  of  these  tribes  have  made  considerable  progress  in  civilization.  Most 
of  them  live  on  farms  that  are  cultivated  and  -well-stocked  with  domestic  animals. 
They  are  as  much  in  advance  of  the  smaller  tribes  scattered  over  the  north  and  north- 
west, in  point  of  education,  general  intelligence,  sober  and  industrious  habits,  and  all 
the  arts  of  civilized  life,  as  they  are  in  point  of  population. 

"  For  a  short  period  after  their  removal  to  their  present  location,  they  were  greatly 
dispirited ;  and  there  were  other  evidences  of  retrogression,  that  occasioned  no  little 
anxiety  to  those  who  were  laboring  to  promote  their  general  welfare.  But,  of  late 
years,  there  has  been  a  decided  change  for  the  better.  The  climate  has  proved  to 
be  healthy.  The  soil  yields  more  abundantly  than  the  lands  they  formerly  occupied 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi.  The  rich  prairies  enable  them  to  raise  almost 
any  quantity  of  live  stock,  and  their  advantages  of  education  for  their  children  are 
even  greater  than  they  formerly  were." 


CHAP.  III.]      BOAED    OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOE   FOEEIGN   MISSIONS.      603 

CHAPTER  III. 

AMEEICAN   BOAED    OF    COMMISSIONEES   FOE   FOEEIGN   MISSIONS. 

With  the  exception  of  that  of  the  United  Brethren,  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  is  the  oldest  society  for 
foreign  missions  in  the  United  States.  It  has  also  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  missions  and  missionaries,  and  the  largest  amount  of  receipts. 
Several  religious  denominations,  agreeing  substantially  in  their  views 
of  the  Gospel,  and  in  their  ecclesiastical  organizations,  unite  in  sustain- 
ing it.  These  are  the  Congregational,  the  New  School  Presbyterian, 
the  Reformed  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches. 

Its  Oeigin  and  Constitution. — The  Board  had  its  origin  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  :  Several  young  men,  graduates  of  New  England  col- 
leges, and  preparing  for  the  Gospel  ministry  at  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  Andover,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  agreed,  in  the  year 

1809,  to  unite  their  efforts  in  establishing  a  mission  among  the  heathen 
in  some  foreign  land.  In  this  they  were  encouraged  by  the  Faculty 
of  the  seminary.  As  the  General  Association  of  Congregational  Min- 
isters in  Massachusetts  were  to  hold  their  annual  meeting  in  June, 

1810,  these  young  men  were  advised  to  submit  their  case  to  that 
body.  This  was  done  by  four  of  their  number — Messrs.  Mills,  Jud- 
son,  Newell,  and  Nott — in  the  following  paper : 

"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Divinity  College,  respectfully 
request  the  attention  of  their  reverend  fathers,  convened  in  the  Gen- 
eral Association  at  Bradford,  to  the  following  statement  and  inquiries. 

"  They  beg  leave  to  state,  that  their  minds  have  been  long  im- 
pressed with  the  duty  and  importance  of  personally  attempting  a 
mission  to  the  heathen :  that  the  impressions  on  their  minds  have  in- 
duced a  serious,  and,  they  trust,  a  prayerful  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject in  its  various  attitudes,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  probable 
success,  and  the  difficulties  attending  such  an  attempt ;  and  that,  af- 
ter examining  all  the  information  which  they  can  obtain,  they  con- 
sider themselves  as  devoted  to  this  work  for  life,  whenever  God,  in 
His  providence,  shall  open  the  way. 

"  They  now  offer  the  following  inquiries,  on  which  they  solicit  the 
opinion  and  advice  of  this  association.  Whether,  with  their  present 
views  and  feelings,  they  ought  to  renounce  the  object  of  missions  as 
either  visionary  or  impracticable  ;  if  not,  whether  they  ought  to  di- 
rect their  attention  to  the  Eastern  or  Western  world,  whether  they 
may  expect  patronage  and  support  from  a  missionary  society  in  this 
country,  or  must  commit  themselves  to  the  direction  of  a  European 


604  EFFORTS   FOE  THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE   WOELD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

society ;  and  what  preparatory  measures  they  ought  to  take  previous 
to  actual  engagement. 

"  The  undersigned,  feeling  their  youth  and  inexperience,  look  up 
to  their  fathers  in  the  church,  and  respectfully  solicit  their  advice,  di- 
rection, and  prayers." 

On  the  29th  of  June,  the  Association  elected  a  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  consisting  of  nine  persons.  The  Board, 
at  its  first  meeting,  held  in.  the  following  September,  adopted  the 
name  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, thus  recognizing  its  high  calling  to  act  for  all  in  every  part  of 
the  nation,  who  might  choose  to  employ  its  agency  in  the  work  of 
missions  among  the  heathen.  The  transaction  of  its  ordinary  busi- 
ness, however,  was  delegated  to  an  executive  committee  called  the 
Prudential  Committee,  the  members  of  which  reside  at  or  near  Bos- 
ton, which  is  the  seat  of  its  operations.  Subsequently  it  was  found 
necessary  to  obtain  an  Act  of  Incorporation  from  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  in  order  that  the  Board  might  the  better  manage  its 
financial  concerns.  This  act,  being  respected  by  the  legal  tribunals 
of  all  the  other  States  in  the  Republic,  has  been  found  of  great  use, 
especially  in  the  recovery  of  bequests  contested  wrongfully  by  heirs 
at  law.  It  requires  one  third  of  the  members  to  be  laymen,  and  one 
third  clergymen ;  the  remaining  third  may  be  either  clergymen  or  lay- 
men. Members  are  elected  by  ballot.  The  object  of  the  Board  is 
expressly  recognized  in  the  act  to  be  "  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  heathen  lands,  by  supporting  missionaries,  and  diffusing  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Holy  Scriptures ;"  and  full  power  is  granted  to  hold  an 
amount  of  permanently  invested  funds  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of 
credit  in  the  commercial  world,  and  also  to  receive  and  expend  an- 
nually, in  pursuance  of  its  object,  any  amount  of  contributions  its  pa- 
trons may  think  proper  to  place  at  its  disposal. 

The  number  of  corporate  members  is  two  hundred  and  nine,  resid- 
ing in  twenty  of  the  States,  religious  men,  having  in  general  a  high 
standing  in  their  respective  professions.  These  form  the  body  cor- 
porate, the  Trustees  in  respect  to  the  financial  concerns  of  the  insti- 
tution. But  with  these  are  associated  a  large  body  of  honorary  mem- 
bers, amounting,  at  present,  to  more  than  nine  thousand,  who  are 
made  such  by  the  payment  of  one  hundred  dollars  if  laymen,  or  fifty 
dollars  if  clergymen  ;  and  who  share  equally  in  the  deliberations  of 
the  annual  meetings,  but  do  not  vote,  as  that  would  interfere  with 
the  charter.  A  third  class  of  members  are  called  corresponding  mem- 
bers ;  they  are  foreign  members,  and  are  elected  by  ballot.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  office-bearers  for  presiding  at  the  annual  meetings, 
and  recording  the  proceedings  at  these  meetings,  there  are  three 


CHAP.  III.]      BOARD   OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.       605 

Corresponding  Secretaries  and  a  Treasurer,  whose  time  is  fully  occu- 
pied with  the  business. 

Its  History. — The  proceedings  of  the  Board,  and  the  results  of 
its  experience  and  operations  for  the  forty-five  years  past  of  its  exist- 
ence, must  necessarily  be  stated  in  the  most  comprehensive  and  sum- 
mary manner. 

It  is  among  the  remarkable  facts  in  the  history  of  this  institution, 
and  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  country,  that,  at  the  outset, 
neither  the  Board  nor  its  Prudential  Committee,  nor,  indeed,  any  of 
the  leading  minds  in  the  American  churches  at  that  time,  could  see 
the  way  clear  for  raising  funds  enough  to  support  the  four  young  men 
who  were  then  waiting  to  be  sent  forth  to  the  heathen  world.  One 
of  them  was  accordingly  sent  to  England  by  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, mainly  to  see  whether  an  arrangement  could  not  be  made 
with  the  London  Missionary  Society,  by  which  a  part  of  their  support 
could  be  received  from  that  society,  and  they  yet  remain  under  the 
direction  of  the  Board.  That  Society  wisely  declined  such  an 
arrangement,  and  at  the  same  time  encouraged  their  American 
brethren  to  hope  for  ample  contributions  from  their  own  churches  as 
soon  as  the  facts  should  be  generally  known.  From  this  time  no 
further  thought  was  entertained  of  looking  abroad  for  pecuniary  aid. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  largest  legacies  the  Board  has  yet  received  was 
bequeathed  to  it  by  a  benevolent  lady  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  year  1811.  The  first  ordination  of  American  mis- 
sionaries to  the  heathen  in  foreign  lands  was  in  that  place,  on  the  6th 
of  February,  1812.  These  were  the  Rev.  Samuel  Newell,  Adoniram 
Judson,  Gordon  Hall,  Samuel  Nott,  and  Luther  Rice,  all  from  the 
little  missionary  band  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover.  They 
proceeded  forthwith  to  Calcutta,  in  the  East  Indies,  but  without  being 
designated  to  any  specific  field  by  the  Committee.  There  was  not 
then  the  hundredth  part  of  the  knowledge  of  the  heathen  world  in 
the  American  churches  that  there  is  now.  The  Prudential  Committee 
seem  to  have  been  unable  to  point  to  any  one  country,  and  tell  their 
missionaries  decidedly  to  occupy  that  in  preference  to  other  contiguous 
countries.  The  comparative  claims  of  the  different  benighted  por- 
tions of  the  unevangelical  world  was  a  subject  then  but  little  under- 
stood. The  missionaries  were  left  to  decide  what  field  to  occupy 
after  their  arrival  in  India. 

Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  had  not  been  long  with  the  Baptist  mis- 
sionaries at  Serampore,  near  Calcutta,  before  they  declared  themselves 
converts  to  the  peculiar  views  of  those  missionaries  in  relation  to 
Baptism.  Their  consequent  separation  from  the  society  which  sent 
them  forth,  gave  rise  to  the  formation  of  a  Baptist  Board  for  Foreign 


606  EFFORTS   FOE  THE   CONVERSION    OF  THE   WORLD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

Missions  in  the  United  States.  Messrs.  Hall,  Newell,  and  Nott,  after 
much  painful  voyaging  from  place  to  place,  occasioned  by  the  reluct- 
ance of  the  East  India  Company  to  tolerate  missionaries,  and  espe- 
cially American  missionaries,  in  India  (the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  being  then,  unhappily,  at  war),  at  length,  in  1813,  found  a 
resting-place  and  field  of  labor  at  Bombay,  in  Western  India.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  the  mission  to  the  Mahrattas. 

The  Mahrattas  possess  strong  traits  of  character  as  a  people,  com- 
pared with  other  nations  of  India,  as  is  evident  in  their  history  for 
ages  past.  The  American  missionaries  were  the  first  to  go  in  among 
them,  and  they  entered  as  the  husbandman  would  into  an  unbroken 
forest.  No  preparatory  work  had  been  done,  except  merely  that  of 
conquest  by  a  Christian  power,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  not  very 
many  tangible  results  have  yet  been  witnessed  in  that  mission.  But 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Mahratta  people  now  stand  differently  re- 
lated to  the  Christian  religion  from  what  they  did  in  1813.  Much 
unavoidable  preliminary  ground  has  been  gone  over;  the  truth  stands 
nearer  to  the  native  intellect  and  heart ;  the  spiritual  conquest  of  the 
country  is  far  easier  than  it  was  then. 

Among  the  Tamil  people,  found  in  the  northern  district  of  Ceylon 
and  in  Southern  India,  there  was  some  degree  of  preparation  when 
the  mission  to  that  people  was  commenced  in  1816;  in  Ceylon,  by 
means  of  the  Portuguese  and  the  Dutch ;  and  on  the  Continent,  by 
means  of  the  celebrated  missionary  Schwartz  and  his  associates. 
Hence,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  the  obvious  results  have  been 
greater  there  than  among  the  Mahrattas.  The  systematic  measures 
which  were  early  adopted  by  the  Ceylon  mission  for  training  a  native 
agency,  and  the  success  attending  them,  did  much  to  give  an  early 
maturity  to  the  plans  of  the  Board  for  raising  up  a  native  ministry  in 
connection  with  all  its  other  missions,  of  which  more  will  be  said  in 
the  sequel.  The  most  efficient  seminary  for  educating  heathen  youths 
for  helpers  in  the  work  of  the  Gospel,  is  believed  to  be  the  one  con- 
nected with  the  mission  at  Batticotta,  in  Ceylon.  The  number  of 
pupils  is  one  hundred,  all  of  whom  are  boarding-scholars,  and  most 
of  them  are  regarded  as  truly  pious.  There  is  also  a  female  seminary, 
containing  eighty-two  boarding-scholars,  where  the  educated  native 
helpers  of  the  mission  may  obtain  pious,  educated  wives  ;  and  there 
are  free  schools  containing  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  ten 
pupils,  which  are  a  nursery  for  the  seminaries,  and  among  the  most 
effective  means  of  securing  congregations  to  hear  the  preached  Gos- 
pel. In  1834,  a  branch  of  this  mission  was  formed  at  Madura,  on  the 
Continent,  and  in  1836  another  at  Madras,  with  the  special  object  of 
printing  books  in  the  Tamil  language  on  a  large  scale. 


CHAP.  III.]      BOARD   OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       607 

The  first  mission  sent  by  the  Board  to  Eastern  Asia  was  to  China, 
in  1830.  A  pious  merchant  in  New  York  city  furnished  many  of  the 
facts  and  arguments  which  justified  its  commencement,  and  then  he 
gave  two  missionaries  their  passage  to  Canton  and  their  support  for  a 
year.  One  of  these  missionaries  subsequently  visited  Siam,  and  opened 
the  way  for  a  mission  to  that  country ;  as  he  did  also  to  Singapore, 
and  to  Netherlands  India.  The  mission  to  Singapore  has  not  answered 
the  expectations  of  the  Board,  and  has  been  discontinued.  The  op- 
erations in  Netherlands  India  have  been  much  embarrassed  hitherto 
by  the  restrictive  policy  of  the  Dutch  Colonial  Government.  The 
mission  in  Siam  has  had  a  prosperous  commencement ;  but  its  pros- 
pects have  not  that  cheering  certainty  which  animates  the  labor  of 
missionaries  under  such  a  government  as  now  rules  in  British  India. 

Turning  our  attention  to  Western  Asia,  we  find  a  number  of  in- 
teresting missions  under  the  care  of  this  Board.  The  Greek  mission, 
commenced  in  the  year  1829,  grew  out  of  the  sympathy  which  was 
felt  for  the  Greek  people  throughout  the  Christian  world,  in  their 
struggle  for  independence  from  the  Turkish  yoke.  Dr.  King,  who 
commenced  it,  had  previously  been  connected  with  the  Palestine  mis- 
sion. It  was  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  fact,  that  the  first  mission  in  the 
series  was  sent,  in  the  year  1821.  Messrs.  Fiske  and  Parsons  were 
the  pioneers  in  the  enterprise.  In  1828,  after  their  decease,  war,  and 
the  hostilities  of  the  Maronites  toward  the  mission,  compelled  the 
surviving  missionaries  to  retire  from  Syria  for  a  season ;  and  it  is  to 
this  occurrence,  in  the  developments  of  Providence,  we  trace  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  mission  among  the  Armenians  of  Constantinople 
and  Asia  Minor,  which  has  been  so  signally  useful  to  that  people. 
Two  missionaries  of  the  Board  had,  indeed,  gone  to  Asia  Minor  as 
early  as  1826,  but  their  mission  was  to  the  Greeks.  In  the  year  1830, 
Messrs.  Smith  and  Dwight  were  sent  on  an  exploring  tour  into 
Armenia,  and  were  instructed  to  visit  the  Nestorians  in  the  Persian 
province  of  Aderbaijan.  This  visit  brought  that  remnant  of  the  most 
noted  Missionary  Church  of  ancient  times  to  light,  and  induced  the 
Board  to  send  a  mission  to  restore  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  that 
people.  The  mission  was  commenced  on  the  plain  of  Oroomiah,  and 
has  since  been  extended  to  the  independent  Nestorian  tribes  among 
the  Koordish  Mountains.  The  leading  object  of  the  mission  is  to 
educate  the  clergy,  and  by  reviving  among  them,  through  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  to  induce  them  to  resume  the 
preaching  of  it  with  more  than  their  ancient  zeal.  The  press  has 
been  introduced.  More  than  one  hundred  Nestorians  are  in  free 
schools,  supported  by  the  mission,  and  a  large  number  are  boarding- 
scholars  in  seminaries.    There  is  also  a  class  in  theology,  instructed 


608  EFFOKTS   FOE  THE   CONVEESION   OF   THE  WOELD.       [BOOK  VIH. 

by  the  missionaries.  We  already  begin  to  witness  the  gradual  reviving 
of  preaching  among  the  ecclesiastics.  The  great  thing  wanting  among 
this  people  is  spiritual  life.  They  number  about  one  hundred  thousand 
souls. 

The  Syrian  mission  has  for  some  years  past  been  cultivating  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Druzes  of  Mount  Lebanon.  These  are  about  as 
numerous  as  the  Nestorians,  and  resemble  them  in  the  mountaineer 
traits  of  courage  and  enterprise.  The  Druzes  are  a  sort  of  heretical 
Mohammedans.  Recently  those  inhabiting  the  mountains  of  Lebanon 
have,  as  a  community,  placed  themselves  under  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  missionaries.  Their  motive  may  be  the  improvement  of 
their  civil  condition,  by  becoming  Protestant  Christians,  but  the  fact 
of  their  permitting  the  mission  to  open  a  seminary  at  the  seat  of  their 
government,  and  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  introduce  schools  freely 
among  them,  should  be  acknowledged  with  gratitude  to  God.  This 
mission  has  had  much  success. 

The  Armenian  Church  has  proved  to  be  not  less  interesting  as  a 
field  for  missionary  labors  than  the  Nestorian.  It  has  even  afforded 
more  abundant  spiritual  fruit.  An  evangelical  influence  is  strongly 
developed  among  the  Armenian  clergy ;  and  in  many  instances,  where 
they  have  had  no  personal  communications  with  members  of  the  mis- 
sion, but  only  with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  with  some  of  the  books 
published  by  the  mission,  there  are  hundreds  of  Armenians,  at  vari- 
ous points,  whose  minds,  rejecting  the  corruptions  and  superstitionsof 
their  Church,  have  come  under  the  salutary  influence  of  a  Gospel  that 
looks  for  justification  only  through  faith  in  Christ.  In  short,  the 
grand  principles  by  means  of  which  the  Spirit  of  grace  wrought  out 
the  Reformation  in  EurojDe,  are  seen  to  be  operating  in  Western 
Asia,  and  their  progress  ought  to  engage  the  prayerful  interest  of  all 
Christians. 

A  mission  was  sent  to  South  Africa  hi  1836,  and  high  hopes  were 
entertained  of  a  prosperous  issue.  But  these  hopes  have  been  in  great 
measure  blasted  by  the  singular  emigration  of  the  Dutch  Boers  from 
the  English  colony,  and  their  consequent  wars  upon  the  Zulus.  The 
mission  to  Western  Africa,  though  commenced  in  1834,  has  not  yet 
attained  a  very  great  extension ;  but  its  ultimate  destination,  as  soon 
as  the  way  is  opened  up  the  Niger,  is  to  the  populous  and  healthful 
countries  of  the  interior,  to  which  already  exploring  parties  have 
penetrated  to  some  extent.  Along  the  coast,  however,  eastward  of 
Cape  Palmas,  there  is  work  for  many  missionaries. 

The  results  of  the  mission  of  the  Board  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  a 
group  of  islands  in  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  constitute  one  of  the 
great  moral  wonders  of  the  age.     The  first  missionaries  landed  on 


CHAP.  III. J      BOARD    OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOE   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       609 

those  islands  in  the  year  1820.  At  that  time  the  natives  were  savage 
and  pagan,  without  letters,  without  a  ray  of  Gospel  light ;  though 
they  had  just  before  strangely  burned  their  idols — a  fact  unknown  in 
the  United  States  when  the  missionaries  embarked  on  their  errand  of 
mercy.  In  1840,  after  the  lapse  of  only  twenty  years,  this  same  people 
might  properly  have  claimed  the  title  of  a  Christian  people.  Though 
necessarily  destitute  in  great  measure,  owing  to  their  poverty,  of  the 
more  imposing  insignia  of  civilization,  they  then  had  the  elements 
and  basis  of  it  in  Christian  institutions,  schools,  a  written  language, 
the  press,  and  books,  and  in  the  extensive  prevalence  of  pious  dispo- 
sitions and  habits.  Within  that  space  of  time  their  language  had 
been  reduced  to  writing,  and,  in  1843,  about  one  hundred  millions 
of  pages  had  been  printed  by  the  mission  in  the  native  language.  As 
the  alphabet  contains  but  twelve  letters,  and  each  letter  has  but  a 
single  sound,  it  is  easy  learning  to  read.  More  than  a  third  part  of 
the  population  can  read.  The  children  of  the  chiefs  are  educated  by 
a  member  of  the  mission  in  a  boarding-school  designed  for  them  alone, 
which  the  chiefs  support ;  this  is  at  Honolulu,  in  the  island  of  Oahu. 
At  Lahainaluna,  on  the  island  of  Maui,  there  is  a  seminary,  for  which 
a  large  stone  edifice  has  been  erected,  containing  nearly  one  hundred 
boarding  pupils  ;  and  at  Wailuku,  on  the  same  island,  there  is  a  cor- 
responding female  institution,  containing  about  fifty.  At  Waialua, 
on  Oahu,  there  is  a  manual  labor  or  self-supporting  school,  with  forty- 
seven  pupils.  Two  other  boarding-schools  are  at  Hilo,  on  the  island 
of  Hawaii,  which  are  supported  chiefly  by  the  natives.  The  free- 
schools  number  about  fourteen  thousand  pupils.  Laws  have  been 
passed  by  the  government  defining  and  securing  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty to  the  people,  and  taking  the  power  of  imposing  taxes  from  the 
individual  chiefs,  and  vesting  it  exclusively  in  the  National  Council, 
which  is  to  assemble  annually.  But  the  most  remarkable  fact  of  all, 
is  the  extraordinary  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  years  1838 
and  1839,  in  consequence  of  which  many  thousands  of  the  natives 
were  hopefully  converted  to  God.  The  number  of  church  members 
(who  are  admitted  to  that  relation  only  after  a  credible  profession  of 
real  piety)  increased  in  that  space  of  time  from  five  thousand  to  more 
than  eighteen  thousand.  The  natives  have  erected  many  houses  for 
public  worship,  and  a  still  greater  number  of  school-houses,  and  on 
the  Sabbath  day,  which  is  generally  observed  by  abstaining  from  la- 
bor and  amusements,  the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell  is  heard  in 
not  a  few  of  their  valleys. 

The  Board  has  very  properly  spent  a  portion  of  its  funds  in  mis- 
sions to  the  more  important  and  influential  tribes  of  the  North 
American  Indians.    It  began  with  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws,  in 

39 


610  EFFORTS   FOE  THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  YHI. 

1816-18,  who  then  inhabited  a  tract  of  country  within  the  chartered 
limits  of  some  of  the  south-western  States.  These  two  missions,  for 
more  than  ten  years,  had  great  success.  The  poor  Indians  were  then 
driven  almost  to  desperation  by  those  who  wished  for  their  lands, 
and  were  bent  on  inducing  them  to  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi 
River.  These  efforts  had  a  cruel  success.  The  missionaries  have  fol- 
lowed the  two  tribes  above  mentioned  in  their  exile.  Missions  were 
also  instituted  at  different  times  among  the  Creeks  and  Chickasaws, 
eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  and  among  the  Osages  westward ;  but 
they  have  been  discontinued.  Subsequent  to  the  year  1830,  mission- 
aries were  sent  to  the  savage,  wandering  Ojibwas,  Sioux,  and  Paw- 
nees, in  the  vast  territory  north-west  of  the  United  States ;  and  in 
1835  they  were  sent  across  the  continent,  beyond  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains, to  the  Indians  in  the  Oregon  Territory.  There  are  several 
missions  among  the  feeble  remnants  of  the  once  powerful  Six  Nations, 
found  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Erie,  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  following  is  a  summary  view  of  what,  through  the  Divine 
favor,  has  been  accomplished  by  this  Board.  The  amount  received 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Board  during  the  year  ending  on  the  31st 
of  July,  1855,  was  $310,427  77  ;  and  the  amount  of  expenditure  was 
$318,893  18.  The  treasury  is  at  present  indebted  to  the  amount  of 
$20,507  90. 

The  number  of  missions  sustained  during  the  year  was  twenty-nine ; 
connected  with  which  are  one  hundred  and  twenty  stations,  at  which 
were  laboring  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  ordained  missionaries,  seven 
of  whom  were  physicians ;  besides  seven  lay  physicians,  seventeen 
other  male,  and  two  hundred  and  three  female  assistant  missionaries 
— making  the  whole  number  of  missionary  laborers  sent  from  this 
country  and  sustained  by  the  Board  three  himdred  and  eighty-seven. 
If  to  these  be  added  sixty-three  native  preachers  and  two  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  other  native  helpers,  the  whole  number  of  missionary 
laborers  connected  with  the  missions,  and  sustained  from  the  treasury 
of  the  Board  will  be  six  hundred  and  seventy-nine.  Of  these  mis- 
sionary laborers,  eight  ordained  missionaries,  one  missionary  physi- 
cian, one  male,  and  seven  female  assistant  missionaries,  in  all  seven- 
teen, were  sent  forth  during  the  last  year. 

Organized  by  these  missions,  and  under  their  pastoral  care,  are  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  churches,  to  which  have  been  received  during  the 
last  year  six  hundred  and  thirty-five  converts,  and  which  now  em- 
brace, in  regular  standing,  twenty-six  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
six  members. 

The  number  of  printing  establishments  connected  with  the  missions 
is  eleven.   Printing  has  been  executed  for  the  missions  in  thirty-three 


CHAP.  III.]      BOARD    OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOR   FOREIGN  MISSIONS.       611 

languages,  exclusive  of  the  English,  fifteen  of  which  were  first  re- 
duced to  a  written  form  by  the  missionaries  of  this  Board.  The 
number  of  pages  printed  at  the  mission  presses  during  the  past  year 
is  about  twenty-five  million  eight  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty. 

In  the  department  of  education  the  missionaries  have  under  their 
care  eleven  seminaries  for  educating  preachers  and  teachers,  in  which 
are  four  hundred  and  twenty-nine  pupils ;  besides  nineteen  other 
boarding-schools,  in  which  are  five  hundred  and  ninety-four  pupils. 
Of  free  schools  the  number  is  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  con- 
taining twenty  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  pupils ;  making 
the  whole  number  of  pupils  under  the  care  of  the  missions  twenty- 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-eight. 

Of  the  youth  in  the  mission  schools  of  this  Board,  somewhat  more 
than  one  thousand  are  boarding-scholars,  in  schools  where  the  leading 
object  is  to  train  up  a  native  ministry.  In  general,  the  text-books 
for  all  the  schools  have  to  be  prepared  by  the  missionaries,  and  a  very 
great  progress,  on  the  whole,  has  been  made  in  this  department,  es- 
pecially in  geography,  arithmetic,  geometry,  sacred  history,  and  the 
first  principles  of  religion  and  morals. 

The  printing  establishments  connected  with  the  missions  of  this 
Board  have  printed  books  and  tracts  in  thirty-three  different  lan- 
guages, spoken  by  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  millions  exclusive 
of  the  English.* 

The  one  hundred  and  fifteen  churches  which  have  been  gathered 
among  the  heathen  are  formed  as  nearly  on  the  Congregational  or 
Presbyterian  model  for  such  ecclesiastical  organizations  as  the  nature 
of  the  case  would  permit.  None  but  converts  who  have  been  received 
as  members  of  the  church,  after  giving  credible  evidence  of  piety, 
are  allowed  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  spiritual  fruits  of 
the  missions  to  the  Oriental  churches  are,  not  completely  included  in 
this  number,  such  not  having  been  always  gathered  into  distinct  and 
separate  churches,  the  effort  there  having  been  to  infuse  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel  into  those  religious  communities  already  existing. 

Theory  of  the  Missions  of  the  Board. — The  Board  does  not 
regard  any  of  its  missions  as  permanent  institutions.  Their  object  is, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  to  impart  the  spirit  and  plant  the  institur 

*  These  languages  are  the  Zulu,  Grebo,  Italian,  Greek,  Armenian,  Turkish  (in  the 
Armenian  character),  Arabic,  Mahratta,  Portuguese,  Goojurattee,  Hindoostanee, 
Latin,  Tamil,  Teloogoo,  Siamese,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Malay,  Bugis,  Hawaiian,  Chero- 
kee, Choctaw,  Seneca,  Abenaquis,  Ojibwa,  Ottawa,  Creek,  Osage,  Sioux,  Pawnee, 
and  N"ez  Perces,  fifteen  of  which  were  first  reduced  to  writing  by  missionaries  of  the 
Board. 


612  EFFORTS  FOR  THE   CONVERSION    OF  THE   WORLD.      [BOOK  VIIX. 

tions  of  the  Gospel  where  they  do  not  exist,  and  then  to  leave  them 
to  the  conservative  influences  that  shall  have  been  gathered  about 
them.  This  is  true  theoretically,  and  it  will  come  out  in  fact  as  soon 
as  the  means  are  furnished  for  prosecuting  the  work  with  becoming 
vigor.  The  missionary  is  emphatically,  in  the  essential  principle  of 
his  calling,  a  sojourner,  pilgrim,  stranger,  having  no  continuing  city. 

The  leading  object  of  its  missions,  therefore,  is  the  training  and 
employment  of  a  native  ministry,  as  the  only  way  in  which  the  Gos- 
pel can  soon  become  indigenous  to  the  soil,  and  the  Gospel  institu- 
tions acquire  a  self-supporting,  self-propagating  energy.  And  the  fact 
is  important  to  be  noted,  that  the  elders  or  pastors,  whom  the  apostles 
ordained  over  the  churches  they  gathered  among  the  heathen,  were 
generally,  if  not  always,  natives  of  the  country.  While  the  apostles 
had  not  the  facilities  of  the  present  day  for  training  men  for  this  of- 
fice by  education,  they  had  not  the  necessity  for  so  doing.  Among 
their  converts  at  Ephesus,  Berea,  Corinth,  Rome,  and  elsewhere, 
they  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  men  who  only  required  some  instruc- 
tion in  theology,  and  scarcely  that  when  endowed  with  miraculous 
gifts,  to  be  prepared  for  the  pastoral  office.  How  they  did,  or  would 
have  done,  beyond  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  bounds  of  civilization, 
we  are  not  informed ;  but  in  the  use  they  made  of  a  native  ministry, 
we  recognize  one  of  the  grand  principles  of  their  missions,  and  also 
the  true  theory  of  those  missions — simple,  economical,  practical, 
Scriptural,  mighty  through  God. 

The  manner  in  which  the  Board  is  endeavoring  to  carry  out  this 
theory  in  practice  has  perhaps  been  sufficiently  indicated.  But  the 
subject  is  one  of  so  much  importance,  that  it  will  be  worth  while  to 
quote  part  of  an  article  upon  it,  which  was  submitted  by  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  of  the  Board,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  the  year 
1841. 

I.   On  the  manner  of  raising  up  a  native  ministry. 

1.  "This  must  be  by  means  of  seminaries,  schools  of  the  proph- 
ets, such  as,  in  some  form  or  other,  the  Church  has  always  found 
necessary.  There  should  be  one  such  seminary  in  each  considerable 
mission.  It  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  plan  that  the  pupils  be 
taken  young,  board  in  the  mission,  be  kept  separate  from  heathen- 
ism, under  Christian  superintendence  night  and  day.  In  general,  the 
course  of  study  should  embrace  a  period  of  from  eight  to  ten  or 
twelve  years,  and  even  a  longer  time  in  special  cases.  Pupils  can  be 
obtained  for  such  a  course  of  education  in  most  of  the  missions ;  but, 
as  a  nursery  for  them,  it  is  expedient  to  have  a  certain  number  of 
free  schools,  which  also  greatly  aid  in  getting  audiences  for  the 
preachers. 


CHAP.  III.]      BOARD    OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOR   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       613 

2.  "  There  will  be  but  partial  success  in  rearing  a  native  ministry, 
unless  the  seminary  be  in  the  midst  of  a  select  and  strong  body  of 
missionaries,  whose  holy  lives,  conversation,  and  preaching  shall 
cause  the  light  of  the  Gospel  to  blaze  intensely  and  constantly  upon 
and  around  the  institution.  Experience  shows  that  in  such  circum- 
stances we  are  warranted  to  expect  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
students  to  become  pious. 

3.  "  The  student,  while  in  the  seminary,  should  be  trained  prac- 
tically to  habits  of  usefulness.  But  this  requires  caution,  and  must 
not  be  attempted  too  soon.  Those  set  apart  for  the  sacred  ministry 
might  remain  as  a  class  in  theology  at  the  seminary,  after  complet- 
ing the  regular  course  of  study ;  or,  according  to  the  old  fashion  in 
this  country,  which  has  some  special  advantages,  they  might  pursue 
their  theological  studies  with  individual  missionaries,  and,  under  such 
superintendence,  exercise  their  gifts  before  much  responsibility  is 
thrown  upon  them. 

4.  "  The  cotemporaneous  establishment  of  female  boarding-schools, 
where  the  native  ministers  and  other  educated  helpers  in  the  mission 
may  obtain  pious  and  intelligent  partners  for  life,  is  an  essential  fea- 
ture in  this  system.  A  native  pastor,  with  an  ignorant,  heathen 
wife,  would  be  greatly  embarrassed  and  hindered  in  his  work.  In 
this  manner  Christian  families  are  formed,  and  at  length  Christian 
communities,  and  there  is  a  race  of  children  with  Christian  ideas  and 
associations,  from  among  whom  we  may  select  our  future  pupils  and 
candidates  for  the  ministry." 

II.    On  the  employment  of  this  native  ministry. 

"  The  pupils  in  the  seminaries  will  have  different  gifts,  and  the 
same  gift  in  very  different  degrees.  All  the  pious  students  will  not 
do  for  preachers.  Some  may  be  retained  as  tutors  in  the  seminary, 
others  may  be  employed  as  school-teachers,  others  as  printers,  book- 
binders, etc.  Those  set  apart  for  the  ministry,  while  they  are  taught 
the  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfectly,  can  be  employed  as  catechists, 
tract  distributers,  readers,  or  superintendents  of  schools,  and  thus 
gain  experience  and  try  their  characters.  In  due  time  they  may  be 
licensed  to  preach,  and,  after  proper  trial,  receive  ordination  as  evan- 
gelists or  pastors. 

"  While  care  should  be  taken  to  lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man, 
there  is  believed  to  be  danger  of  requiring  too  much  of  native  con- 
verts before  we  are  willing  to  intrust  them  with  the  ministry  of  the 
Word.  Generations  must  pass  before  a  community,  emerging  from 
the  depths  of  heathenism,  can  be  expected  to  furnish  a  body  of  min- 
isters equal  to  that  in  our  country. 

"  Could  the  present  native  church-members  at  the  Sandwich  Is- 


614  EFFORTS   FOE   THE   CONVERSION   OF  THE   WORLD.      [BOOK  VIII. 

lands  be  divided  into  companies  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  each,  one 
hundred  churches  would  be  constituted.  Native  pastors  should  be  in 
training  for  these  churches,  and  evangelists  for  the  numerous  districts 
where  churches  are  not  yet  formed,  and  where  the  people  are  conse- 
quently exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the  enemy.  In  the  other  missions 
the  chief  employment,  at  present,  must  be  that  of  evangelists.  In 
the  Tamil  missions  hundreds  might  find  ample  employment ;  and  in 
the  Oriental  churches,  our  leading  object  should  be  to  bring  forward 
an  able  evangelical  native  ministry  with  the  least  possible  delay." 

III.    On  the  power  and  economy  of  the  plan. 

"  In  most  of  our  missions  we  are  opposed  by  these  formidable  ob- 
stacles, namely,  distance,  expense,  and  climate.  England  was  opposed 
by  the  same  obstacles  in  her  conquest  of  India.  And  how  did  she 
overcome  them  ?  By  employing  native  troops ;  and  it  is  chiefly  by 
means  of  them  she  now  holds  that  great  populous  country  in  subjec- 
tion. We,  too,  must  have  native  troops  in  our  spiritual  warfare. 
Why  not  have  an  army  of  them  ?  WTiy  not  have  as  numerous  a 
body  of  native  evangelists  as  can  be  directed  and  employed  ? 

"  Such  a  measure  would  effect  a  great  saving  of  time.  Indeed,  we 
can  never  leave  our  fields  of  labor  till  this  is  done.  Our  mission 
churches  must  have  native  pastors,  and  pastors  of  some  experience, 
who  can  stand  alone,  before  we  can  leave  them.  Besides,  we  should 
make  far  greater  progress  than  we  do  had  we  more  of  such  helpers. 

"  And  what  economy  of  money  there  would  be  in  the  operation  of 
this  plan !  The  cost  of  a  ten  years'  course  of  education  for  five  na- 
tives of  India  would  not  be  more  than  the  outfit  and  passage  of  one 
married  missionary  to  that  country.  And  when  a  company  of  mis- 
sionaries is  upon  the  ground,  it  costs  at  least  five  times  as  much  to 
support  them  as  it  would  to  support  the  same  number  of  native 
preachers.  The  former  could  not  live,  like  the  latter,  upon  rice 
alone,  with  a  piece  of  cotton  cloth  wrapped  about  their  bodies  for 
clothing,  and  a  mud-walled,  grass-covered  cottage,  without  furniture, 
for  a  dwelling ;  nor  could  they  travel  on  foot  under  a  tropical  sun. 
They  could  not  do  this,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  health  and 
life. 

"  The  cost  of  educating  one  thousand  youth  in  India,  from  whom 
preachers  might  be  obtained,  and  afterward  of  supporting  two  hun- 
dred native  preachers  and  their  families,  would  be  only  about 
$25,000,  which  is  but  little  more  than  the  average  expense  in  that 
country  of  twenty-five  missionaries  and  families.  Now,  if  the  preach- 
ing of  two  well-educated  native  preachers  laboring  under  judicious 
superintendence,  may  be  expected  to  do  as  much  good  as  that  of  one 
missionary,  we  have  in  these  two  hundred  native  preachers  the 


CHAP.  III.]      BOARD   OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.       615 

equivalent,  in  instrumental  preaching  power,  for  one  hundred  mis- 
sionaries, and  at  an  expenditure  less  by  nearly  $75,000  a  year.  And 
then,  too,  the  native  preacher  is  at  home  in  the  country  and  climate, 
not  subject  to  a  premature  breaking  down  of  his  constitution,  not 
compelled  to  resort  for  health  to  the  United  States,  or  to  send  his 
children  thither  for  education.  Besides,  the  native  churches  and 
converts  might  gradually  be  brought  to  assume  a  part  or  the  whole 
of  the  support  of  the  native  ministry;  while  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  it  will  ever  be  expedient  for  the  missionary  to  receive  his 
support  from  that  quarter. 

"  One  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  would  board  and  educate 
four  thousand  native  youth.  That  sum  would  support  five  or  six 
hundred  native  ministers  with  their  families ;  and  if  the  value  of  this 
amount  of  native  preaching  talent  equaled  that  of  only  two  hundred 
missionaries,  the  annual  saving  of  expense  would  be  at  least  $125,000. 
But  it  would  in  the  end  be  worth  much  more ;  so  that  we  see,  in  this 
view,  how  our  effective  force  among  the  heathen  may,  in  a  few  years, 
be  rendered  manifold  greater  than  it  is  at  present,  without  even 
doubling  our  annual  expenditure.  Some  progress  has  even  now  been 
made  toward  this  result.  We  already  have  five  hundred  male  youth  in 
our  seven  seminaries ;  and  a  still  greater  number,  male  and  female,  in 
our  other  twenty-seven  boarding-schools.  But  the  scheme,  however 
promising  and  indispensable,  can  not  be  carried  into  effect  without  a 
large  addition  of  first-rate  men  to  the  company  of  our  missionaries." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  the  attention  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries from  Europe,  as  well  as  the  United  States,  has  been  drawn 
of  late  to  the  importance  of  a  native  ministry  as  a  means  of  carrying 
on  the  work  of  missions  among  the  heathen.  There  can,  however, 
be  no  doubt  that  this  Board  has  taken  the  lead  of  all  other  mission- 
ary societies  in  giving  that  subject  the  prominence  practically  which 
it  deserves  in  the  great  system  of  missionary  operations. 

The  Annual  Meetings  of  the  Board. — The  annual  meetings  of 
the  Board  must  receive  a  brief  notice.  They  are  held  hi  the  month 
of  September,  in  some  one  of  the  more  important  cities  of  the  Eastern 
or  Middle  States,  and  occupy  three  days.  The  session  is  for  delibera- 
tion and  business.  The  annual  meeting  for  the  year  1841  is  a  fair 
specimen  of  the  usual  attendance  of  members.  There  were  fifty-six 
corporate,  and  one  hundred  and  two  honorary  members  present.  Of 
the  corporate  members  five  were  heads  of  colleges  (there  are  thrice 
that  number  belonging  to  the  corporation) ;  thirty-one  were  pastors 
of  churches,  or  otherwise  employed  in  the  Christian  ministry ;  ten 
were  civilians ;  and  the  remaining  ten  engaged  in  mercantile  or  medi- 
cal pursuits. 


616  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONVERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  VHI. 

The  first  day  of  the  session  is  employed  in  bringing  forward  the 
business  of  the  meetings,  so  far  as  the  Prudential  Committee  is  con- 
cerned, which  is  done  in  writing.  This,  including  the  different  parts 
of  the  annual  report,  is  usually  referred  to  some  fifteen  or  more  com- 
mittees, who  report  during  the  session.  Their  reports  often  give 
rise  to  friendly  discussions,  which  are  always  interesting,  and  often 
eloquent.  All  the  meetings  are  open  to  the  public,  and  are  usually 
held  in  a  church,  that  there  may  be  room  for  those  friends  and 
patrons  who  wish  to  attend.  In  the  evening  of  the  first  day  a  ser- 
mon is  preached  before  the  Board  by  a  member  appointed  to  the 
service  at  the  previous  meeting,  and  the  members  unite  in  celebrat- 
ing the  Lord's  Supper  during  the  session.  A  meeting  for  popular 
addresses  is  held  in  the  evening  of  the  second  or  third  day.  The 
last  day  of  the  session  is  generally  the  great  day  of  the  feast  in  point 
of  interest ;  and  it  may  truly  be  said  that  the  annual  meeting  of  this 
Board,  as  a  whole,  has  for  several  years  past  exerted  a  great  and 
good  influence  on  the  community,  its  proceedings  being  more  exten- 
sively and  carefully  reported  in  the  religious  newspapers  than  those 
of  any  other  religious  or  charitable  institution  in  the  coimtry. 

Publications. — The  publications  issued  by  the  Board  directly  are, 
1.  The  "  Missionary  Herald,"  of  which,  in  1855,  there  were  published 
monthly  seventeen  thousand  six  hundred  and  eight  copies.  2.  The 
"  Journal  of  Missions,"  a  monthly  publication  in  the  form  of  a  small 
newspaper.  3.  The  "Youth's  Day-Spring."  4.  The  "Annual  Re- 
port," a  document  of  about  two  hundred  pages,  of  which  four  or 
five  thousand  copies  are  issued  annually;  and,  5.  The  "Annual  Ser- 
mon," and  occasional  missionary  papers  of  various  descriptions.* 

*  Among  the  numerous  works  which  have  been  occasioned  more  or  less  directly 
by  its  missions,  though  not  published  by  it  or  at  its  expense,  the  following  may  be 
mentioned : 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Newell,  by  Rev.  Leonard  "Woods,  D.D.,  1815.  Memoir 
of  the  Rev.  Levi  Parsons,  by  Rev.  Daniel  0.  Morton,  1824.  Memoir  of  the  Rev. 
Pliny  Fisk,  by  Rev.  Alvan  Bond,  1828.  Memoir  of  Catharine  Brown,  a  Christian 
Indian  of  the  Cherokee  nation,  by  Rev.  Rufus  Anderson,  1824.  Memoir  of  Rev. 
Gordon  Hall,  by  Rev.  Horatio  Bard  well,  1834.  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  L.  Winslow, 
by  Rev.  Miron  Winslow,  1835.  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Myra  W.  Allen,  by  Rev.  Cyrus 
Mann,  1834.  The  Little  Osage  Captive,  by  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  1822.  Memoir  of 
Mrs.  Sarah  Lanman  Smith,  by  Rev.  Edward  W.  Hooker,  D.D.,  1839,  Syrian  Mission. 
Memoir  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  D.  Dwight  and  Mrs.  Judith  S.  Grant,  1840.  The  Christian 
Brahmin,  or  Memoirs  of  the  Life,  Writings,  and  Character  of  the  Converted  Brahmin, 
Babajee,  by  Rev.  Hollis  Read,  2  vols.,  1836.  Memoirs  of  American  Missionaries, 
formerly  connected  with  the  Society  of  Inquiry  respecting  Missions  in  the  Andover 
Theological  Seminary,  1832.  Tour  around  Hawaii  (one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands),  by 
Rev.  William  Ellis,  1826.  A  Residence  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  by  Rev.  Charles 
Samuel  Stewart,  1828,    History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands'  Mission,  by  Rev.  Sheldon 


CHAP.  IV.]  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD   OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.  617 

CHAPTER  IY. 

BOARD    OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS    OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

We  have  entered  into  considerable  detail  in  the  preceding  chapter 
in  order  to  exhibit,  once  for  all,  the  grand  principles  of  our  American 
missions — the  establishment  of  schools  for  the  Christian  instruction 
of  youth,  and  especially  for  raising  a  native  ministry  among  the 
heathen  themselves,  and  the  employment  of  that  most  important 
auxiliary,  the  press.  The  views  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions  on  these  points  are  held,  I  believe,  with- 
out exception,  by  our  other  missionary  associations,  so  that  we  may 
dispense  with  a  reconsideration  of  them  in  the  notices  that  are  to 
follow. 

We  turn  next  to  the  Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  Foreign 
Missions,  not  because  it  follows  in  point  of  date  or  extent  of  opera- 
tions, but  simply  because  it  derives  its  support  from  a  member  of 
the  same  great  Presbyterian  family  of  Churches,  while  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  is  the  missionary 
organ  of  certain  other  branches.  The  two  societies,  in  fact,  comprise 
nearly  all  that  is  now  done  for  the  conversion  of  heathen,  Mohamme- 
dans, and  Jews,  by  Presbyterians  of  all  shades,  in  the  United  States. 

This  Board  was  constituted  only  in  1837,  the  congregations  which 
it  represents  having  before  that  combined  with  others  in  supporting 
the  American  Board,  and  some  of  them,  indeed,  with  a  truly  liberal 
spirit,  now  support  both.  The  latter  of  the  two  Boards  arose  from  a 
conviction  which  had  long  been  gaining  ground,  that  the  Presbyte- 
rians as  a  Church,  and  by  the  medium  of  their  supreme  ecclesiastical 

Dibble,  1839.  Observations  on  the  Peloponnesus  and  Greek  Islands,  by  Rev.  Rufus 
Anderson,  1830.  Researches  in  Armenia,  by  Rev.  E.  Smith  and  Rev.  H.  G-.  0. 
Dwight,  1833.  Residence  at  Constantinople,  by  Rev.  Josiah  Brewer,  1830.  The 
Nestorians,  or  the  Lost  Tribes,  by  Asahel  Grant,  M.D.,  1841.  Missionary  Sermons 
and  Addresses,  by  Rev.  Eli  Smith,  1833.  Journal  of  a  Missionary  Tour  in  India,  by 
Rev.  William  Ramsey,  1836.  Journal  of  a  Residence  in  China  and  the  Neighboring 
Countries,  by  Rev.  David  Abeel,  1834.  The  Missionary  Convention  at  Jerusalem, 
or  an  Exhibition  of  the  Claims  of  the  "World  to  the  Gospel,  by  Rev.  David  Abeel, 
1838.  Journal  of  an  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  by  Rev.  Samuel 
Parker,  1838.  Essays  on  the  Present  Crisis  in  the  Condition  of  the  American  In- 
dians, first  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  under  the  signature  of  Wilham 
Penn,  1829,  by  Jeremiah  Evarts.  Speeches  on  the  Passage  of  the  Bill  for  the  Re- 
moval of  the  Indians,  delivered  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  1830.  History 
of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  by  Rev.  Joseph  Tracy, 
1840. 


618  EFFORTS  FOR  THE  CONVERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  Yttl. 

judicature,  ought,  like  the  Church  of  Scotland,  to  undertake  foreign 
as  well  as  domestic  missions. 

As  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church,  which  appointed  and  sup- 
ports this  Board,  numbered,  in  1855,  two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  pastors,  and  three  thousand  and  seventy-nine  churches ; 
and  as  nearly  all  these  have  it  in  their  power  to  aid  the  cause,  there 
is  every  prospect  that  in  a  few  years  it  will  become  a  very  efficient 
association.  Its  receipts  for  the  year  ending  May  1st,  1855,  were 
$184,077,  and  its  expenditures  $174,705. 

Publications. — "  The  Home  and  Foreign  Record,"  a  periodical 
which  contains,  besides  other  matter,  the  missionary  intelligence  of 
the  society,  has  a  circulation  of  something  more  than  sixteen  thou- 
sand copies.  Of  the  "  Foreign  Missionary,"  twenty  thousand  copies 
of  the  newspaper,  and  three  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
pamphlet  edition,  of  thirty-two  pages,  were  printed  and  circulated. 
Various  circular  letters  were  last  year  printed  and  circulated  among 
the  churches;  and  upon  these  and  the  Missionary  Journals,  the 
Committee  relied  mainly  to  do  their  agency  work. 

Missionaries  and  Assistant-Missionaries  sent  out. — Six  mis- 
sionaries (one  of  whom  had  been  in  this  country  on  a  visit),  and 
twenty-two  male  and  female  assistant-missionaries,  making  twenty- 
eight  in  all,  were  sent  out  during  the  year. 

Missions  among  the  Indian  Tribes. — The  Board  has  seven  mis- 
sions among  the  Indian  tribes,  viz. :  among  the  Chippewas  and  Otta- 
was,  of  the  State  of  Michigan ;  among  the  Omahas,  of  Nebraska ; 
among  the  Iowas  and  Sacs,  of  Kansas  Territory ;  among  the  Creeks, 
Seminoles,  Chickasaws,  and  Choctaws,  of  the  south-western  Indian 
Territory.  Measures  have  been  adopted  for  the  commencement  of  a 
new  mission  among  the  Otoes,  of  Kansas.  Connected  with  these 
missions  there  are  eleven  stations  and  out-stations,  and  nearly  as 
many  more  preaching-places ;  eight  missionaries,  sixty-three  male 
and  female  assistant-missionaries,  and  five  native  helpers ;  seven 
churches,  and  two  hundred  and  ten  church  members ;  eight  board- 
ing and  two  day  schools,  embracing  two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  in 
various  stages  of  their  education.  The  number  of  communicants  in 
connection  with  these  churches  has  been  more  than  doubled  during 
the  past  year.  The  schools  have  had  a  larger  number  of  pupils,  and 
better  attendance  than  in  former  years ;  while  most  of  the  tribes,  but 
especially  those  in  the  State  of  Michigan  and  in  the  south-western 
Territory,  are  making  most  encouraging  progress  in  every  depart- 
ment of  civilization. 

Missions  in  Africa. — The  Board  has  two  missions  in  Africa ;  one 
in  Liberia,  which  operates  upon  the  colored  American  emigrants  and 


CHAP.  IV.]  PEESBYTEEIAN   BOAED    OF   FOEEIGN   MISSIONS.  619 

the  natives  of  the  country ;  and  the  other  at  the  Island  of  Corisco, 
twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  miles  to  the  south  and  east  of  Liberia,  and 
nearly  under  the  equator,  which  operates  exclusively  upon  the  abo- 
riginal population  of  that  island  and  the  neighboring  continent.  In 
connection  with  these  missions,  there  are  six  stations,  six  ordained 
ministers,  three  licentiate  preachers,  nine  male  and  female  assistant 
missionaries,  of  whom  eight  are  white  persons,  and  the  remainder 
colored  emigrants  from  this  country  ;  seven  schools,  one  of  which  is 
a  classical  school,  with  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils ;  five 
churches,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  church  members,  being 
an  increase  of  about  thirty  over  the  number  last  year.  One  small 
volume  has  just  been  printed  in  the  language  spoken  by  the  Corisco 
people,  and  most  of  the  missionary  brethren  there  are  engaged  in  the 
study  of  the  language,  and  will  soon  be  able  to  proclaim  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ  to  thousands  of  the  people  around  them  in 
their  own  tongue. 

Missions  in  India. — In  India,  the  Board  has  four  missions,  viz. : 
Lodiana,  Furrukhabad,  Agra,  and  Allahaba ;  thirteen  stations  and 
out-stations ;  twenty-six  ordained  missionaries,  two  of  whom  are  na- 
tives of  India ;  twenty-three  female  assistant  missionaries  from  this 
country ;  thirty-four  native  helpers  ;  eleven  churches,  with  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five  native  communicants ;  four  printing-presses,  from 
which  have  been  issued  over  eight  million  pages ;  thirty-six  schools, 
several  of  which  are  high-schools,  with  upward  of  four  thousand 
seven  hundred  pupils.  These  statistics  show  an  increase  of  two 
churches,  thirty-nine  native  converts,  about  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred pupils,  and  five  million  of  printed  pages  over  the  last  Annual 
Report.  Some  of  the  church  members  have  finished  their  course, 
and  have  been  enabled  to  triumph  over  the  last  enemy.  There  is 
still  a  loud  call  for  more  laborers  in  this  field. 

The  missionaries  in  India  have  formed  themselves  into  three  Presby- 
teries, and  these  have  been  organized  as  the  Synod  of  Northern  In- 
dia by  the  General  Assembly  in  America,  to  which  it  is  subordinate. 

Mission  in  Siam. — In  Siam  there  is  one  mission,  connected  with 
which  there  are  two  ordained  missionaries,  one  licentiate  preacher 
and  physician,  two  assistant  female  missionaries,  and  one  native 
helper;  one  boarding-school  with  twenty-six  pupils.  The  mission- 
aries have  sustained  the  usual  religious  services,  and  have  devoted 
more  time  than  usual  to  missionary  tours  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  in  some  regions  where  the  Gospel  had  never  before  been 
heard.  One  of  the  missionaries  is  still  engaged  in  the  work  of  trans- 
lating the  Scriptures  into  the  Siamese.  The  Report  contains  brief 
notices  of  large  evangelized  communities,  other  than  the  Siamese,  but 


620  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONVERSION    OF  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  VHI. 

who  are  accessible  at  Bangkok,  and  to  whom  the  Gospel  ought  to  be 
preached. 

China. — The  Board  has  three  missions  in  China,  viz. :  at  Canton, 
Ningpo  and  Shanghai,  and  a  mission,  also,  to  the  Chinese  in  Califor- 
nia. Connected  with  these  missions  there  are  fourteen  ordained  mis- 
sionaries ;  two  physicians  ;  fifteen  female  missionary  assistants ;  three 
native  helpers ;  eight  schools,  with  one  hundred  and  seventy  pupils  ; 
two  printing  presses,  from  which  have  issued  upward  of  four  million 
of  pages.  The  missionaries  have  been  actively  employed  in  the  va- 
rious duties  of  preaching,  translating,  teaching,  distributing  religious 
books  and  tracts ;  and  those  of  the  medical  profession  in  the  duties 
of  the  dispensaries,  in  addition  to  their  other  labors.  China  is  still 
suffering  from  the  dreadful  evils  of  civil  war.  How  long  this  strife  is 
to  continue  is  known  only  to  God.  It  should  be  the  earnest  prayer 
of  the  friends  of  the  Redeemer,  that  it  may  be  overruled  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  His  kingdom  among  this  unhappy  people. 

Mission  in  South  America. — The  only  mission  that  has  yet  been 
established  in  South  America  is  at  Buenos  Ayres  ;  and  this,  though 
of  only  one  year's  continuance,  has  already  received  very  encouraging 
tokens  of  the  Divine  favor.  Measures  have  been  adopted  for  the 
commencement  of  another  mission  at  Bogota,  the  capital  of  the  Re- 
public of  New  Grenada ;  and  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  both  of  these 
missions  may  be  reinforced  at  an  early  period,  and  prove  a  great 
blessing  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  country. 

Missions  to  Papal  Europe. — The  Board  have  no  missionaries  in 
Europe  under  their  immediate  direction.  Their  appropriations  have 
been  made  to  Evangelical  societies,  which  are  known  to  be  prosecut- 
ing the  work  of  evangelization  with  zeal,  energy,  and  wisdom ;  and 
the  results  of  their  labors,  especially  in  France  and  Italy,  are  most  en- 
couraging. The  appropriations  made  by  the  Committee  to  these  so- 
cieties, including  $4,827  88  contributed  for  the  endowment  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  La  Tour,  during  the  year  have  amounted  to 
$12,613  98. 

Mission  to  the  Jews. — The  Board  has  three  missionaries  among 
the  Jews  in  this  country,  viz. :  In  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Balti- 
more ;  two  ordained  ministers,  and  one  licentiate  preacher.  These 
missionaries  have  free  access  to  their  brethren  in  all  these  places,  and 
in  many  cases,  it  is  believed,  with  happy  results. 

Summary. — The  Board  has  under  its  direction,  beside  what  is 
done  for  Papal  Europe,  twenty  separate  missions  ;  fifty-nine  ordained 
missionaries ;  five  licentiate  preachers ;  one  hundred  and  thirteen 
male  and  female  assistant  missionaries ;  forty-three  native  helpers ; 
twenty-four  churches,  and  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  native  com- 


CHAP.  V.]  AMERICAN   BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION.  621 

municants ;  twenty-six  schools,  and  six  thousand  five  hundred  and 
ninety-six  pupils  ;  six  printing  presses,  from  which  have  been  issued 
more  than  twelve  million  of  pages  during  the  year.  The  Board  con- 
clude this  statement  with  the  earnest  and  heartfelt  prayer,  that  this 
great  work  of  spreading  the  Gospel  among  the  nations  of  the  earth 
may  be  continued  and  enlarged  until  all  shall  have  heard  of  the  salva- 
tion of  Christ. 


CHAPTER   V. 

AMERICAN     BAPTIST     MISSIONARY     UNION. 

The  operations  of  this  society  now  extend  through  forty-two 
years.  It  was  first  constituted  in  1814,  by  the  Baptist  General  Con- 
vention for  Foreign  Missions,  which  met  triennially  until  the  year 
1845,  when  it  resolved  itself  into  a  missionary  society,  under  the 
name  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

This  association  has  from  small  beginnings  advanced  from  year  to 
year  in  resources  and  efficiency,  until,  through  God's  blessing,  it  em- 
braces all  the  four  great  continents  within  the  sphere  of  its  operations. 
These  have  been  conducted  with  singular  wisdom,  zeal,  and  persever- 
ance, and  have  been  crowned  with  remarkable  success. 

Its  history  shows  how  wonderfully  God,  in  His  providence,  orders 
and  overrules  events  while  enlisting  new  agencies  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  purposes.  In  1812,  the  American  Board  of  Commission- 
ers for  Foreign  Missions,  a  Paedobaptist  society,  sent  several  mission- 
aries to  Bengal.  On  then*  voyage  thither,  two  of  these,  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  and  their  wives,  changed  their  views  and  be- 
came Baptists ;  an  event  that  not  only  gave  much  distress  to  the  other 
members  of  the  mission,  but  produced,  perhaps,  for  a  time,  other  feel- 
ings beside  disappointment  in  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  Board 
that  had  sent  them  out.  On  their  arrival,  they  found  that  the  British 
East  India  Company  would  not  permit  them  to  labor  within  its  terri- 
tories ;  so  that  after  a  few  weeks'  stay  they  had  to  leave  Calcutta. 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice,  however,  with  their  wives,  were  received 
with  great  kindness  by  the  excellent  Dr.  Carey  and  his  associates, 
Baptist  missionaries  from  England,  settled  at  Serampore,  a  small  Dan- 
ish possession  not  many  miles  above  Calcutta.  There  was  no  Baptist 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  at  that  time  in  the  United  States,  but  as 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  had  become  Baptists,  were  now  in  India, 
and  wished  to  remain  and  preach  the  Gospel  there  to  the  heathen, 


622  EFFORTS  FOR  THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE   WORLD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

their  case  drew  the  attention  of  the  Baptist  churches  in  America,  and 
a  society  was  organized  for  their  support.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Judson 
withdrew  into  the  Burmese  territory,  and  there  commenced  a  mission 
which  has  been  signally  blessed.  The  society,  which  they  were  the 
means  of  originating,  is  now  a  great  institution,  with  no  fewer  than 
twenty-two  missions  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  How  wonderful  are 
the  ways  of  God !  bringing  good  from  what  seems  to  man,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  be  evil.  Had  not  the  two  missionaries  become  Baptists, 
where  would  have  been  the  blessed  mission  to  Burmah,  and  how  many 
years  might  have  elapsed  before  the  American  Baptists  entered  on 
the  prosecution  of  foreign  missions  ?  And  had  not  the  Governor- 
general  of  India  excluded  American  missionaries  from  Bengal,  where 
would  have  been  the  promising  American  missions  in  Ceylon,  in  the 
southern  part  of  Hindostan,  and  on  the  western  side  of  the  Indian 
Peninsula  ? 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union ;  let 
us  now  glance  at  its  various  enterprises. 

Missions  in  North  America. — These  embrace  the  following  tribes : 
the  Ojibwas,  Ottowas,  Delawares,  Shawanoes,  and  others,  Cherokees, 
Creeks,  and  Choctaws,  the  last  three  residing  on  the  Indian  Territory. 
Among  these  various  tribes  the  Board  has  twenty-one  stations  and 
out-stations,  fourteen  American  missionaries  and  assistants,  and  sev- 
eral Indian  assistants. 

In  Europe. — In  France,  the  Union  has  eight  stations  and  nine  out- 
stations,  one  missionary  and  his  wife,  and  sixteen  native  preachers  and 
assistants.  In  Germany  and  Denmark  it  has  fifty-three  stations,  five 
missionaries,  and  fifty-two  native  preachers  and  assistants.  In  Greece, 
the  mission  has  been  abandoned. 

In  West  Africa,  the  society  has  two  stations,  two  preachers,  two 
female  assistants,  four  native  assistants,  and  several  churches  among 
the  Bassas,  a  native  tribe  near  the  colony  of  Liberia. 

In  Asia,  the  Board  has  missions  among  the  Karens  on  the  borders 
of  Burmah,  in  Siam,  in  China,  in  Arracan,  in  Assam,  and  at  Madras 
and  Nellore,  in  British  India.  These,  forming  fifteen  distinct  mis- 
sions, comprehended,  in  1855,  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  stations 
and  out-stations,  ninety-four  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries, 
and  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  native  assistants. 

The  total  numbers,  including  all  the  missions,  were,  according  to 
the  Report  for  the  year  ending  May  15,  1855,  as  follows : 

22  Missions, 
s  93  Stations  and  510  out-stations. 

124  Missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries  (Americans),  of  whom  62  are  or- 
dained. 


CHAP.  VI.]  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  623 

260  Native  preachers  and  assistants. 
238  Churches,  comprehending  more  than  lf,^  members. 
3,961  Baptisms  in  the  course  of  the  year  reported. 
88  Schools  and  1,818  pupils. 

The  receipts  for  that  year  amounted  to  $102,327,  and  the  dis- 
bursements to  $132,948.  In  addition  to  its  regular  receipts,  the 
Board  had  received  $5,000  from  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, for  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures ;  $2,200  from  the  American 
Tract  Society  for  the  publication  of  Tracts ;  and  $4,000  from  the 
United  States  government  toward  the  support  of  schools  among  the 
Indians. 

This  brief  notice  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  this  excellent 
society's  operations,  and  of  the  good  that  it  is  doing.  A  detailed  ac- 
count of  its  missions,  particularly  of  those  among  the  Burmans  and 
the  Karens,  would  be  interesting,  but  would  far  exceed  the  limits  of 
this  work.  It  is  delightful  to  see  how  much  interest  in  the  cause  of 
missions  has  sprung  up  in  this  numerous  and  important  branch  of  the 
Church  in  the  United  States.  May  God  grant  that  it  and  every  other 
may  soon  come  up  to  the  full  measure  of  their  ability  and  duty  in 
this  great  work. 

Let  me  add,  in  conclusion,  that  the  "  Missionary  Magazine,"  an  able 
and  interesting  monthly  publication,  has  long  been  the  organ  of  the 
society,  and  has  a  wide  circulation  among  the  Baptist  denomination ; 
and  so  has  the  "  Macedonian,"  which  is  a  monthly  sheet. 

The  Southern  Baptist  Convention  has  a  "Foreign  Board," 
which  employs  some  fifteen  or  twenty  missionaries  in  the  foreign 
field.  The  receipts  last  year  (1855)  were  $36,274,  and  its  expendi- 
tures $31,549. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

FOREIGN   MISSIONS    OF   THE   METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHURCti. 

The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
formed  in  1819,  under  the  auspices  of  the  General  Conference,  but 
for  many  years  its  efforts  were  chiefly  directed  to  domestic  missions, 
including  those  to  the  slaves  in  the  Southern  States,  and  to  the  ab- 
original tribes  within,  or  adjacent  to,  the  western  frontier  of  the 
United  States.  It  afterward  directed  its  attention  to  the  colonies  of 
free  colored  Americans  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  and,  at  a  still 
later  period,  it  established  missions  on  the  territory  to  the  west  of  the 


624  EFFORTS   FOR  THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  Vm. 

Oregon  Mountains,  and  at  some  important  points  in  South  America. 
The  German  emigrants  found  swarming  in  our  principal  cities,  at  the 
same  time  engaged  much  of  its  attention.  Its  efforts  in  behalf  of 
these  and  of  the  slaves,  as  properly  falling  under  the  head  of  home 
missions,  we  have  already  noticed,  and  will  now  give  some  account 
of  what  are,  properly  speaking,  its  foreign  missions. 

North  American  Indians. — The  Society  has  (in  1856)  thirty-nine 
missions,  with  ten  missionaries  laboring  within  or  beyond  the  western 
frontier  of  the  United  States  among  the  following  tribes,  or  remnants 
of  tribes :  the  Wyandots,  Oneidas,  Shawnees,  Delawares,  Kickapoos, 
Pottawottamies,  Chippewas,  Choctaws,  Cherokees,  etc.  The  report 
for  this  year  states  that  the  Indian  members  of  the  mission  churches 
gathered  from  these  tribes  number  at  present  nine  hundred  and 
fifty-eight. 

The  Liberia  Mission,  at  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  American  col- 
ony on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  was  commenced  in  1833  by  the  late 
Rev.  Melville  B.  Cox,  an  excellent  man,  who  fell  a  victim  to  the 
climate  a  few  months  after  his  arrival.  With  his  dying  breath  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Though  a  thousand  fall,  Africa  must  not  be  given  up."  He 
was  succeeded  by  others,  and  they,  too,  sank  under  a  climate  so  fatal 
to  white  men.  At  length  the  Rev.  John  Seys  was  sent  out,  and  he, 
through  God's  blessing,  was  spared  for  much  usefulness.  He  was 
greatly  successful  in  putting  the  affairs  of  the  mission  in  order,  and 
superintending  the  labors  of  colored  preachers  from  the  United 
States,  the  society  having  to  depend  chiefly  on  these.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chase  and  others.  The  mission  now  includes 
an  Annual  Conference,  consisting  of  twenty-two  preachers,  mostly 
colored  men,  and  a  missionary  bishop. 

Of  the  church  members,  about  thirteen  hundred  in  all,  one  hun- 
dred and  two  are  native  Africans,  who,  till  within  a  few  years, 
were  worshiping  gods  of  wood,  stone,  leather,  any  thing,  in  short, 
that  their  imagination  could  fashion  into  a  god ! 

South  American  Mission. — In  1841,  the  society  had  five  mission- 
aries  at  Buenos  Ayres,  laboring,  not  unsuccessfully,  to  introduce  the 
Gospel  to  a  population,  now  so  ignorant  of  the  Truth.  Other  worthy 
men,  formerly  employed  in  this  field  of  labor,  the  pressure  of  the 
times  a  few  years  since  obliged  the  society  to  recall.  This  society 
has  also  a  mission  in  New  Mexico. 

Oregon  Mission. — In  its  origin  if  not  in  its  success  this  has  been 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  missions  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  About  the  year  1828,  the  tribe  of  Indians  called  Flat 
Heads,  living  to  the  west  of  the  Oregon  Mountains,  prompted,  prob- 
ably, by  what  they  had  seen  and  heard  of  the  Christian  religion 


CHAP.  VI.]  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  625 

among  the  trappers  of  the  American  and  Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Com- 
panies, sent  some  of  their  chiefs  into  the  United  States  to  inquire  as 
to  the  various  forms  of  religious  worship  observed  here,  and  to  decide 
upon  which  to  recommend.  After  a  long  and  painful  journey  they 
reached  St.  Louis,  and  stated  the  object  of  their  coming  to  the  late 
General  Clarke,*  then  Government  Agent  for  Indian  Affairs  in  that 
district,  by  whom  it  was  communicated  to  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  place.  A  great  sensation  was  naturally  produced.  The  Meth- 
odist Missionary  Society  was  the  first  that  took  the  matter  up,  and, 
desiring  to  act  with  prudence,  sent  two  judicious  and  experienced 
persons  across  the  Oregon  Mountains  to  visit  the  Indians,  ascertain 
their  present  position,  and  choose  a  proper  situation  for  a  mission. 
On  their  arrival  they  found  the  way  wonderfully  prepared  by  the 
Lord's  providential  dispensations,  so  that  after  their  return,  a  mission 
on  a  large  scale  left  New  York  for  the  Oregon  country.  After  a 
journey  of  some  months  it  reached  the  place  of  its  destination,  and 
was  welcomed  by  the  Indians  and  the  Agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  stationed  in  that  region.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  this 
mission  was  formed  on  too  large  a  scale.  It  has  since  been  reduced 
to  only  two  or  three  missionaries. 

In  China  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sustains  a  mission  at 
Fuh-chau,  where  three  missionaries  are  laboring.  In  Europe  it  em- 
ploys several  missionaries  in  Norway,  Sweden,  Germany,  and  France. 
The  German  missions  are  prosecuted  by  twenty-two  missionaries,  as- 
sistants, and  colporteurs,  at  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Frankfort,  etc.  In 
Scandinavia  there  are  three  laborers,  and  in  France  thirty-one. 

The  total  number  of  this  society's  foreign  missionaries  amoimted  in 
1855  to  eighty-four.  Its  total  income  for  that  year  was  $254,587 ;  its 
disbursements  $218,667,  of  which  probably  $90,000  were  for  home, 
and  the  remainder  for  foreign  missions. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  supports  missions  among 
the  Indians,  of  whom  there  are  this  year  (1856)  three  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirteen  members  of  the  churches.  There  are  thirty- 
two  missionaries  in  this  field.  In  China  it  has  also  a  mission,  with 
three  missionaries. 

*  The  name  of  this  gentleman  is  well  known  in  connection  with  that  of  the  late 
Governor  Lewis,  from  the  Exploring  Tour  they  made  in  company  across  the  Oregon 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  during  Mr.  Jefferson's  presidency. 

40 


626  EFEOETS  FOE  THE  CONVERSION  OP  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  Tin. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

BOAED   OF   MISSIONS    OF  THE  PEOTESTANT  EPISCOPAL   CHUECH. 

This  Board  was  constituted  in  1835.  Its  domestic  operations  we 
have  noticed  in  another  place,  and  have  now  to  speak  of  its  foreign 
missions,  which  extend  to  three  continents. 

Westeen  Afeica. — It  has  a  very  flourishing  mission  at  Cape 
Palmas,  and  at  several  stations  along  the  coast  for  three  hundred 
miles.  In  1855  it  comprised  a  bishop  and  eleven  ordained  ministers, 
together  with  seven  white  and  ten  colored  teachers  and  assistants. 
The  place  has  been  well  chosen,  for  Cape  Palmas  is  one  of  the  healthiest 
spots  on  that  notoriously  unhealthy  coast.  Several  American  ladies 
have  resided  there  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health  for  some  years. 
Attached  to  the  mission  there  are  several  schools,  partly  for  the 
colonists,  partly  for  the  natives,  and  attended  by  a  goodly  number 
of  children,  youths,  and  adults.  The  preaching  of  the  missionaries  is 
well  attended,  and  has  been  blessed  to  the  salvation  of  souls. 

China. — The  Board  some  fifteen  years  ago  commenced  a  mission 
under  favorable  auspices.  It  has  a  bishop  and  four  ordained  mission- 
aries, and  several  lay-assistants,  on  this  field,  and  is  about  to  send  others. 

Geeece. — The  Board  has  a  mission  at  Athens.  There  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hill,  with  his  wife  (who  is  a  remarkably  efficient  person),  are  sta- 
tioned, and  an  American  lady,  as  teachers,  besides  whom  there  are 
several  native  teachers.  Mr.  Hill  has  been  very  successful  in  raising 
and  supporting  schools  for  children,  for  boys  and  for  girls,  attended  by 
about  four  hundred  scholars.  He  preaches,  also,  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
other  occasions,  in  Greek,  to  a  congregation  of  young  and  old.  Yet, 
owing  to  the  perpetual  jealousy  of  the  Greek  elergy,  and  their  influ- 
ence with  the  government,  the  missionaries  find  themselves  exposed 
to  many  difficulties. 

Mission  in  the  East. — The  Board  sustained  a  mission  for  some 
years  at  Constantinople,  as  well  as  at  Crete ;  both  have  been  discon- 
tinued. 

It  hence  appears  that  the  whole  number  of  the  Board's  ordained 
missionaries  amounted,  in  1855,  to  eighteen,  including  two  bishops, 
laboring  in  three  distinct  missions,  besides  whom  there  were  several 
American  ladies,  chiefly  engaged  in  teaching,  and  no  fewer  than 
fifteen  native  teachers.  The  receipts  amounted,  last  year,  to  $57,600 ; 
the  disbursements  exceeded  the  receipts  by  $3,000.  The  Board 
issues  an  interesting  publication  entitled  "  The  Spirit  of  Missions,"  for 
the  diffusion  of  missionary  intelligence  among  the  churches. 


CHAP.  VHI.]        FOREIGN  MISSIONS   OF   OTHER  DENOMINATIONS.  627 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FOREIGN    MISSIONS     OF     OTHER    DENOMINATIONS. 

Missions  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Churches. — The  Free-Will 
Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  1833,  and  orig- 
inated in  the  correspondence  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sutton,  of  the  English 
General  Baptist  Mission,  with  Elder  Buzzel,  a  Free- Will  Baptist  min- 
ister in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Sutton  wrote  in  1831,  representing  the 
deplorable  state  of  the  heathen  in  India,  and  calling  on  his  American 
brethren  to  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  Re- 
turning to  England  in  1833,  Mr.  Sutton  went  thence  to  America, 
there  spent  several  months  preaching  to  the  churches ;  then,  after 
another  short  visit  to  his  native  land,  he  made  an  extensive  tour  in 
1834  through  the  Free- Will  Baptist  churches  in  the  United  States, 
preaching  to  them  on  the  subject  of  missions,  and  acting  as  the  cor- 
responding secretary  of  a  missionary  society  which  had  been  formed 
the  preceding  year.  Having  succeeded  in  rousing  these  churches  to 
a  sense  of  their  duty,  he  sailed  in  1835  for  India  with  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Noyes  and  Phillips  and  their  wives,  being  the  first  missionaries  from 
the  new  society.  On  their  arrival  they  went  with  Mr.  Sutton  to 
Orissa,  a  province  lying  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal, 
some  hundred  miles  south-west  from  Calcutta.  The  society  has  now 
three  missionaries  in  that  province.  The  Rev.  O.  R.  Bachelor  and 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Phillips  are  now,  with  their  families,  in  America,  but 
intend  shortly  to  return  to  India.  The  society  owes  much,  we  un- 
derstand, to  subscriptions  and  collections  at  monthly  prayer-meetings. 
The  Rev.  Luther  Palmer,  of  ISTorwalk,  Ohio,  a  Free- Will  Baptist 
pastor,  some  time  ago  gave  himself  and  all  his  property,  valued  at 
$5,000,  to  the  society,  wishing  the  latter  to  be  applied  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  press  in  India,  Such  liberality  reminds  us  of  Pentecostal 
days.    The  receipts  of  the  society  were,  in  1855,  $6,301  89. 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the 
United  States. — This  society,  which  dates  from  1837,  originated  in 
an  appeal  from  the  German  missionaries  in  India,  Mr.  Rhenius  and 
his  associates,  to  their  brethren  in  the  United  States,  for  the  assist- 
ance they  required  in  consequence  of  their  separation  from  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  of  England,  on  account  of  certain  of  its 
views  and  measures  which  they  disapproved,  after  having  labored  for 
several  years  in  its  service.  In  answer  to  their  appeal,  a  convention 
of  Lutheran  ministers  and  lay-members  was  held  at  Hagerstown,  in 
Maryland,  and  the  society  was  organized.     But  these  missionaries 


628  EFFORTS  FOR  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  VIII. 

having  renewed  their  connection  with  the  English  Church  Mission- 
ary Society,  the  American  Lutherans  have  resolved  to  send  out  mis- 
sionaries from  their  own  churches,  and  now  have  five,  with  their 
families,  laboring  in  India.  The  stations  occupied  are  Guntoor,  the 
Palnaud,  and  Rajahmundry,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  India. 

Foreign  Missions  of  the  Moravians,  or  United  Brethren. — 
The  Moravian  Brethren  in  the  United  States  formed  a  society  for 
propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen  hi  1787.  An  act  for  incor- 
porating it  was  passed  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  it  has  been 
actively  employed  ever  since  in  promoting  missions.  This  society 
sustains  two  missions  among  the  Indians  (the  one  among  the  Dela- 
wares,  the  other  among  the  Cherokees),  and  twelve  missionaries, 
under  whose  care  there  are  at  present  four  hundred  and  thirty-five 
converts. 

Foreign  Missions  of  the  Scottish  Churches. — The  reader  has 
remarked  that  in  our  notices  of  the  Associate,  Associate  Reformed, 
and  Reformed  Presbyterian  Churches,  we  mentioned  that  they  have 
undertaken  foreign  missions,  either  in  connection  with  the  Board  of 
the  Old  School  Presbyterians  or  independently,  within  the  last  few 
years. 

Such  are  the  societies  in  the  United  States  which  have  been  ex- 
pressly formed  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  pagan  countries, 
although  some  of  them  have  missions  in  countries  nominally  Chris* 
tian. 

Let  me  add,  that  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  the  American 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  supported  by  the  Baptists,  have  been 
making  large  yearly  donations  toward  the  circulation  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  foreign,  and  especially  pagan  lands.  Some,  also,  of  the 
State  and  other  local  Bible  Societies,  such  as  those  of  Massachusetts 
and  Philadelphia,  have  done  something  in  this  way.  The  American 
Tract  Society  has  likewise  made  yearly  grants  of  from  $10,000  to 
$40,000  for  the  publication  and  distribution  of  religious  tracts  in 
foreign,  and  chiefly  in  heathen  lands.  The  American  Sunday-school 
Union,  too,  has  granted  both  books  and  money  for  promoting  its 
objects  abroad.  I  am  unable  to  state  the  yearly  amount  of  all  these 
donations  with  perfect  accuracy,  but  believe  that,  taking  the  average 
of  the  last  ten  years,  they  have  exceeded  $50,000. 


CHAP.  X.]  AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN   CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


629 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AMERICAN   SOCIETY   FOR  MELIORATING  THE   CONDITION    OF  THE   JEWS. 

This  society  was  formed  in  182(f,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  an 
asylum,  and  the  means  of  earning  a  comfortable  livelihood  in  Amer- 
ica, for  Jews  whose  conversion  to  Christianity  exposed  them  to  per- 
secution and  the  loss  of  the  means  of  living.  A  farm,  accordingly,  of 
about  five  hundred  acres  was  purchased,  on  which  it  was  proposed  to 
have  a  colony  of  converted  Jews,  who,  by  tillage  and  other  useful  arts, 
might  support  themselves  and  their  families.  Somehow  or  other  this 
project  did  not  answer  the  expectations  of  its  projectors,  and  so  much 
did  the  society  lose  the  confidence  of  the  Christian  public,  that  for 
awhile  it  seemed  quite  lost  sight  of  A  few  years  ago,  however,  the 
impulse  given  in  Scotland  and  other  European  countries  to  the  work 
of  converting  the  Jews,  led  some  of  the  old  friends  of  the  American 
Society  to  think  of  reviving  it,  and  directing  its  efforts  to  the  em- 
ployment of  missionaries  among  the  Jews,  either  in  America  or  else- 
where. Accordingly  it  has  for  some  years  employed  several  mission- 
aries in  this  country.     Its  receipts  last  year  were  about  $8,000. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

This,  which  is  the  latest  in  its  origin  of  all  the  missionary  societies, 
was  formed  in  1839,  under  the  name  of  The  Foreign  Evangelical 
Society,  for  promoting  evangelical  religion  in  all  nominally  Christian 
countries,  and  was  suggested  by  the  growing  conviction  of  many  per- 
sons in  the  United  States,  that  until  pure  Christianity  be  restored 
in  nominal  Christendom,  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world  can 
hardly  be  looked  for.  There  are  millions  of  Protestants,  and  tens  of 
millions  of  Romanists,  so  manifestly  ignorant  of  the  great  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel,  as  to  prove  by  their  lives  that  they  are  little  better 
than  baptized  heathen.  Hundreds  of  thousands  professing  Christian- 
ity may  be  found  in  some  countries,  who  have  actually  never  read  a 
page  of  the  Book  which  God  intended  should  be  emphatically  the 
people's  Book,  but  which  those  who  put  themselves  forward  as  their 
guides  have  kept  from  them,  either  from  ignorance  of  its  value,  or 
from  a  dread  of  its  influence  when  read. 


630  EFFORTS  FOR  THE   COZSWERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

Now,  while  many  societies  seek  to  promote  true  religion  in  the 
United  States,  and  many,  also,  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  the 
organization  of  which  we  speak  has  made  it  its  peculiar  province  to  cul- 
tivate that  great  intermediate  field,  presented  by  professedly  Christian 
countries  in  which,  whatever  may  be  their  civilization,  the  Gospel  is 
really  almost  as  little  known  as  it  is  to  the  very  heathen ;  some  being 
buried  in  the  darkness  of  Romanism,  and  others  in  the  still  worse 
darkness  of  Rationalism.  In  many  such  countries  God,  in  His  holy 
Providence,  has  been  evidently  opening  the  way  for  the  admission  of 
the  long-excluded  light.  Stupendous  revolutions  have  in  the  course 
of  the  last  fifty  years  shaken,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  spiritual  despot- 
ism that  had  reigned  so  long  over  a  great  part  of  Christendom,  both 
in  Europe  and  America  ;  and  the  bitter  fruits  of  infidelity,  in  all  its 
forms,  have  disposed  many,  in  countries  where  it  had  sapped  the 
foundations  of  faith,  to  return  to  the  simple  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
unperverted  by  human  speculation  and  "philosophy  falsely  so  called." 
The  last  revolutions  in  France  and  Belgium,  in  particular,  seemed  to 
lay  those  countries  more  open  to  evangelical  effort;  and  it  was  hoped 
that,  at  no  distant  day,  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal  also,  would  be  found 
accessible  to  the  Word  of  God. 

After  much  inquiry,  partly  conducted  by  an  agent  sent  expressly 
to  France  and  other  countries  of  Europe,  an  association  was  formed 
in  1836,  which,  three  years  after,  took  the  form  of  a  regular  society; 
not,  however,  for  sending  missionaries  from  America  to  Europe,  but 
for  assisting  the  friends  of  evangelical  religion  in  France,  Belgium, 
and  other  countries  similarly  circumstanced.  It  accordingly  aided 
the  Evangelical  Societies  of  France  and  Geneva,  and,  though  not  to 
the  same  extent,  some  other  and  more  local  associations.  Gradually 
extending  the  range  of  its  efforts,  it  also  promoted  the  same  cause 
by  the  distribution  of  tracts  in  Germany,  and  even  aided  the  friends 
of  the  truth  in  Sweden  in  what  they  are  doing  to  communicate  the 
blessings  of  the  Gospel  more  effectually  to  the  Laplanders.  As  the 
Society's  Executive  Committee  was  not  restricted  to  any  particular 
method  of  effecting  its  objects,  it  turned  its  attention  to  a  variety  of 
ways  of  procedure. 

While  making  these  efforts  in  Europe,  the  Society  found  among 
the  Roman  Catholic  population  of  Lower  Canada,  which  is  largely  of 
French  origin,  an  important  and  providentially-prepared  field,  which 
is  now  occupied  by  very  prosperous  missions. 

After  an  existence  of  ten  years,  from  1839  to  1849,  the  Foreign 
Evangelical  Society  was  united  with  the  American  Protestant  Society 
(which  had  been  formed  in  1842),  and  with  the  Christian  Alliance, 
(which  had  been  formed  in  1843).     Out  of  this  iinion  arose  the 


CHAP.  XI.]  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  631 

American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  which  was  organized  in 
May,  1849.  This  society  has  existed  seven  years.  In  the  year  1856 
it  has  one  hundred  and  nineteen  missionaries;  sixty-seven  of  whom 
labor  among  the  Romanists  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States, 
and  fifty-two  in  Papal  lands  abroad — in  France,  Belgium,  Italy,  Ire- 
land, Canada,  Hayti,  Chili,  Brazil,  besides  two  in  Sweden,  and  one  in 
Turkey.  The  receipts  of  the  society  for  that  year  were  $69,330,  and 
its  expenditures  $67,657. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

AMERICAN    COLONIZATION    SOCIETY. 

Finally,  we  propose  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  because  of  its  connection  with  missions  in 
"Western  Africa,  and  its  bearing  upon  the  general  interests  of  hu- 
manity. 

Though  originating  in  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  the  benefit  of 
the  African  race,  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  best  men  that  America 
has  ever  seen,  this  society  has  for  many  years  past  been  much  decried 
in  America,  and  misrepresented  to  some  extent  in  Europe.  The 
three  persons  who  may  be  regarded  as  its  founders  have  all  passed 
from  the  present  scene  to  their  reward  above.  These  were  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Finlay,  of  New  Jersey,  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  of  Con- 
necticut, and  the  Hon.  Elias  B.  Caldwell,  of  Washington  city,  Clerk 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  The  society  was  organ- 
ized in  1817,  and  its  objects  are  expressed  as  follows,  in  the  second 
article  of  its  constitution  :  "  To  promote  and  execute  a  plan  of  colo- 
nizing (with  their  consent)  the  free  people  of  color  residing  in  our 
country,  in  Africa,  or  such  other  place  as  Congress  shall  deem  most 
expedient."  The  primary  motive  of  its  founders  was  to  place  the 
colored  man  in  circumstances  in  which  he  might  acquire  that  real  in- 
dependence of  station  and  character  and,  consequently,  that  equality 
in  social  life  which  they  supposed  that  he  can  not  reach  in  the  midst 
of  a  white  population. 

Soon  after  the  society  was  constituted,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Mills  and 
Burgess  were  sent  as  commissioners  to  explore  the  west  coast  of  Af- 
rica, and  select  a  site  for  the  proposed  colony.  The  first  expedition 
was  sent  over  in  1830,  under  the  Rev.  Samuel  Bacon,  who  was  ap- 
pointed governor ;  but  he  and  many  of  the  colonists  were  cut  off  by 
the  fever  of  the  country,  in  attempting  to  form  a  settlement  at  Sher- 


632  EFFORTS   FOR  THE  CONVERSION   OF  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  VTH. 

bro,  which  consequently  failed.  Another  attempt  followed  a  year  or 
two  afterward,  and  though  the  site  was  not  so  good  as  might  have 
been  found,  it  proved  far  better  than  the  former,  and  is  now  called 
Liberia,  lying  between  the  eighth  and  eleventh  degrees  of  north  lat- 
itude. No  great  extent  of  country  was  bought  at  first,  but  other 
parcels  have  been  added  since,  and  the  society  has  now  obtained  the 
entire  coast  from  Cape  Mount  on  the  North  to  Cape  Palmas  on  the 
south,  and  extending  to  about  three  hundred  miles  in  length.  The 
intervening  coast  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  society,  which  pro- 
poses to  plant  colonies  at  different  points,  for  the  double  purpose  of 
extending  the  present  settlement  and  of  abolishing  the  slave-trade  on 
this  part  of  the  coast. 

Monrovia,  the  chief  town  in  the  northern  cluster  of  colonies,  has  a 
convenient  port,  and  is  of  considerable  extent.  There  the  Governor 
of  Liberia  resides.  There  are  eight  or  ten  villages,  also,  to  the  north 
and  south,  and  in  the  interior  settlements  have  been  made  on  the 
Stockton  and  St.  Paul's  Rivers,  as  well  as  at  other  points,  to  the  dis- 
tance of  eight  or  ten  miles  from  Monrovia.  A  colony  planted  at 
Cape  Palmas  by  the  Maryland  Auxiliary  Colonization  Society,  con- 
sists of  about  nine  hundred  or  one  thousand  colonists  from  America.* 
Many  natives,  however,  live  both  there  and  in  Liberia  on  lands  of 
their  own,  but  within  the  limits  of  the  colony,  and  subject  to  its  laws; 
in  fact,  they  form  an  integral  part  of  the  population. 

These  colonies  have  been  of  slow  growth,  for  the  society,  unaided 
by  the  General  Government,  has  been  unable  to  conduct  the  enter- 
prise on  a  large  scale.  Inexperience,  too,  led  to  several  blunders 
in  the  first  years,  to  which  must  be  added  want  of  union  and  energy 
on  the  part  of  the  National  Society,  and  the  loss  of  the  confidence  of 
part  of  the  public,  particularly  of  the  members  of  the  Anti-slavery 
and  Abolition  Societies.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  society  has 
been  gradually  advancing.  Its  yearly  income  has  for  some  time  past 
exceeded  $50,000,f  and  its  colonies,  now  supposed  to  number  about 
ten  thousand  emigrants,  are  in  a  tolerably  thriving  state.  Fatal  as 
the  climate  of  Liberia  is  to  white  men,  the  colored  find  it  so  much 
otherwise,  that  the  mortality  among  them  has  not  been  greater  than 
was  to  be  expected — not  more  than  what  was  experienced  by  the  first 

*  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  the  governor  at  Cape  Palmas,  Mr.  Rushworm,  is 
a  gentleman  of  color,  brought  up  in  America  as  a  printer,  and  who  ably  conducted 
for  several  years  the  Liberia  Herald,  a  newspaper  of  respectable  character,  established 
at  Monrovia  twenty  years  ago. 

f  But  this  is  exclusive  of  that  of  some  State  societies  which  manage  their  own 
affairs,  like  that  of  Maryland,  to  which  the  State  of  that  name  granted  $200,000, 
payable  in  ten  yearly  installments.  The  colony  established  by  that  society,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  at  Cape  Palmas. 


CHAP.  XI.]  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  633 

settlers  in  Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  Cape  Palmas,  from  its  ele- 
vated position,  has  been  found  remarkably  healthy,  and  not  oppress- 
ive even  to  the  missionaries,  though  whites. 

It  has  been  well  ascertained  that,  at  the  distance  of  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles  the  country  rises  in  the  interior,  and  at  no  great  dis- 
tance further  becomes  even  mountainous.  Hence  it  is  inferred  that 
the  climate  there  is  salubrious.  A  few  more  years  of  success  will  en- 
able the  colonies  to  purchase  the  lands  east  of  the  "back  settle- 
ments," and  to  open  a  way  to  the  hilly  country.  Already,  in  fact, 
they  are  making  a  road  from  Monrovia  into  the  interior,  so  as  to 
have  a  highway  for  trade  in  cam-wood  and  other  productions  of  the 
country.  The  soil  is  almost  everywhere  fertile,  and  vegetation  lux- 
uriant, so  that  a  large  population  might  be  abundantly  provided  for. 
Instead  of  a  single  crop  in  a  year,  as  in  colder  climates,  two  may  be 
had  of  many  vegetable  productions.  The  sweet  potato,  rice,  sugar- 
cane, the  coffee-plant,  and  other  tropical  produce,  can  be  raised  with 
ease.  A  great  difficulty  in  agriculture  lies  in  the  want  of  good 
fences,  and  the  destruction  of  posts  and  rails  by  insects.  This  must 
be  overcome  by  making  hedges  of  the  sour  orange,  or  by  employing 
shepherds,  herdsmen,  and  boys. 

Many  of  the  colonists  have  now  their  little  farms.  Others,  and 
perhaps  too  many,  are  more  occupied  in  trading  with  the  natives. 
They  keep  a  quantity  of  small  craft  for  trading  along  the  coast,  and 
carry  on  a  brisk  barter  with  numerous  vessels,  American,  British, 
etc.,  etc.,  touching  from  time  to  time  at  Monrovia. 

It  appears  from  the  testimony  of  impartial  men,  with  good  oppor- 
tunities of  information,  that  these  colonies  have  had  a  beneficial  in- 
fluence on  that  coast,  and  have  tended  to  repress  the  slave-trade. 
Such  was  that  of  Captains  Bell  and  Paine  of  the  United  States  navy, 
who  were  there  in  1840,  and,  still  more  recently,  of  Lieutenant  Foote, 
and  who  vindicate  the  colonies  from  many  charges  equally  false 
and  absurd ;  among  others,  that  of  conniving  at  that  infamous  trade. 
That  plantations  mainly  composed  of  liberated  slaves  should  be  alto- 
gether immaculate,  no  man  of  sense  would  expect  or  require.  But 
that  they  are,  as  communities,  thriving,  and  that  they  are  also 
exerting  a  happy  influence  on  the  natives,  is  what  every  one  must 
believe,  from  the  abundant  testimony  of  credible  witnesses  ;  among 
others,  of  several  excellent  missionaries,  with  whom  I  have  been  long 
and  intimately  acquainted. 

I  have  remarked  that  the  society  has  been  much  opposed,  especi- 
ally by  the  friends  of  the  Anti-slavery  Societies  in  the  United  States. 
This  opposition  has  arisen  from  the  manner  in  which  the  society  has 
been  advocated.    Some  of  its  friends  have  been  apt  to  recommend  it 


634  EFFOKTS   FOE  THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE  WOELD.       [BOOK  VIII. 

as  presenting  the  sole  method  of  ridding  the  United  States  of  slavery. 
This  is  absurd.  It  has  diverted  the  minds  of  slaveholders  in  the 
South  from  the  duty  of  universally  emancipating  their  slaves,  whether 
they  shall  remain  in  the  country  or  not ;  and  in  this  way  has  done 
mischief.  Its  friends  have  perhaps  said  too  much,  also,  about  the  im- 
possibility of  the  colored  population  rising  to  respectability  and 
political  equality  in  the  United  States.  The  difficulties  are  indeed 
great,  but  good  men  should  never  lend  their  aid  in  fostering  the  un- 
reasonable prejudices  against  the  colored  race,  entertained  by  too 
large  a  part  of  our  people. 

Notwithstanding  these  and  some  other  errors  which  might  be 
mentioned,  I  can  not  but  feel  the  deepest  interest  in  the  cause  of 
African  colonization ;  first,  because  it  may  be  advocated  even  before 
slaveholders  in  such  a  way  as  to  favor  emancipation,  a  thing  which 
can  not  be  done  at  present  by  the  agents  of  our  "  Abolition"  and 
"  Anti-slavery  Societies  ;"  secondly,  because  it  provides  slaveholders 
who  wish  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  who,  by  certain  State  laws, 
are  obliged  to  remove  them  out  of  the  State  when  so  emancipated, 
with  an  opportunity  of  sending  them  to  a  country  which  does  afford 
the  prospect  of  their  rising  to  independence  and  comfort ;  thirdly, 
because  the  colonization  of  Africa,  in  one  way  or  other,  presents  the 
sole  effectual  method  of  breaking  up  the  slave-trade ;  and  lastly,  be- 
cause it  is  the  surest  way  of  introducing  civilization  into  Africa,  and 
also  furnishes  a  point  cfappui  for  the  prosecution  of  Christian  mis- 
sions. Such  is  the  opinion  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  the  distin- 
guished and  judicious  superintendent  of  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety's missions  in  South  Africa,  as  ably  maintained  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed by  him,  some  twenty  years  ago,  to  the  students  at  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey. 

The  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Episcopalians,  and  Methodists  have 
all,  as  we  have  seen,  flourishing  missions  in  these  colonies*  The 
number  of  evangelical  preachers,  of  all  denominations,  is  no  less  than 
forty.  God  has  greatly  blessed  His  Word  in  these  communities, 
which,  considering  the  recent  servitude  and  ignorance  of  most  of  the 
colonists,  are  said  to  exhibit  an  extraordinary  prevalence  of  morality. 

I  know  not  how  any  person  can  read  without  interest  the  follow- 
ing statement,  contained  in  the  Report  of  the  Methodist  Missionary 
Society,  read  at  the  annual  meeting  a  few  years  ago : 

"  The  Liberia  Mission  includes  an  Annual  Conference  of  seventeen 
preachers,  all  colored  except  the  superintendent  and  the  two  breth- 

0  The  Roman  Catholics  have  also  commenced  a  mission  at  Cape  Palmas,  and  will 
doubtless  do  the  same,  ere  long,  at  Liberia.  The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Barron  and  Patrick 
Kelly,  priests,  were  sent  in  the  year  1842  to  Cape  Palmas. 


CHAP.  XI.]  AMEKICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  635 

ren  lately  sent  out.  It  has  a  membership  of  nearly  one  thousand 
individuals,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty  are  natives,  who,  until  the 
last  two  years,  were  worshiping  gods  of  wood,  and  stone,  and  clay. 

"  There  are  thirteen  day-schools  within  the  bounds  of  the  mission, 
in  which  from  five  hundred  and  fifty  to  six  hundred  children  receive 
daily  instruction ;  fourteen  churches,  some  of  which  are  very  neat, 
and  one  built  of  stone,  in  size  forty  by  sixty  feet.  There  are  also 
eight  mission-houses  or  parsonages,  four  school-houses,  one  of  which 
(the  academy)  is  a  stone  building  twenty  by  forty  feet ;  and  a  large 
printing-office,  also  of  stone,  with  an  excellent  press.  In  the  schools 
there  are  upward  of  forty  native  children  and  youth,  who  are  pre- 
paring for  future  usefulness.  Many  of  them  read  the  Scriptures, 
and  write  well,  and  are  burning  with  zeal  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
regions  yet  beyond  them. 

"  Tribes  at  a  distance  have  sent  for  missionaries,  and  the  Board  is 
anxious  to  push  the  victories  of  the  cross  still  further  into  the  inter- 
ior. If  means  can  be  furnished,  the  Board  expect  a  vast  amount  of 
native  agency  will  be  called  into  operation.  If  the  society  were  able 
to  thrust  forth  but  a  few  scores  of  such  young  men  of  Africa  as  Si- 
mon Peter,*  who  recently  visited  this  country,  the  Liberia  mission 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  would  be  rendered  a  blessing 
to  thousands  of  the  African  race  yet  unborn."  In  view  of  the  success 
which  has  attended  this  mission,  the  report  exhorted  the  church  to 
adhere  to  the  motto  of  the  dying  and  lamented  Cox :  '  Though  a 
thousand  fall,  Africa  must  not  be  given  up.' 

The  chairman  introduced  the  Rev.  John  Seys,  superintendent  of 
the  African  mission,  who  rose  and  spoke  substantially  as  follows: 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  resolution  given  to  me  for 
presentation  to  the  society,  with  a  request  that  I  would  make  some 
remarks  in  sustaining  it." 

He  then  read  the  following  resolution :  "  *  Resolved,  That  the 
Liberia  mission,  including  as  it  does  a  portion  of  the  interior  of  West- 
ern Africa,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  promising  fields  for  mission- 
ary enterprise ;  and  that  the  touching  appeals  from  the  half-awakened 
natives  of  different  tribes  which  have  reached  us  through  our  mis- 
sionaries, while  they  proclaim  the  ripeness  of  the  harvest,  imperatively 
call  upon  the  Church  for  the  requisite  supply  of  efficient  laborers." 

"  I  presume  this  resolution  was  assigned  to  me  on  account  of  my 
connexion  with  the  Liberia  mission.  I  can  say  it  affords  me  much 
pleasure  to  present  such  a  resolution.  Years  have  now  elapsed  since 
I  stood  among  you — since  I  was  sent  by  you  as  an  almoner  of  the 
Gospel  to  poor,  long-neglected  Africa. 

*  Since  dead. 


636  EFFORTS   FOR  TELE   CONVERSION   OF   THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  VIII. 

"  The  resolution  speaks  of  Africa  as  one  of  the  most  promising 
fields  of  missionary  enterprise.  Is  it  so  ?  Yes,  sir,  it  is  so.  And  if 
the  missionary  sickle  be  but  applied,  the  field  will  yield  a  rich  and 
noble  harvest  to  the  Church.  Out  of  one  thousand  church  members, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  are  native  converts.  But  two  years  ago  I 
found  them  bowing  down  to  images  of  wood,  and  clay,  and  stone, 
and  leather,  and  every  thing  which  their  fancy  could  make  into  a 
god.  These  idols  they  placed  about  their  persons,  put  them  in  their 
houses,  and  carried  about  with  them  wherever  they  went. 

"  Soon  after  a  number  of  them  had  been  converted,  they  appointed 
a  day  for  meeting,  when  they  were  admitted  to  the  Church.  And 
what  a  scene !  Bonfires  were  kindled  in  the  town  of  Heddington, 
and  the  praises  of  Immanuel  ascended  with  the  smoke  of  the  burning 
idols.  At  the  same  time,  the  hearts  of  these  young  converts  were 
burning  with  desire  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  tribes  beyond  them. 

"  Western  Africa  is  a  most  promising  field,  because  her  native  con- 
verts are  eager  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  country  in  the  interior. 
The  boys  at  the  love-feasts  tell  the  tale  of  their  conversion,  pray  God 
to  keep  them  good,  to  make  them  grow  up  men,  and  be  missionaries 
to  c  the  V  other  people?  The  natives  will  prove  themselves  doubly 
qualified  for  the  missionary  work,  as  they  have  less  fear  of  the  pecu- 
liar diseases  of  the  climate,  can  be  supported  with  less  means,  and 
understand  the  language  of  the  country." 

The  Gospel  has  made  great  progress  in  these  colonies  since  this 
address  was  made,  and  many  schools  and  churches  have  been  estab- 
lished. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE     SUMMARY. 


Thus  it  will  be  perceived  that  almost  every  evangelical  church  in 
the  United  States  is  doing  more  or  less  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  foreign,  and  especially  in  heathen  lands.  I  know  not,  in- 
deed, that  there  is  a  single  exception,  unless  it  be  among  some  of  the 
smaller  German  denominations,  or  some  branches  of  the  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  Churches.  Even  these,  however,  seem  almost  all  to 
contribute  toward  this  great  object  through  societies  or  boards, 
either  belonging  to  other  denominations,  or  common  to  several. 
Thus  the  Reformed  Presbyterians  or  Covenanters  support  missiona- 
ries in  the  East  Indies,  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church's 
Board  of  Missions ;  the  Associate  Reformed  churches  so  far  aid  the 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE   SUMMARY.  637 

same  board ;  the  Associate  churches  have  a  mission  in  the  island  of 
Trinidad ;  and  some  of  the  German  Reformed  churches  aid  the  Amer- 
ican Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  as  do,  also,  some 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  churches. 

This  is  a  gratifying  fact,  whether  we  regard  it  as  a  sign  of  life,  or 
an  earnest  of  its  still  further  increase  in  the  churches.  Not  that 
these  have  done  all  that  their  glorious  Lord  may  justly  look  for  at 
their  hands;  but  that  what  they  have  hitherto  done  is  but  the 
promise  of  much  greater  things  for  the  future,  we  may  reasonably 
infer  from  the  comparatively  recent  period  that  either  domestic  or 
foreign  missions  began  seriously  to  interest  the  Christian  public  of 
the  United  States.  Previous  to  1810,  there  was  not  a  single  foreign 
missionary  society  in  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  the 
Moravian  Brethren,  and  not  till  long  after  did  the  churches  do  any 
thing  worth  mention  in  that  field.  The  last  twenty-five  years  have 
witnessed  much  improvement  in  this  respect,  and  we  pray  that  it 
may  go  on  in  a  far  greater  ratio  until  every  church  shall  have  come 
up  to  the  full  demands  of  its  duty. 

It  is  difficult  to  present  at  one  view  the  statistics  of  all  these  mis- 
sionary efforts  with  perfect  accuracy,  at  least  if  we  would  include  all 
the  particulars  upon  which  the  reader  may  think  information  desira- 
ble. On  the  main  points  we  may  obtain  pretty  accurate  results.  In- 
cluding the  missions  of  the  evangelical  churches  alone,  and  those  of 
the  others  are  hardly  of  sufficient  importance  to  call  for  notice,  the 
receipts  from  all  sources  for  propagating  the  Gospel  in  foreign  and 
chiefly  heathen  lands,  for  the  year  1855  may  safely  be  reckoned  at 
8933,062*    This  is  exclusive,  also,  of  the  income  of  the  colonization 

*  The  following  table  gives  the  details  on  this  point : 

The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions $310,427 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 184,074 

Boards  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Baptist  Churches 163,660 

Foreign  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 128,000 

Foreign  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 57,600 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Free-Will  Baptists 6,301 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  (about) 3,000 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  United  Brethren,  (about) 10,000 

American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union  (to  the  foreign  field)  about 15,000 

Other  Societies 5,000 

Grants  from  American  Bible  Society,  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, and  the  American  Tract  Society,  estimated  to  be  at  least 50,000 

Total $933,062 

Nor  does  this  statement  include  the  annual  grant  of  the  general  government  of 
$10,000  for  the  support  of  schools  among  the  Indian  tribes,  which  is  laid  out  through 


638  EFFORTS  FOR  THE   CONTEESION   OF  THE  WORLD.      [BOOK  YIH. 

societies,  amounting,  say,  to  $80,000,  these  not  being  missionary 
societies. 

The  number  of  distinct  missions  prosecuted  by  the  United  States 
churches  is  at  least  eighty ;  that  of  stations  and  out-stations  exceeds 
three  hundred.  These  employed  in  1855  at  least  four  hundred  and 
fifty  preaching  American  missionaries,  who,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
were  ordained  ministers,  and  above  seventy  American  laymen,  chiefly 
physicians,  printers,  teachers,  and  catechists.  The  American  females, 
chiefly  wives  of  missionaries  and  teachers,  amounted  to  five  hundred, 
making  a  total  of  nine  hundred  and  fifty  persons  from  the  United 
States  connected  with  these  missions,  and  all  laboring,  in  one  way  or 
another,  to  promote  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen.  The  natives 
who  assist  as  ministers,  evangelists,  teachers,  distributors  of  tracts, 
etc.,  etc.,  amounted  at  least  to  five  hundred. 

the  missionary  societies.    I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  exact  amount  raised  by 
two  or  three  of  the  societies ;  but  the  supposed  sums  can  not  be  far  from  the  truth. 


CONCLUSION. 


#♦♦ 


In  the  foregoing  pages  I  had  proposed  to  treat  of  the  Origin,  His- 
tory, Economy,  Action,  and  Influence  of  Religion  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  in  the  execution  of  this  task  I  have  endeavored 
to  omit  nothing  that  seemed  requisite  to  a  full  elucidation  of  the 
subject.  The  extent  of  ground  necessarily  traversed  has  rendered 
it  indispensable  that  I  should  lay  before  the  reader  very  numerous 
details  ;  but  these,  I  trust,  he  has  found  at  once  pertinent  and  inter- 
esting. Here  the  work  properly  ends ;  but  I  am  desirous  of  recall- 
ing the  attention  of  the  reader  to  a  few  of  the  most  important  facts 
which  it  brings  to  light,  and  briefly  to  remark  upon  them,  in  order, 
if  possible,  to  render  them  more  useful  to  those  who  may  be  led  to 
contemplate  them.  I  wish,  also,  to  make  a  reply  to  several  charges 
against  my  country,  and  especially  against  its  religious  institutions, 
which  I  have  heard  in  certain  parts  of  Europe. 

I  begin  by  giving  a  brief  review  of  the  progress  of  the  country 
under  several  aspects  which  are  not  decidedly  of  a  religious  nature,  but 
which  have  an  important  moral  bearing.  This  will  enable  the  reader 
to  judge  whether  its  religious  progress  has  corresponded  with  and 
equaled  that  which  may  be  called  temporal. 

I. — The  Progress  of  the  Country  in  regard  to  its  Material 
Interests.  At  first,  and  for  a  long  period,  as  we  have  stated  at 
length,  the  progress  of  the  country  was  slow  in  all  respects.  Much 
time  was  demanded  to  clear  away  the  forests,  to  open  up  roads,  to 
build  cities,  to  create  harbors,  and  to  find  means  to  navigate  the  long 
rivers  and  extensive  bays.  The  foreign  commerce  of  the  country  was 
in  the  hands  of  England,  with  the  exception  of  the  fisheries  and  the 
West  India  Islands.  Nevertheless,  in  the  face  of  all  these  difficulties, 
and  in  the  face  of  those  which  we  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
section,  there  was  a  steady  advance  in  all  the  material  interests  of  the 
country  during  the  colonial  era.  Independence  introduced  a  new 
state  of  things.  Still  it  required  many  years  to  recover  from  the 
depressed  state  in  which  a  war  of  seven  years  left  the  nation.    In  the 


640  CONCLUSION. 

mean  while  a  constitution  was  to  be  formed,  and  a  general  govern- 
ment organized.  Then  followed  disastrous  wars  with  the  Indians, 
difficulties  with  France  and  England,  leading  to  a  war  with  both — 
with  the  former,  a  short  one,  in  1798-99,  and  with  the  latter  in 
1812-15.  All  these  things  repressed  the  prosperity  of  the  country 
for  a  long  time ;  but  since  1815  the  progress  has  been  immense.  The 
steamboat,  an  American  invention,  had  just  begun  to  ply  on  our  long 
rivers  at  that  epoch,  and  was  destined  to  exert  a  mighty  influence. 
Twenty  years  more  passed  away,  and  the  railroad,  an  English  inven- 
tion, had  begun  to  be  built  and  to  exert  its  vast  influence.  But  of 
the  present  state  of  things  we  can  only  give  a  summary. 

The  value  of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  country  in  1854,  is 
estimated  by  Professor  De  Bow — now  at  the  head  of  the  Census 
Bureau,  and  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  all  subjects  that  relate  to  the 
material  interests  of  the  country — at  the  sum  of  $1,600,000,000.  Of 
these  productions,  Indian  corn  ranks  first,  being,  in  1850,  no  less 
than  $296,035,552  ;  wheat  was  next,  being  $100,485,944 ;  and  cotton 
stood  third,  being  $98,603,720.  The  number  of  farms  was  1,449,075, 
and  the  number  of  acres  of  cultivated  land  was  113,032,614. 

The  manufacturing  establishments  were,  in  1850,  121,855,  employ- 
ing 944,991  persons,  and  the  gross  value  produced  was  $1,013,336,463. 

The  home  and  foreign  commerce  of  the  country,  in  1850,  has  been 
carefully  estimated  by  Professor  De  Bow,  at  $1,500,000,000 ;  em- 
ploying, according  to  the  census,  100,752  merchants  proper,  and 
14,917  traders.  The  commerce  of  the  Western  rivers  and  of  the 
lakes  has  been  estimated  at  $653,976,202.  The  tonnage,  on  the  30th 
of  June,  1855,  was  5,212,000.  It  is  now  believed  to  exceed  that  of 
England. 

In  1854  there  were  17,317  miles  of  railroad  in  operation ;  12,526  in 
process  of  construction;  and  the  cost  was  estimated  at  $489,603,128. 
On  the  1st  of  January,  1855,  it  was  believed  that  there  was  35,480 
miles  of  railroad  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  of  which  16,890  were 
in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  18,590  in  the  western.  On  the  1st 
of  January,  1856,  there  were  23,242  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United 
States,  whose  cost  was  estimated  at  $697,260,000. 

Of  canals,  in  1854,  there  were  4,798  miles.  The  value  of  real 
and  personal  estate,  in  1850,  was,  by  the  census,  estimated  to  be 
$6,024,666,909;  but  it  is  believed  to  have  been  in  reality,  all  of 
$7,066,562,966. 

The  entire  number  of  steam-vessels  in  the  United  States,  in  1852, 
was  1,392,*  with  a  tonnage  of  417,223.  The  number  of  ocean-steamers 
was  96. 

*  Last  year  (1855)  there  were  120  steamers  and  118  propellers  on  the  lakes,  and 


CONCLUSION.  641 

The  coinage  of  the  United  States,  in  the  year  1800,  was,  in  value, 
$571,335  ;  in  1852,  it  was  $57,104,569,  of  which  $56,205,638  were  in 
gold.     In  1853,  it  was  $64,358,537. 

In  1853,  there  were  eighty-nine  telegraphic  lines,  having  23,201 
miles  of  wire.  At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1855,  the  miles 
of  telegraphic  wire  were  estimated  at  over  30,000. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  of  the  general  or  central  govern- 
ment, in  1852,  were  $49,728,386;  those  for  1855,  from  all  sources, 
were  $65,003,930.  Its  debt,  July  1st,  1854,  was  $47,180,506;  it  is 
now  less  than  $40,000,000. 

The  revenues  of  the  several  States,  from  taxation,  were,  in  1852, 
$27,068,925;  their  expenditures,  $24,628,666;  and  their  debts,  in 
the  shape  of  bonds  for  internal  improvements,  were,  June  30th, 
1853,  $190,718,221,  of  which  $110,972,108,  it  is  estimated,  were  held 
by  foreigners. 

II. — The  Progress  of  the  Country  in  eegaed  to  its  Moral 
and  Intellectual  Interests.  If  the  progress  of  the  United  States 
has  been  great  in  what  constitutes  the  material  interests  of  the  coun- 
try,  it  may  be  affirmed  with  truth,  that  its  progress  has  not  been  less 
in  what  may  be  called  its  Moral  and  Intellectual  Interests.  "We  will 
consider  this  subject  from  several  points  of  view. 

Education.  In  no  subject  is  a  greater  interest  felt  among  us  than 
that  of  Education.  The  six  States  of  New  England,*  and  New  York, 
ISTew  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Kentucky,  and  California,  have  each  a  system  of  public  schools,  by 
which  instruction,  if  not  gratuitous,  is  given  at  a  reduced  cost  to  all 
the  youth  who  attend  them.  It  is  done  in  some  cases  by  taxation,  in 
others  by  the  proceeds  of  funds  created  for  that  purpose,  and  in  some 
cases  (indeed  most  generally)  by  means  of  both  taxation  and  perma- 
nent funds.  When  to  the  aid  thus  received  we  add  the  sums  con- 
tributed by  the  pupils,  where,  as  in  most  cases,  they  are  required  to 
pay  something  per  month,  or  for  three  months,  the  whole  amount 
becomes  great. 

In  the  other  States  the  governments  give  large  sums  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  children  of  the  poor,  derived  from  taxation,  or  from 
permanent  funds. 

According  to  the  census  of  1850,  the  number  of  public  schools 
(that  is,  of  schools  sustained  or  aided  by  the  government,  as  ex- 
plained) was  80,978  ;  the  number  of  teachers  was  91,966  ;  of  pupils, 

816   steamers  on  the  Western  rivers;   the  tonnage  of  these  1,054  vessels  was 
435,848. 

*  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Yermont,  Massachusetts,  Khode  Island,  and  Connec- 
ticut. 

41 


642  CONCLUSION. 

3,354,011 ;  and  the  amount  paid  for  tuition  was  $9,529,542,  of  which 
$4,653,096  were  derived  from  taxation,  82,552,402  from  public  funds, 
$182,594  from  endowments,  and  $2,141,450  were  paid  by  the  pupils. 

The  number  of  academies  and  private  schools  was  6,089  ;  of  pupils 
attending  them,  263,096;  of  teachers,  12,230;  and  the  cost  of  tuition 
was  $4,225,433,  of  which  sum  $288,855  were  derived  from  endow- 
ments, $14,202  from  taxation,  $1 15,729  from  public  funds,  and 
$4,225,433  from  other  sources — in  other  words,  were  paid  by  the 
pupils. 

The  entire  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools,  public  and  private,  in 
1850,  was,  therefore,  3,617,107,  as  returned  by  the  teachers  of  the 
schools  to  the  marshals  who  took  the  census  ;  but  as  returned  by  the 
parents,  it  was  4,089,507  ;*  the  former  giving,  it  is  probable,  the 
number  that  attended  with  a  good  degree  of  regularity,  while  the 
latter  included  all  that  were  sent  for  any  period,  however  short.  The 
entire  cost  of  tuition,  including  public  and  private  schools,  as  well  as 
the  academies,  was  that  year  $14,173,176. 

In  1850  there  were  119  colleges,  with  1,032  professors,  11,903 
students,  and  963,716  volumes  in  their  libraries. 

There  were  44  theological  seminaries,  127  professors,  1,351  stu- 
dents, and  198,888  volumes  in  their  libraries. 

There  were  36  medical  schools,  247  professors,  and  4,947  stu- 
dents. 

There  were  16  law  schools,  thirty-five  professors,  and  532  stu- 
dents.! 

The  entire  number  of  what  are  generally  called  colleges,  male  and 
female,  was,  in  1850,  215,  and  the  number  of  students  was  18,733. 

We  should  not  give  a  complete  view  of  what  is  doing  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  if  we  did  not  say  that  it  is 
believed  that  there  can  not  be  less  than  35,000  Sunday-schools,  with 
at  least  2,500,000  pupils  in  them.  These  schools  have  generally  in- 
teresting libraries  attached  to  them.  Not  a  few  persons,  especially 
among  the  adult  pupils,  receive  all  the  education  they  ever  get  at  the 
Sunday-school. 

The  public  funds  and  endowments  for  the  support  of  schools  and 
academies  in  the  United  States  exceed  $50,000,000.  Up  to  January 
1st,  1854,  Congress  had  appropriated  to  fourteen  Western  and  South- 
western States  (including  Florida),  and  the  Territories  of  Minnesota, 

a  Of  these  4,089,507  pupils  returned  as  attending  school,  in  1850,  those  born  in 
the  country  were  3,942,081 ;  147,426  were  born  in  foreign  lands,  and  26,461  were 
free  colored  children. 

f  The  number  of  law  students  is  great  in  America ;  but  most  of  them  pursue  their 
studies  with  lawyers  of  eminence,  and  do  not  attend  the  law  schools. 


CONCLUSION.  643 


Oregon,  and  New  Mexico,  no  less  than  48,909,535  acres  of  land  for 
schools,  and  4,060,704  acres  for  colleges  and  universities. 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years,  many  of  the  large  cities  have 
done  much  to  found  admirable  public  schools.  In  this  good  work 
Boston  stands  at  the  head ;  but  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Cincinnati, 
Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  Louisville,  and  many  others,  have  also  done 
well. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  add  that,  according  to  the  census  of  1850, 
the  white  population  was  19,558,088,  and  the  free  people  of  color 
434,495 — making  together  a  total  of  almost  20,000,000.  Of  this 
number  there  were  1,053,420  persons  over  twenty  years  who  could 
not  read — namely,  767,784  natives,.  195,114  foreigners,  and  90,522 
free  colored. 

Finally,  we  have  to  say  that,  including  the  entire  population,  bond 
as  well  as  free,  the  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools,  of  all  descriptions, 
was  in  the  ratio  of  1  to  5*6. 

Public  Libraries.  Of  what  we  call  Public  Libraries  in  the  United 
States,  there  were,  in  1850,  more  than  1,200,  containing  1,446,015 
volumes.  There  were  213  college  libraries,  containing  942,321  vol- 
umes. If  we  add  those  of  the  common  schools,  of  Sunday-schools, 
and  of  churches,  the  whole  number  of  volumes  could  not  have  been 
less  than  4,500,000.  Several  of  the  public  libraries  are  large  and 
well-selected.  That  of  Harvard  College  has  more  than  85,000  vol- 
umes ;  the  Astor  Library  (at  New  York)  has  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as 
many ;  the  Philadelphia  Library  has  more  than  60,000  volumes.  The 
library  of  Congress  has  at  least  as  many. 

The  Press.  The  first  newspaper  published  in  North  America  was 
the  Boston  News-Letter,  issued  April  24th,  1704.  In  1720  there  were 
seven  newspapers  in  the  American  Colonies;  in  1775  there  were 
thirty-five;  in  1800  there  were  359;  in  1840  there  were  1,631  (in- 
cluding 227  periodicals,  such  as  semi-monthly,  monthly,  quarterly, 
semi-annual,  and  annual) ;  and  in  1850  there  were  2,302  newspapers 
(daily,  tri-weekly,  semi-weekly,  and  weekly),  of  which  153,120,708 
copies  were  printed  annually.  If  we  add  214  "  periodicals,"  with  their 
circulation,  we  shall  have  a  total  of  2,516  publications  (newspapers, 
etc.),  with  an  aggregate  amount  of  circulation  of  5,182,617.  When 
reduced  to  a  tabular  form  they  will  stand  thus : 

Number.  Circulation. 

Literary  and  Miscellaneous 569  1,692,403 

Neutral  and  Independent 83  303,122 

Political 1,630  1,907,794 

Eeligious 191  1,071,657 

Scientific 53  207,041 

2,526  5,182,617 


644  CONCLUSION. 

Since  1850  the  number  of  newspapers  has  increased  from  2,302  to 
more  than  2,500. 

III.  The  Progress  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America. — On  this 
subject  so  much  has  been  said  in  the  second  and  third  books  of 
this  work,  that  I  need  do  no  more  than  bestow  a  very  brief  review 
upon  it.  In  no  part  of  the  world,  I  apprehend,  can  we  find  any 
progress,  in  this  respect,  which  can  be  compared  with  what  has  taken 
place  in  the  United  States. 

In  the  year  1607,  the  plantation  of  the  Southern  group  of  colonies 
was  commenced  with  the  settlement  of  Jamestown.  In  1620,  that 
of  the  Northern  was  begun  in  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Ply- 
mouth. Though  originating  in  motives  as  widely  different,  almost, 
as  possible,  and  having  in  view  the  diffusion  of  forms  of  Protestantism, 
so  far  as  ecclesiastical  organization  is  concerned,  as  completely  an- 
tipodal as  can  be  conceived,  both  were  founded  in  that  spirit  of  in- 
tolerance which  prevailed  at  that  day  throughout  the  Old  World, 
and  which,  alas !  reigns  even  yet  in  so  large  a  portion  of  it.  All  that 
the  Puritans  who  settled  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  expected 
to  accomplish  was  the  planting  of  colonies  in  which  they  and  their 
children  might  profess  and  practise  the  religion  which  they  preferred. 
The  toleration  of  other  doctrines  and  other  forms  of  worship  formed 
no  part  of  their  desire  or  design.  Nor  was  there  a  better  spirit  in 
Virginia.  In  both,  the  narrow  bigotry  of  Europe  struck  deep  its 
roots,  soon  attained  a  vigorous  growth,  and  brought  forth  its  appro- 
priate fruits. 

In  the  year  1634,  the  colony  of  Maryland  was  founded,  and  two 
years  later,  that  of  Rhode  Island,  the  one  by  Roman  Catholics,  who 
enjoyed  their  religious  rights  at  that  epoch  in  no  Protestant  country, 
and  the  other  by  a  sect  of  Protestants,  who  could  find  no  toleration 
either  in  Massachusetts  or  Virginia.  Nearly  fifty  years  later,  Penn- 
sylvania was  planted  as  an  asylum  for  persecuted  Quakers,  who,  till 
then,  had  no  place  of  assured  protection  and  repose  in  the  whole 
world.  The  influence  of  these  three  asylum-colonies,  one  in  the 
north,  one  in  the  south,  and  one  in  the  middle  of  the  entire  series  of 
plantations,  where  perfect  religious  liberty  was  established  at  the 
very  outset — and  in  two  of  which  its  reign  was  never  interrupted — 
though  silent,  was  powerful.  The  complete  demonstration  which 
they  furnished — in  the  internal  tranquillity  which  prevailed,  so  far  as 
religious  questions  were  concerned,  in  the  absence  of  all  unhappy 
collisions  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  and  of  corroding  jeal- 
ousies and  attritions  between  the  various  sects — not  only  of  the 
justice,  but  also  of  the  wisdom  of  giving  to  all  men  the  fullest  pos- 


CONCLUSION.  645 

session  of  the  rights  of  conscience  and  of  worship,  could  not  be  lost 
upon  the  other  colonies. 

Its  influence  concurred  with  the  many  long-protracted  and  severe 
discussions  which  took  place  in  them,  to  bring  about  ultimately  the 
triumph  of  better  principles.  And  what  is  now  the  state  of  things 
in  the  United  States,  as  regards  religious  liberty  ?  It  is  that  of  the 
universal  enjoyment  of  this  greatest  of  blessings.  The  Christian — be 
he  Protestant  or  Catholic — the  infidel,  the  Mohammedan,  the  Jew, 
the  Deist,  has  not  only  all  his  rights  as  a  citizen,  but  may  have  his 
own  form  of  worship,  without  the  possibility  of  any  interference  from 
any  policemen  or  magistrate,  provided  he  do  not  interrupt,  in  so 
doing,  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  surrounding  neighborhood. 
Even  the  Atheist  may  have  his  meetings  in  which  to  preach  his 
doctrines,  if  he  can  get  any  body  to  hear  them.* 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  United  States  is  the  only  country 
in  all  Christendom  where  perfect  religious  liberty  exists,  and  where 
the  government  does  nothing,  by  "  favor"  or  otherwise,  to  promote 
the  interests  of  any  one  religion,  or  of  any  one  sect  of  religionists, 
more  than  another.  And  I  can  not  but  think  that  the  very  freedom 
from  a  thousand  perplexing  and  agitating  collisions,  from  which  we 
see  the  governments  of  other  countries  in  the  Christian  world  to  be 
continually  suffering,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  powerful  arguments 
that  can  be  conceived  in  favor  of  leaving  religion  to  its  own  re- 
sources, under  the  blessing  of  its  adorable  Author.  Whatever 
diversity  of  opinion  may  exist  among  Christians  in  America  on  other 
subjects,  there  is  none  on  this  subject.  They  would  all  acknowl- 
edge, without  a  moment's  hesitation,  the  views  expressed  in  the 
following  paragraphs,  which  were  uttered  by  a  gifted  and  elegant 

writer.f 

"  Almost  every  sect  in  turn,  when  tempted  by  the  power,  has  re- 
sorted to  the  practice  of  religious  persecution  ;  but  to  the  credit  of 
Rome  it  must  be  said  that  the  baptism  of  fire  is  almost  exclusively 
her  sacrament  for  heretics.  Good  men  of  almost  all  persuasions  have 
been  confined  in  prison  for  conscience'  sake.     Bunyan  was  the  first 

*  Even  as  it  regards  the  holding  of  political  offices,  while  the  Constitutions  of 
almost  all  the  States,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  third  book,  are  founded  on  Christian- 
ity, in  a  certain  sense,  and  at  present  make  no  distinction  between  Protestants  and 
Roman  Catholics,  the  Jew  is,  with  one  exception,  nowhere  debarred  from  any  civil 
privilege.  There  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,  one  State,  that  of  North  Carolina,  where 
the  Israelite  is  still  excluded  from  political  privileges;  and  this,  too,  under  her  new 
Constitution.     But  it  is  the  only  relic  of  this  species  of  intolerance  which  remains 

among  us. 

f  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  in  a  Lecture  on  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's 

Progress. 


646  CONCLUSION. 

person  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  punished  for  the  c?'ime  of  noncon- 
formity. Southey's  own  language  has  the  word  punished  ;  it  should 
have  heen  persecuted  for  the  virtue  /  for  such  it  was  in  Bunyan  ;  and 
any  palliation  which  could  be  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  justify- 
ing an  English  hierarchy  for  shutting  up  John  Bunyan  in  prison, 
would  also  justify  a  Romish  hierarchy  for  burning  Latimer  and  Rid- 
ley at  the  stake.  Strange  that  the  lesson  of  religious  toleration 
should  be  one  of  the  last  and  hardest,  even  for  liberal  minds,  to  learn. 
It  cost  long  time,  instruction,  and  discipline  even  for  the  disciples  of 
Christ  to  learn  it ;  and  they  never  would  have  learned  it  had  not  the 
infant  Church  been  cut  loose  from  the  State,  and  deprived  of  all  pos- 
sibility of  girding  the  secular  arm  with  thunder  in  its  behalf.  John 
had  not  learned  it  when  he  would  have  called  down  fire  from  heaven 
to  destroy  the  Samaritans ;  nor  John,  nor  his  followers,  when  they 
forbade  a  faithful  saint  (some  John  Bunyan  of  those  days,  belike) 
from  casting  out  devils,  because  he  followed  not  them.  And  they 
never  would  have  learned  it  had  the  union  of  Church  and  State  been 
sanctioned  by  the  Saviour.  Whenever  one  sect  in  particular  is 
united  to  the  State,  the  lesson  of  religious  toleration  will  not  be  per- 
fectly learned ;  nay,  who  does  not  see  that  toleration  itself,  applied 
to  religion,  implies  the  assumption  of  a  power  that  ought  not  to  exist, 
that  in  itself  is  tyranny.  It  implies  that  you,  an  earthly  authority,  an 
earthly  power,  may  say  to  me,  so  condescendingly,  I  permit  you  the 
exercise  of  your  religion.  You  permit  me  ?  And  what  authority 
have  you  to  permit  me,  any  more  than  I  to  permit  you  ?  God  per- 
mits me,  God  commands  me,  and  do  you  dare  to  say  that  you  tolerate 
me  ?  Who  is  he  that  shall  come  in  between  me  and  God  either  to 
say  yea  or  nay  ?  Your  toleration  itself  is  tyranny,  for  you  have  no 
right  to  meddle  with  the  matter.  But  whenever  Church  and  State 
are  united,  then  there  will  be  meddling  with  the  matter ;  and  even 
in  this  country,  if  one  particular  sect  were  to  get  the  patronage  of 
the  State,  there  would  be  an  end  to  our  perfect  religious  freedom. 

"  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  poet  Southwell,  who  wrote 
one  of  the  most  exquisitely  beautiful  death-hymns  in  our  language, 
and  who  seems  to  have  been  truly  a  devout  man,  was  put  to  death 
violently  and  publicly,  no  other  crime  being  proved  against  him  but 
what  he  honestly  and  proudly  avowed,  that  he  had  come  over  into 
England  simply  and  solely  to  preach  the  Catholic  religion.  And  he 
ought  to  have  been  left  at  liberty  to  preach  it ;  for  if  the  Protestant 
religion  can  not  stand  against  Catholic  preaching,  it  ought  to  go  down. 
No  religion  is  worth  having,  or  worth  supporting,  that  needs  racks, 
or  Inquisitions,  or  fires  and  faggots,  to  sustain  it ;  that  dare  not  or 
can  not  meet  its  adversaries  on  the  open  battle-field  of  Truth  ;  no  re- 


CONCLUSION.  647 

ligion  is  worth  supporting  that  needs  any  thing  but  the  truth  and 
Spirit  of  God  to  support  it ;  and  no  establishment  ought  to  be  per- 
mitted to  stand  that  stands  by  persecuting  others,  nor  any  Church 
to  exist  that  exists  by  simply  unchurching  others.  So,  if  the  English 
Church  Establishment  dared  not  consider  herself  safe  without  shut- 
ting up  John  Bunyan  and  sixty  other  dissenters  (several  of  whom 
were  also,  like  himself,  clergymen)  with  him  in  prison,  the  English 
Church  Establishment  was  not  worthy  to  he  safe  ;  the  English  Church 
Establishment  was  a  disgrace  and  an  injury  to  the  Gospel,  and  a  dis- 
grace and  an  injury  to  a  free  people.  No  Church  is  worth  saving 
from  destruction,  if  it  has  to  be  saved  by  the  destruction  of  other 
men's  religious  liberties  ;  nay,  if  that  be  the  case  with  it,  it  ought  to 
go  down,  and  the  sooner  the  better.  No  Church  is  worthy  to  stand 
that  makes  nonconformity  to  its  rites  and  usages  a  penal  crime ;  it 
becomes  a  persecuting  Church  the  moment  it  does  this  ;  for,  suppos- 
ing that  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  kingdom  is  kept  from 
nonconformity  simply  by  that  threat,  and  that,  through  the  power 
of  such  terror,  there  comes  to  be  never  the  need  to  put  such  penal 
laws  in  execution,  and  so  never  a  single  subject  really  molested  or 
punished,  still  that  Church  is  a  persecuting  Church,  and  that  people 
a  persecuted  people,  a  terrified  people,  a  people  cowed  down,  a  peo- 
ple in  whose  souls  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty  is  fast  extinguishing,  a 
people  bound  to  God's  service  by  the  fear  of  men's  racks.  Such  a 
people  can  never  be  free ;  their  cowardice  will  forge  their  fetters. 
A  people  who  will  sell  themselves  to  a  Church  through  fear  of  pun- 
ishment, will  sell  themselves  to  any  tyrant  through  the  same  fear ; 
nay,  a  people  who  will  serve  God  through  fear  of  punishment,  when 
they  would  not  serve  him  otherwise,  will  serve  Satan  in  the  same 
way. 

"  If  you  make  nonconformity  a  crime,  you  are  therefore  a  perse- 
cuting church,  whether  your  name  be  Rome,  or  England,  or  Ameri- 
ca, even  though  there  be  not  a  single  nonconformist  found  for  you  to 
exercise  your  wrath  upon,  not  one  against  whom  you  may  draw  the 
sword  of  your  penalty.  But  it  is  drawn,  and  drawn  against  the 
liberty  of  conscience,  and  every  man  whom  in  this  way  you  keep 
from  nonconformity,  you  make  a  deceiver  to  his  God ;  you  make 
him  barter  his  conscience  for  an  exemption  from  an  earthly  penalty ; 
you  make  him  put  his  conscience,  not  into  God's  keeping,  but  into 
the  keeping  of  your  sword ;  you  dry  up  the  life-blood  of  liberty  in 
his  soul ;  you  make  him  in  his  inmost  conscience  an  imprisoned  slave, 
a  venal  victim  of  your  bribery  and  terror  ;  and  though  he  may  still 
walk  God's  earth  as  others,  it  is  with  the  iron  in  his  soul,  it  is  with 
your  chain  about  his  neck,  it  is  as  the  shuffling  fugitive  from  your 


648  CONCLUSION. 

penalties,  and  not  as  a  whole-souled  man,  who,  fearing  God  relig- 
iously, fears  nothing  else.  There  may,  indeed,  be  no  chain  visible, 
but  you  have  wound  its  invisible  links  around  the  man's  spirit ;  you 
have  bound  the  man  within  the  man ;  you  have  fettered  him,  and 
laid  him  down  in  a  cold,  dark  dungeon,  and  until  those  fetters  are 
taken  off,  and  he  stands  erect  and  looks  out  from  his  prison  to  God, 
it  is  no  man,  but  a  slave  that  you  have  in  your  service  ;  it  is  no  dis- 
ciple, but  a  Simon  Magus  that  you  have  in  your  Church." 

But  though  with  us  "  heresy"  is  nowhere  considered  to  be  "  trea- 
son," and  all  enjoy  equal  religious  liberty,  neither  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, nor  those  of  our  individual  States,  are  indifferent  to  relig- 
ion. One  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact,  that  every  year — almost  without  exception  in  the  autumn — the 
governors  of  a  large  majority  of  our  States  recommend  and  name  a 
day  to  be  observed  as  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for 
his  mercies,  and  of  supplication  for  their  continuance.  And  such 
days  are  generally  observed  by  Christians  of  every  name.  Business 
is  suspended,  the  churches  are  open,  at  least  in  the  forenoon,  and 
sermons  are  preached  throughout  the  limits  of  the  Commonwealth.* 

*  The  European  reader  of  this  work  may  be  pleased  to  see  a  specimen  of  the  pro- 
clamations issued  on  such  occasions ;  we  subjoin  one  issued  by  a  governor  of  New 
York  a  few  years  ago  : 

"  In  obedience  to  that  high  sense  of  gratitude  due  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Uni- 
verse, I  do  hereby  designate  Thursday,  the  fourteenth  day  of  December  next, 
to  be  observed  by  the  people  of  this  State  as  a  day  of  Prayer,  Praise,  and  Thanks- 
giving to  Almighty  God  for  the  numerous  and  unmerited  blessings  of  the  year. 

"  I  feel  assured  that  this  act  of  public  duty  is  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
people,  and  will  meet  with  universal  acquiescence. 

"  As  a  people,  We  have  great  reason  to  be  thankful,  and  to  praise  the  Almighty 
Dispenser  of  all  Good  for  the  continued  smiles  of  His  providence  on  our  State  and 
nation. 

"  During  the  past  year  we  have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  our  religious  and  political 
privileges  unmolested.  "We  have  been  exempt  from  those  ravages  of  malignant  dis- 
ease which  sometimes  afflict  a  people.  The  season  has  been  highly  propitious,  and 
seldom  has  the  harvest  been  more  abundant.  As  a  crowning  blessing,  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  has  revived  the  hearts  of  Christians,  and  brought  to  a  saving  knowledge 
many  that  knew  not  God. 

"  For  the  distinguished  blessings  we  have  enjoyed,  we  should  raise  our  hearts  in 
humble  adoration  to  our  Father  in  heaven,  thereby  presenting  to  the  world  the  im- 
posing spectacle  of  the  entire  population  of  a  great  State  abstaining  from  all  secular 
engagements  on  the  day  designated,  and  devoting  themselves  to  the  service  of  the 
Almighty.    We  should  always  remember  that  '  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation.' 

4 :  Given  under  my  hand,  and  the  privy  seal  of  the  State,  at  the 

[L.  S.]  city  of  Albany,  this  tenth  day  of  November,  in  the  year 

of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-three. 

"  Wm.  C.  Bouck." 


CONCLUSION.  649 

IV.  The  True  Means  op  Success.  But  our  religious  liberty,  un- 
bounded and  precious  as  it  is,  is  not  the  cause  of  the  success  which 
has  attended  the  Gospel  in  America.  It  is  only  the  occasion,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  not  the  means,  by  which  the  Church  of  Christ 
has  made  so  great  advances  in  the  United  States.  It  has  wonder- 
fully opened  the  way  for  this  blessed  prosperity :  it  has  removed 
hinderances,  allayed  prejudices,  and  placed  the  country  in  a  true  po- 
sition in  regard  to  Christianity.  It  has  created  an  open  field,  in 
which  Truth  may  contend  with  Error,  clad  in  her  own  panoply,  and 
relying  on  her  own  weapons. 

Much  as  I  love  the  perfect  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship 
which  we  enjoy  in  America,  there  are  other  things  which,  to  my 
mind,  must  be  regarded  as  the  causes  of  the  success  which  has  at- 
tended the  efforts  of  God's  people  among  us  to  promote  his  kingdom. 
Let  us  notice  these  for  a  few  moments. 

1.  There  is  the  grouping  of  our  children,  rich  and  poor,  in  the 
Sunday-schools,  arranging  them  in  small  classes,  and  bringing  their 
young  minds  and  hearts  into  contact  with  the  Word  of  God. 

2.  There  is  the  continuation  of  this  good  work  in  the  Bible-class. 
What  a  powerful  means  of  doing  good !  and  how  well  calculated  to 
follow  up,  or  prepare  the  way  for  the  instruction  around  the  family 
altar. 

3.  There  are  our  societies  for  educating  in  a  thorough  manner 
young  men  of  piety  and  talents  for  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel. 
And  many  hundreds  of  young  men  of  promise,  whom  God's  Spirit 
urges  to  preach  salvation  to  their  dying  fellow-men,  are  thus  every 
year  brought  forward  for  the  work. 

4.  Next  come  the  Home  Missionary  Societies  and  Boards,  which 
send  forth  these  young  men,  when  prepared  to  preach,  to  the  new 
and  destitute  portions  of  the  country,  and  help  the  people  to  sustain 

them. 

5.  In  connection  with  these  the  Maternal  Associations,  and  other 
means  for  impressing  on  parents  the  duty  of  bringing  up  their  chil- 
dren for  the  Lord,  and  for  aiding  them  in  the  attempt,  must  not  be 
overlooked  ;  nor  those  efforts  which  are  made  to  disseminate  the  Sa- 
cred Scriptures  and  religious  tracts  and  books.  These  are  silent  but 
efficient  means  of  co-operation  in  this  blessed  work. 

6.  And,  lastly  and  chiefly,  there  remains  the  preaching  of  the  Word, 
the  most  effective  of  all  instrumentalities  for  the  conversion  and 
sanctification  of  men.  There  is  nothing  which  may  supplant  this. 
And  here  we  have  abundant  occasion  for  thankfulness.  We  have 
many  thousands  of  pious  and  faithful  preachers  ;  very  many  of  whom 
are  able,  skillful,  and  successful  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 


650  CONCLUSION". 

Let  the  reader  review  what  has  been  said  on  all  these  points  in  the 
portions  of  this  work  which  treat  of  them,  and  he  will  discover  the 
true  causes,  under  God,  of  the  progress  which  religion  has  made  in 
America  from  the  first,  and  especially  within  the  present  century. 

V.  The  True  Source  of  all  Success.  Still,  these  must  all  be 
considered  as  only  means ;  the  success  is  of  God.  "  It  is  not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  Here  is  all 
our  hope  ;  even  Truth  itself  is  impotent  to  renovate  the  heart  of  man, 
depraved  and  debased  as  he  is,  without  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  It  is  the  province  of  this  blessed  Agent  to  take  the  things  of 
Christ  and  show  them  unto  men.  It  is  He  alone  who  can  open  the 
blind  eyes,  and  cause  them  to  see  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  the  glo- 
rious plan  of  salvation  through  the  crucified  Son  of  God.  It  is  He 
alone  who  can  render  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  "  the  power  of 
God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  to  the  salvation  of  men."  And  He, 
blessed  be  God,  can  as  easily  render  the  same  presentation  of  the  glo- 
rious Gospel  effectual  to  the  salvation  of  many  as  of  few — of  hundreds 
and  thousands,  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  as  of  one. 

But,  alas !  when  shall  the  Spirit  be  appreciated,  honored,  sought 
for  by  the  Church  as  He  ought  to  be  ?  Oh,  when  shall  Christians 
awake  to  a  proper  sense  of  the  desirableness,  yea,  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  His  glorious  effusion  upon  the  world,  in  order  to  its  conver- 
sion, which  is  the  subject  of  so  many  and  so  remarkable  predictions  ? 
Many  who  profess  the  name  of  Christ  seem  almost  not  to  know 
whether  there  be  a  Holy  Ghost. 

ISTow,  though  the  Churches  in  America,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  very 
far  from  a  proper  appreciation  of  this  subject ;  though  even  the  best 
of  them  are  far  from  having  attained  such  views,  and  from  having 
put  forth  such  action  respecting  it  as  they  ought  to  do,  yet  there  is, 
in  all  evangelical  and  truly  converted  Christians  among  us,  some  sense 
of  their  dependence  upon  the  Spirit  for  success  in  their  efforts  to 
grow  in  grace,  as  well  as  to  turn  sinners  unto  righteousness.  There 
is,  also,  much  earnest  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon 
their  souls,  and  upon  all  those  who  hear  or  read  the  Gospel. 

There  is  no  one  thing  which  has  more  decidedly  characterized  the 
preaching  of  our  best  and  most  successful  divines,  or  the  feelings  of 
our  most  devoted  Christians,  than  the  doctrine  of  the  existence,  the 
personality,  the  offices,  and  the  saving  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  has  been  the  great  dominant  idea,  if  I  may  so  term  it,  which  has 
pervaded  and  influenced  the  Church  of  Christ  in  America  during  the 
last  hundred  years.  Hence  the  esteem  in  which  revivals  of  religion 
are  held. 

To  this  great  subject  I  can  not  but  entreat  the  religious  reader  to 


CONCLUSION".  651 

t 

direct  his  most  serious  attention.  It  is  one  of  vital  importance. 
Surely  God  has  led  His  people  to  expect  a  great  outpouring  of  His 
Spirit  in  the  "  latter  days."  And,  surely,  the  world,  as  well  as  the 
Church,  has  seen  the  need  of  such  an  influence,  if  it  is  ever  to  be 
brought  under  the  renovating  influences  of  the  Gospel  to  a  degree 
corresponding  with  its  necessities.  And  whatever  importance  the 
author  may  attach  to  other  portions  of  this  work,  beyond  all  com- 
parison he  is  desirous  that  the  portion  of  it  which  relates  to  Religious 
Revivals  may  be  most  deeply  pondered  by  every  reader. 

VI.  Grounds  of  Hope  in  relation  to  the  Churches  in  America. 
I  know  of  nothing  which  is  so  well  calculated  to  inspire  hope  in 
relation  to  our  American  churches  as  the  extensive  diffusion  of  the 
spirit  of  missions  among  them  within  the  last  few  years,  for  it  is  the 
spirit  of  Christ.     Let  us  look  at  this  fact  for  a  moment.  ' 

Forty  years  ago,  with  the  exception  of  what  was  doing  by  a  Com- 
mittee or  Board  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  missionary  societies  of  some  of  the  New  England  States — 
and  this  did  not  amount  to  very  much — there  was  nothing  doing  in 
behalf  of  Domestic  Missions.  But  within  that  period  have  been 
formed  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  which  unites  all  the 
evangelical  Congregational  churches  in  the  land,  together  with  the 
New  School  Presbyterians  ;  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  of  the 
Old  School  Presbyterians,  the  Home  Missionary  Societies  of  the  Bap- 
tists, Methodists,  and  Free- Will  Baptists ;  and  the  Boards  for  Do- 
mestic Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch,  Lutheran,  German  Reformed, 
Associate,  Associate  Reformed,  Reformed  Presbyterian,  Protest- 
ant Episcopal,  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  and  Seventh-day  Baptist 
churches.  No  denomination  is  too  insignificant  to  have  its  Society 
or  its  Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  And  what  do  we  see  ?  At  least 
three  thousand  ordained  ministers  are  laboring  in  new  and  destitute 
neighborhoods,  in  the  East  and  the  West,  to  gather  congregations 
and  build  up  churches.    What  a  change  !     And  what  a  ground  of 

hope ! 

Moreover,  forty-six  years  ago  there  was  not  one  Missionary  Society 
in  the  United  States  for  the  promotion  of  Foreign  Missions,  save  the 
small  one  of  the  Moravians.  But  now  the  Old  and  New  School  Pres- 
byterians, the  Congregationalists,  Methodists,  Baptists,  Episcopalians, 
Reformed  Dutch,  Lutherans,  Free-Will  Baptists,  Associate,  Associate 
Reformed,  and  Reformed  Presbyterians,  and  perhaps  some  others, 
as  well  as  the  United  Brethren,  have  their  Foreign  Missionary  Socie- 
ties or  Boards,  and  sustain  a  greater  or  less  number  of  men  on  the 
foreign  field.  It  can  not  be  said  that  they  have  done  all  that  they 
mio-ht.    But  it  may  be  said  that  they  have  made  a  good  beginning, 


652  CONCLUSION. 

and  that  what  they  have  done  is  nothing  in  comparison  with  what 
they  will  do  with  God's  blessing.  That  they  should  have  at  least 
four  hundred  and  fifty  ordained  ministers  abroad,  besides  other  la- 
borers, and  raise  more  than  three  quarters  of  a  million  of  dollars  for 
the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  that  direction,  is  a  subject  which  calls 
for  thanks  to  God.  It  is  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  spirit  of  missions 
through  our  churches,  rather  than  its  positive  and  present  results, 
which  I  am  here  holding  up  as  a  ground  of  hope.  And  in  that  light 
I  am  sure  it  may  fairly  be  regarded.  It  is  the  best  omen  for  good 
both  to  the  Church  and  to  the  nation.  It  is  our  great  palladium.  It  is 
also  our  best  pledge,  and  even  our  most  certain  means,  of  prosperity 
to  all  the  interests  of  Truth.  As  long  as  the  spirit  of  missions  is  ex- 
istent and  efficient  in  our  Churches  of  every  name,  we  may  venture 
to  hope  that,  whatever  may  go  wrong  in  our  political  organization,  or 
however  wickedness  may  augment,  God  will  regard  us  in  mercy,  and 
say  of  us  as  a  nation,  "  Spare  it,  for  there  is  a  blessing  in  it." 

VII.  Efficiency  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  in  America  in 
raising  up  an  Adequate  Ministry.  That  the  Voluntary  Principle 
has  not  been  inefficient  in  America  in  this  respect,  will  readily  appear 
from  a  simple  statement  of  facts. 

If  the  reader  will  recur  to  chapter  i.  of  book  iii.,  he  will  learn  that, 
at  the  epoch  of  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  in  1V75,  the 
number  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  of  all  denominations,  including 
even  the  Roman  Catholic  priests,  did  not  exceed  one  thousand  four 
hundred  and  forty-one.  Indeed,  I  am  sure  this  estimate  is  too  high. 
But  let  us  suppose  it  to  be  correct.  Now,  if  the  population  of  the 
country  was  then  three  millions  and  a  half,  there  was  one  minister  of 
the  Gospel  for  about  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
souls.  But  if  the  population  then  was  only  three  millions,  which  I 
apprehend  to  be  an  estimate  nearer  the  truth,  then  there  was  one 
minister,  on  an  average,  for  nearly  two  thousand  and  eighty-two  souls. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  population  of  the  country  at  the  commence- 
ment of  1855  may  be  fairly  estimated  at  twenty-six  millions  five  hun- 
dred thousand  souls.  And  if  the  reader  will  refer  to  what  we  have 
said  in  chapter  xvii.  of  book  vi.,  he  will  see  that  the  number  of  or- 
dained evangelical  or  orthodox  Protestant  ministers  alone,  exclusive 
of  licentiates  and  of  the  local  preachers  of  the  Methodist  Churches 
(not  far  from  fourteen  thousand),  was,  in  the  year  1855,  no  less  than 
twenty-nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty.  That  is,  on  an  aver- 
age, one  evangelical  Protestant  minister  of  the  Gospel  for  nine  hun- 
dred souls. 

It  is  not  here  asserted  that  all  these  ministers  are  pastors,  or  that 
they  all  have  congregations  to  which  they  statedly  preach.    It  is 


CONCLUSION.  653 

certain  that  a  good  many  are  teachers  and  professors,  secretaries  and 
agents  of  religions  and  benevolent  societies,  who,  nevertheless,  preach 
a  great  deal ;  and  many,  who  are  not  pastors,  preach  to  chnrches 
which  are  for  a  time  destitute  of  pastors.  But  what  is  here  meant  is, 
simply  to  show  the  increase  of  evangelical  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
and  its  decided  gain  upon  the  increase  of  the  population.  The  fact 
is  clear  and  striking ;  there  is  at  present  at  least  one  evangelical 
Protestant  minister  in  the  United  States,  we  may  safely  say,  for  less 
than  nine  hundred  souls;  in  1775  there  was  one  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  every  name,  for  about  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  souls,  or,  at  best,  for  two  thousand  and  eighty-two.  In  other 
words,  the  number  of  evangelical  ministers  is  more  than  twice  as 
great,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  as  was  that  of  the  ministers, 
both  Protestant  and  Catholic,  in  1775  * 

I  do  not  design  here  to  assert  the  sufficiency  of  the  evangelical 
ministry  hi  the  United  States  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  population ; 
it  will  readily  be  admitted  that  it  is  not  sufficient.  If  the  evangelical 
Protestant  ministers  were  twice  as  numerous  as  they  are ;  if,  in  other 
words,  there  was  on  an  average  one  such  minister  for  every  five 
hundred  souls,  instead  of  one  for  nine  hundred,  it  would  not  be  too 
many,  when  we  consider  the  sparseness  of  the  population  in  certain 
districts,  which  renders  it  impossible  for  one  minister  to  look  after 
more  than  four  or  five  hundred  souls ;  the  number  of  denominations, 
which  renders  the  number  of  ministers  in  many  places  greater  than 
the  amount  of  population  demands ;  and  the  fact  that  a  goodly  num- 
ber will  always  be  engaged  in  our  academies,  colleges,  and  theolog- 
ical seminaries  as  professors,  and  in  our  religious  and  benevolent  so- 
cieties as  secretaries  and  agents.  But  if  the  Voluntary  Principle  has 
been  so  efficient  as  to  more  than  double  the  number  of  evangelical  Pro- 
testant ministers  since  the  year  1775  (and  the  greater  portion  of  this 
success  has  accrued  since  1815,  and  can  in  no  sense  be  attributed  to 
the  influence  of  the  ancient  establishments), f  there  is  every  reason  to 
expect  that  it  will,  in  the  course  of  a  far  shorter  period,  again  cause 
the  number  of  the  evangelical  Protestant  ministers  to  double  upon 
the  population. 

VIII.  Efficiency  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  in  the  United 
States   in  Supporting  the  Ministry  of  the   Gospel.     In  this 

*  If  we  were  to  include  the  Koman  Catholic  priests,  and  the  Unitarian,  Univer- 
salist,  and  other  heterodox  preachers,  we  should  have  at  this  time  one  preacher  for 
every  eight  hundred  and  ten  souls. 

f  With  the  exception  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  the  union  of  Church  and 
State,  which  once  existed  in  many  of  the  States,  came  to  an  end  during  or  shortly 
after  the  Revolution;  and  in  Connecticut  it  terminated  in  1816.  In  Massachusetts 
it  lasted,  as  we  have  elsewhere  stated,  till  1833. 


654  CONCLUSION. 

respect,  the  Voluntary  Principle  has  not  been  destitute  of  consider- 
able efficiency  in  America.  It  is  not  pretended  that  in  a  new  coun- 
try, where  wealth  may  indeed  be  much  more  equally  distributed  than 
in  the  old  countries  of  Europe,  but  where  its  aggregate  is  not  to  be 
compared  with  that  of  England,  Scotland,  Holland,  Germany,  or 
France,  the  sum  raised  upon  the  voluntary  plan  is  likely  to  be  as 
large  as  that  which  is  raised  in  Great  Britain,  and  some  countries  on 
the  Continent,  from  tithes,  united  with  the  revenues  of  ancient  relig- 
ious foundations.  We  have  as  yet  few  such  foundations,*  and  must, 
therefore,  depend  upon  the  voluntary  offerings  of  the  people.  I  say 
voluntary  offerings,  for,  whatever  may  be  the  mode  of  raising  the 
salaries  of  our  ministers,  they  are,  in  reality,  derived  from  the  spon- 
taneous contributions  of  the  people.  No  man  is  compelled  to  pay  a 
cent  for  the  maintenance  of  religious  worship.  Whatever  he  gives 
is  decidedly  of  his  own  will.  Every  one  is  free  to  go  to  church  or 
stay  away ;  and  if  he  goes,  he  may,  in  many  of  our  churches,  avoid 
giving  all  his  life ;  this  is  true  especially  of  those  churches  whose  sit- 
tings are  public,  that  is,  do  not  belong  to  particular  individuals. 
Whatever  a  man  engages  to  pay  toward  the  support  of  the  institu- 
tions of  the  Gospel  he  is  expected  to  pay,  and  may  be  required,  ac- 
cording to  law,  to  pay.  Seldom  indeed,  however,  is  there  a  resort 
to  legal  enforcement  of  the  payment  of  pew-rents  and  subscriptions. 
But  let  us  see  what  the  voluntary  principle  does  accomplish. 

The  number  of  ordained  ministers  in  these  denominations  in  1855 
was  twenty-nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty.  If  we  suppose 
that  on  an  average  (including  parsonages  or  glebes,  marriage-fees, 
presents  in  one  form  or  another),  they  receive  each  $500  a  year,f  we 
have  the  aggregate  of  $14,715,000.  If  it  be  said  that  many  are  not 
pastors,  but  teachers,  professors,  etc.,  yet  with  few  exceptions  they 
preach  and  receive  salaries  or  what  is  equivalent.   Indeed,  I  am  quite 

*  By  far  the  most  important  of  all  such  foundations,  with  us,  is  that  of  Trinity- 
Church  (belonging  to  the  Episcopal  denomination)  in  the  city  of  New  York,  which 
is  said  to  be  as  much  as  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  has  furnished  the  means  of  build- 
ing many  Episcopal  churches  in  that  State. 

f  In  some  parts  of  the  country  it  is  certain  that  the  Methodist  ministers  do  not  re- 
ceive as  great  a  salary  as  that  mentioned  in  the  text ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
salaries  of  their  ministers  in  many  parts  of  the  country  exceed  it.  In  the  Confer- 
ences of  the  States  of  New  England  and  of  that  of  New  York,  they  are  probably,  as  a 
body,  better  supported  than  those  of  any  other  denomination.  In  those  parts  of  the 
land  their  salaries,  including  perquisites  of  all  sorts,  exceed,  on  an  average,  $500. 
The  salaries  of  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  ministers,  including  all  perqui- 
sites, exceed  $550 — indeed,  they  are  nearer  $600.  The  Episcopal  ministers,  being 
stationed  chiefly  in  our  cities  and  large  towns,  receive,  as  a  body,  larger  salaries  than 
those  of  any  other  Church.     I  am  persuaded  that  they  average  more  than  $600. 


CONCLUSION.  655 

sure  that  $550  would  be  a  more  just  average  estimate ;  and  this  is 
also  the  opinion  of  others  who  have  had  better  means  of  judging  than 
I  have  had.  At  all  events,  if  we  include  what  is  paid  to  licentiates 
(more  than  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty  in  number),  and  to 
"local  preachers"  (twelve  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighteen  in 
number),  we  may  safely  estimate  the  amount  paid  for  the  support  of 
our  Evangelical  Ministry  in  1855  at  $15,000,000. 

This  gives  us  a  grand  total  of  at  least  $15,000,000,  as  the  amount 
paid  for  the  personnel,  so  to  speak,  of  our  public  religious  ordi- 
nances. 

IX.  Efficiency  of  the  Voluntary  Principle  in  the  United 
States  in  the  Erection  of  Church  Edifices.  The  church  edifices 
which  are  now  annually  erected  in  the  United  States,  according  to 
the  best  information  which  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  from  much 
personal  observation  and  inquiry,  may  be  stated  at  one  thousand  and 
sixty,  rating  them  as  follows  : 

Among  the  Methodists  of  all  the  branches 300 

u        "    Baptists  of  all  branches 300 

"        "     Presbyterians  of  all  branches,  and  Congregationalists  350 

"        "    Episcopalians 50 

"         "    Lutherans          . 60 

1,060. 

It  may  be  safely  said  that  among  the  several  branches  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church  in  the  United  States,  at  least  three  hundred  church 
edifices  are  erected  every  year.  This  is  a  low  estimate.  The  same 
thing  is  true  of  the  great  family  of  Baptist  Churches.  They  certainly 
erect  three  hundred  church  edifices  annually,  to  say  the  least.  As 
to  the  Presbyterian  family  or  group  of  Churches,  with  the  Congre- 
gationalists, they  unquestionably  build  at  least  three  hundred  and 
fifty.  The  Old  School  branch  has  reported  as  many  as  eighty  in  one 
year.  The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  have  reported  sixty  and  seventy 
some  years,  while  the  German  Reformed,  the  Congregationalists, 
and  the  New  School  Presbyterians  are  advancing  steadily  and  even 
rapidly. 

It  is  impossible  to  calculate  with  exactness  to  what  extent  this 
yearly  increase  of  church  edifices  meets  the  demands  of  a  yearly  in- 
crease of  the  population,  now  amounting  to  nearly,  if  not  quite,  eight 
hundred  thousand  souls,  for  four,  if  not  five  hundred  thousand  of  whom 
church  accommodation  ought  therefore  to  be  provided.  The  whole 
population  of  the  country  that  is  supposed  to  be  more  or  less  under 
the  influence  of  the  evangelical  denominations,  estimated  at  nearly 
eighteen  millions,  being  divided  into  about  sixty-three  thousand  three 


656  CONCLUSION. 

hundred  and  fifty-nine  congregations,  the  average  number  of  souls  in 
a  congregation  must  be  about  two  hundred  and  eighty-four ;  and  as 
the  number  of  church  edifices  already  erected  can  not  be  short  of 
forty-two  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  in  all,  the  new  ones 
must  consist  partly  of  those  required  for  existing  evangelical  con- 
gregations not  previously  supplied,  partly  of  those  required  for  ac- 
cessions to  the  evangelical  churches  from  eight  million  five  hundred 
thousand  souls  not  previously  attached  to  such  congregations,  and 
for  the  gradual  increase  of  those  congregations  from  births  and  im- 
migration. If  we  suppose  the  evangelical  proportion  of  the  yearly 
increase  of  the  entire  population  to  be  about  five  hundred  and  forty- 
three  thousand  four  hundred  souls,  and  this  proportion  to  be  divided 
into  congregations  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  souls  each,  the 
result  would  be  an  annual  increase  of  about  one  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  congregations,  requiring  the  same  number  of 
church  edifices. 

Such  a  result,  however,  is  by  no  means  probable ;  for  many  of 
these  would  no  doubt  join  and  be  merged  in  existing  congregations, 
and  many  would  be  found  living  in  remote  places,  rendering  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  be  gathered  into  congregations  requiring  church 
edifices.  And  if  church  accommodation  is  only  required  for  half  the 
actual  amount  of  souls,  then  nine  hundred  and  fifty-seven  church 
edifices  instead  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirteen  will  suf- 
fice, which  approximates  to  the  number  of  edifices  actually  provided. 

But  in  truth,  nothing  very  definite  can  be  stated  until  we  have 
more  complete  returns  from  the  Churches  in  shape  of  statistics.  We 
may  say  that  eighteen  millions  of  the  twenty-six  millions  five  hun- 
dred thousand  people  of  the  United  States  in  1855  were  under  the 
instruction  and  influence,  more  or  less  direct,  of  the  Evangelical 
Churches;  but  this  is  merely  an  estimate  or  conjecture,  however 
carefully  made.  Of  the  eight  millions  five  hundred  thousand  of  the 
remaining  population,  four  or  five  millions  are  under  the  influence  of 
the  non-evangelical  bodies,  of  which  the  Roman  Catholic  is  by  far 
the  most  numerous.  This  would  leave  three  or  four  millions  who 
belong  to  no  religious  body,  and  who  go  nowhere,  at  least  habitually. 
The  number  of  even  such,  who  hear  not  the  Gospel  from  any  quar- 
ter, more  or  less,  is  much  smaller. 

As  to  the  cost  of  the  one  thousand  and  sixty  church  edifices  refer- 
red to,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  definitely.  While  some  cost  many 
thousands  of  dollars,  some  cost  but  a  few  hundred.  If  we  take  the 
average  valuation  of  such  property  given  in  the  census  of  1850 
($2,357)  as  our  guide,  then  we  may  estimate  the  cost  of  these  one 
thousand  and  sixty  church  edifices  at  $2,498,420.     This  valuation, 


CONCLUSION.  657 

however,  is  probably  quite  too  low.  If  we  add  the  cost  of  cemeteries, 
repair  of  churches,  fuel,  light,  expenses  of  choirs,  sextons'  wages,  etc., 
— in  a  word  all  that  relates  to  the  materiel  of  public  worship,  we 
shall  have  to  increase  this  sum  to  something  like  $4,000,000,  if  not 
more.     We  speak  now  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  alone. 

If  we  were  to  include  the  church  edifices  or  meeting-houses  built 
by  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  other  non-evangelical  bodies,  we 
should  increase  the  number  annually  built  to  at  least  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  cost  to  $2,700,000,  and  the  entire  of 
the  annual  expenses  for  the  materiel  of  public  worship  to  a  figure  not 
much  below  $4,500,000.  We  would  add  that  the  census  of  1850 
shows  that  there  were  at  that  time  thirty-eight  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  church  edifices  in  the  United  States,  each  fur- 
nishing accommodation  for,  on  an  average,  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  persons,  and  in  the  aggregate  for  fourteen  millions  three  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  and  thirty-eight,  which  was  at  the  ratio  of  nearly 
sixty-two  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  This  would  give  us  un- 
der evangelical  influence,  for  more  than  eighteen  millions  out  of 
twenty-six  million  five  hundred  thousand,  the  population  in  1855. 

X.  The  Total  Cost  of  Public  Worship  in  the  United  States. 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  bring  together  the  various  estimates 
which  we  have  made  respecting  the  sums  raised  by  the  evangelical 
churches  for  the  sustentation  of  religion  at  home,  and  its  extension 
abroad,  and  add  to  them  the  amounts  raised  by  the  non-evangelical 
denominations : 

1.  We  may  safely  put  the  salaries  of  the  Evangelical 

ministry  (perquisites  of  all  descriptions  included),  at     .     $15,000,000 

2.  The  salaries,  etc.,  of  the  non-evangelical  ministers 
(who  were,  in  1855,  not  fewer  than  3,210),  probably  as 

much  as $1,500,000 

3.  The  cost  of  the  building  and  repairing  of  churches, 
the  cost  of  parsonages,  cemeteries,  expenses  of  music, 

fuel,  and  light,  sextons'  wages,  etc.,  etc.,  at  least     .        .     $4,500,000 

4.  The  receipts  of  the  Religious  Societies,  .         .         .     $3,000,000 

5.  The  amount  raised  to  endow  theological  semi- 
naries, to  pay  the  salaries  of  professors,  to  found  colleges, 
academies  (male  and  female),  with  the  view  of  promot- 
ing religion,  together  with  the  receipts  of  associations 
of  a  purely  local  nature — all  this  may  be  very  safely  es- 
timated to  be,  at  least,  a  million  or  a  million  and  a  half 

of  dollars.     Let  us  put  it  at $1,000,000 

Total, $25,000,000 

42 


658  CONCLUSION. 

And  all  this  sum  of  $25,000,000  is  raised  annually  at  present  in  the 
United  States  on  the  Voluntary  Principle,*  for  the  sustentation  and 
promotion  of  religion  at  home  and  abroad.f 

Nor  have  I  included  in  the  statements  which  I  have  made  on  this 
subject,  all  that  the  Voluntary  Principle  does  in  reference  to  religion. 
For  instance,  provision  is  made  in  some  denominations,  by  incorpor- 
ated associations  or  otherwise,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  widows  and 
children  of  ministers,  and  of  superannuated  preachers.  The  sums 
thus  raised  are  to  be  considered  a  part  of  the  sustentation  which  is 
given  to  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel  among  us,  and  they  all  owe 
their  origin  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  Voluntary  Principle. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Voluntary  Principle  raises  as  much 
money  in  America  for  the  support  of  Religion  as  do  the  legal  provis- 
ions of  some  countries,  where  Christianity  has  created  those  opulent 
and  time-honored  establishments  which  overshadow  them.  In  many 
cases,  alas !  these  establishments  were  founded  in  the  age  of  supersti- 
tion, and  owe  their  origin  to  the  influence  of  a  cunning  and  overreach- 
ing priesthood,  exerted  over  an  ignorant  and  debased  people.  But  it 
is  maintained  that  it  can  not  be  said  with  truth  that  Christianity,  left 
to  its  own  resources  in  America,  is  likely  to  go  down,  or  that  it  does 
not  lead  to  efforts  for  its  propagation  which  correspond  in  a  good 
measure  with  the  wants  of  the  country.  Whatever  men  may  think 
on  the  subject  of  the  best  means  of  supporting  the  Gospel,  it  can  not 
be  denied  that  the  Voluntary  Principle  in  America  has  demonstrated 
that  it  is  not  inefficient :  a  fact  which  was  well  established  in  the  first 
three  centuries  of  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  the  world. 

Thanks  be  to  God,  among  our  American  population  the  sentiment 
is  well-nigh  universal,  that  Christian  institutions — the  Church,  the 
Sabbath,  the  School — are  indispensable  for  our  temporal  and  material, 
as  well  as  our  spiritual  and  eternal  well-being.  The  influence  of  these 
sentiments,  or  convictions,  rather,  is  finely  shown  in  our  new  settle- 
ments, in  advance  often  of  the  civil  government,  and  nowhere  more 
than  in  California.     To  that  new  State  on  the  Pacific,  seven  years 

*  I  say  on  the  Voluntary  Principle,  for  the  sums  raised  from  permanent  endow- 
ments (which  are  themselves  the  fruit  of  the  Voluntary  Principle,  and  not  of  govern- 
mental gift  or  taxation)  are  not  sufficiently  great  to  deserve  to  be  excepted. 

f  If  we  were  to  add  to  the  above-mentioned  sum  of  $25,000,000  contributed  an- 
nually to  promote  Religion  in  America,  the  amount  which  education  costs  in  all  its 
gradations,  we  shall  increase  it  to  quite  $40,000,000.  The  single  State  of  Massachu- 
setts bestows  more  than  $1,000,000  annually  upon  the  education  of  her  youths  in  all 
classes  of  her  literary  institutions,  though  her  population  does  not  much  exceed 
a  million  of  souls.  So  that  the  sum  of  at  least  $40,000,000  is  annually  raised  in  the 
United  States  for  the  promotion  of  Religion  and  Education — a  sum  almost  equal,  at 
this  time,  to  the  whole  revenue  of  the  national  Government ! 


CONCLUSION.  659 

ago,  there  rushed  a  great  number  of  men  from  all  countries,  attracted 
by  the  vast  gold  mines  which  it  contains.  The  American  element 
strongly  predominated.  The  number  of  religious  people  was  very 
small  at  first ;  that  of  the  wicked  was  overwhelming.  Gradually, 
Christian  institutions  sprang  up,  and  became  more  and  more  rooted 
in  the  soil ;  and  within  the  last  two  years  the  country  has  assumed  a 
new  aspect.  The  theatre,  the  gaming-saloon,  the  drinking-saloon, 
and  the  brothel,  have  found  powerful  antagonists  in  the  house  of 
God,  the  Sabbath-school,  the  temperance  society.  There  are  now 
more  than  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  in  Califor- 
nia, and  there  are  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  churches  and  re- 
ligious assemblies.  Every  denomination  almost  is  there  represented. 
The  Episcopalians  have  even  a  bishop ;  the  Methodists  alone  have 
thirty  or  thirty-five  regular  ministers,  and  twice  as  many  local  minis- 
ters. Boys'  and  girls'  seminaries  are  established  ;  a  college  has  been 
chartered  and  opened,  we  believe.  Two  or  three  religious  newspapers 
are  published.  San  Francisco  has  sixty  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
Sacramento,  Benicia,  Stockton,  and  other  towns,  are  very  consider- 
able places. 

One  sees  the  same  interest,  in  all  that  concerns  religion  and  educa- 
tion, in  the  Territories  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  which  lie  north 
of  California  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Already,  a  goodly  number  of 
churches  have  been  built  in  these  scattered  settlements,  and  the  Epis- 
copalians have  a  bishop  there,  also. 

If  825,000,000,  given  last  year  by  the  churches  of  America  for  the 
promotion  of  religion,  be  considered  by  any  one  to  be  a  large  sum, 
let  him  observe  that  the  population  of  that  country  was  not  less  than 
twenty-six  million  five  hundred  thousand  that  year ;  and  let  him  also 
observe  the  great  prosperity  of  the  country,  in  all  that  concerns  its 
material  interests.  Twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  were  less,  on  an 
average,  than  one  dollar  for  each  individual.  And  although  there  are 
families  which  could  not  give  as  much  as  one  dollar  per  individual, 
there  are  very  many  that  could  give  far  more.  Even  the  four  mil- 
lions and  more  of  members  of  the  Evangelical  churches  are  of  them- 
selves abundantly  able  to  give  annually  twenty-five  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  promote  religion  at  home  and  abroad.  Nay,  if  we  were  to 
subtract  the  four  hundred  thousand  slaves  and  free  people  of  color, 
who  are  members  of  the  Evangelical  churches,  the  remaining  three 
million  six  hundred  thousand  members  are  fully  able  to  sustain  this 
burden,  if  we  may  apply  the  word  to  what  is  really  no  burden  at  all. 
But  why  subtract  the  slaves  and  free  people  of  color  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  churches  ?  There  are  not  many  slaves  with  us  who  have 
no  money  to  give.    And  they  do  give,  and  liberally  too,  to  good  ob- 


660  CONCLUSION. 

jects.     I  have  known  them  to  make  collections  in  their  churches 
which  might  make  many  a  church  of  white  people  ashamed. 

But  we  are  not  under  the  necessity  of  limiting  the  support  of  re- 
ligious institutions  in  the  United  States  to  those  who  are  members  of 
the  churches.  Blessed  be  God,  it  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  our 
economy,  so  far  as  this  subject  is  concerned,  that  it  makes  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  citizens  take  an  active  interest  in 
upholding  these  institutions,  from  motives  of  benevolence,  and  from  a 
conviction  of  their  importance  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  as 
well  as  to  the  happiness  of  every  individual.  This  is  a  great  matter, 
and  its  influence  is  immense.  The  fact  that  our  people  build  and  own 
their  places  of  worship,  and  support  the  pastors,  and  maintain  at  their 
own  charges  all  that  relates  to  religion,  contributes  greatly  to  make 
them  take  a  deep  interest  in  religious  matters,  and  encourages  and 
conduces  to  proper  feeling  on  the  subject  of  religion,  as  a  personal 
concern. 

After  all,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  what  is  doing  in  the 
United  States,  spontaneously,  if  the  word  may  be  allowed,  on  the 
part  of  the  people  to  sustain  religion,  is  to  be  viewed  merely  as  a  be- 
ginning. It  is  almost  nothing  at  all  when  compared  with  the  means 
and  resources  of  the  country.  It  is  almost  nothing  in  comparison 
with  what  we  believe  the  churches  in  that  land  will  do  when  that  day 
comes  in  which  the  "  Spirit  shall  be  poured  out  from  on  high."  Most 
certainly  the  history  of  the  churches  of  the  United  States,  for  the  last 
fifty  or  sixty  years,  demonstrates  that  Christianity  has  nothing  to  fear 
when  it  ceases  to  have  the  arm  of  CaBsar  on  which  to  rely.  The  hearts 
of  Christ's  people  constitute,  under  His  Divine  blessing,  its  best,  its 
surest  support. 

XI.  Religious  Destitution.  There  is  no  subject  on  which  so 
much  is  said  in  Europe,  and  about  which  is  so  little  understood, 
as  the  apparent,  and  in  many  respects  real,  destitution  of  the 
means  of  grace  in  the  United  States.  When  Europeans  read, 
that  there  are  eleven  hundred  Presbyterian  churches  or  congre- 
gations more  than  the  number  of  pastors,  and  similar  statements, 
and  even  worse,  in  regard  to  some  other  denominations,  especially 
the  Baptists,  the  Lutherans,  and  the  German  Reformed,  they  will 
probably  come  to  the  conclusion  that  our  "  voluntary  system"  utterly 
fails  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  country.  They  do  not  stop  to  think, 
that  this  surplus  of  congregations  beyond  the  number  of  pastors  does 
not  prove  that  they  are  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace  or  ministerial 
labors.  It  often  happens  that  one  minister  preaches  to  two  churches 
in  the  rural  districts,  and  sometimes  to  three  or  four,  especially  in  the 
new  settlements.    I  have  known  German  ministers  who  preached  to 


CONCLUSION.  661 

five  or  six.  This  is  of  course  only  temporary  in  many  cases.  As  the 
population  increases,  the  number  of  ministers  becomes  greater  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  the  congregations.  It  would  be  a  sad  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  there  are  one  thousand  one  hundred  Presbyterian 
churches  destitute  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  There  is,  proba- 
bly, not  one  of  them  that  does  not  hear  the  Gospel  with  more  or  less 
frequency.  There  are  cases  where  one  minister  will,  for  a  long  time, 
serve  two  or  more  neighboring  churches.  That  there  are  many  new 
congregations  which  have  no  pastors,  is  certainly  true,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  congregations  will  be  formed,  and  generally,  church  edi- 
fices of  some  sort  or  other  will  be  built,  before  a  minister  is  called  to 
take  the  pastoral  charge,  or  even  to  preach  regularly.  This  is  our 
way  of  doing  things,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  devise  any  other  or  bet- 
ter. In  no  part  of  the  world  are  churches  built  in  advance  of  the 
population.  We  go  pretty  fast  in  America,  but  we  can  not  "go  ahead" 
quite  so  fast  as  to  build  churches  in  the  forests,  or  in  places  to  which 
the  suburbs  of  our  cities  and  towns  are  destined  to  extend.  But  let 
there  be  some  population,  and  soon  there  will  be  measures  taken  by 
the  people  themselves,  or  by  the  missionary  societies  among  us,  not 
only  to  have  places  of  worship  constructed,  but  also  to  find  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  to  preach  in  them.  So  long  as  our  population  increases 
at  the  astounding  rate  that  it  now  does,  so  long  we  shall  have  an  im- 
mense work  to  do,  in  providing  places  of  worship  and  religious  in- 
struction. I  do  not  hesitate  to  aflirm  that  one  thousand  five  hundred 
churches  are  every  year  built  by  the  Evangelical  denominations  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  home  missionary  organizations  are  sup- 
porting, or  aiding  in  the  support  of,  between  three  and  four  thousand 
ministers.  Can  the  world  show  any  thing  more  conclusive,  as  to  the 
inherent  and  all-powerful  energy  of  Christianity  when  it  has  free  scope 

for  action  ? 

As  to  need  of  ministers  among  us,  what  I  have  just  said  will  ex- 
plain the  reasons  why  it  must  be  so.  But  they  deceive  themselves 
who  suppose  that  the  supply  is  not  likely  to  correspond,  in  a  good 
measure,  to  the  demand.  Yet  this  requires  loud  and  earnest  appeal, 
unremitting  effort,  and  never-ceasing  prayer. 

The  representations  made  on  this  subject  by  some  of  our  societies 
are  often  calculated,  though  undesignedly,  to  mislead  a  stranger. 
That  there  is  much  real  destitution  to  warrant  strong  appeals  is  no 
doubt  true ;  but  one  is  apt  to  forget  that  there  is  much  that  is  hypo- 
thetical in  what  is  said  of  the  danger  that  threatens,  if  this  destitution 
be  not  supplied.  This  danger  is  imminent :  still  it  is,  as  yet,  but  a 
contingency.  If  the  required  efforts  be  not  made,  error  and  irre- 
ligion  will  overspread  the  country  ;  if  the  Protestants  be  not  on  the 


662  CONCLUSION. 

alert,  Romanism  will  conquer  it  for  itself  But  it  is  to  prevent  such 
results  that  these  appeals  are  made. 

Lastly,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  agents  and  missionaries  of 
our  Domestic  Missionary  Societies  and  Boards  have  unintentionally 
and  unwittingly  promoted  erroneous  impressions  respecting  the  re- 
ligious destitution  of  the  country.  When  these  societies  were  formed, 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  the  first  missionaries  and  agents 
sent  into  the  West  found  many  districts,  and  even  whole  counties, 
deplorably  destitute  ;  and  in  their  published  reports  and  letters  they 
gave  most  affecting  accounts  of  the  want  of  shepherds  to  collect  the 
sheep  scattered  over  those  moral  wildernesses.  Sometimes  they 
thought  that,  like  Elijah  of  old,  they  were  "  left  alone ;"  not  being 
aware,  or  if  aware,  not  rightly  estimating  the  fact,  that  men  of  other 
denominations  were  laboring  in  the  same  regions,  as  itinerating,  if 
not  as  settled  ministers.  Such  misrepresentations  led  the  Methodist 
and  Baptist  churches  to  publish  statements  proving  that  the  alleged 
destitution  had  been  greatly  exaggerated.  Hence,  of  late  years,  it 
has  been  usual  to  give  the  names  of  places  requiring  ministers  and 
churches,  and  the  denomination  to  which  the  writer  belongs,  acknowl- 
edging, at  the  same  time,  the  services  of  ministers  of  other  denomin- 
ations, where  they  are  to  be  found.  Exaggerated  statements  may 
often  be  traced,  also,  to  the  warm  feelings  of  extempore  speakers  at 
public  meetings,  leading  them  to  commit  themselves  to  expressions 
that  have  not  been  duly  weighed,  and  to  these  finding  their  way, 
often  with  additional  exaggerations,  into  newspapers. 

XII.  The  Observance  of  the  Sabbath.  There  is  no  subject  on 
which  American  Christians  are  more  happily  united  than  that  of  the 
importance  of  a  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  And  although 
there  is  no  sort  of  union  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  except- 
ing what  is  wholly  of  a  moral  nature,  yet  every  State  in  the  Union 
has  made  laws  in  favor  of  a  proper  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day,  or 
Christian  Sabbath ;  and  this,  because  our  whole  economy  proceeds 
on  the  principle  that  the  country  is  a  Christian  country ;  and,  there- 
fore, Christianity  has  been  pronounced  by  our  courts  to  be  "  part  and 
parcel  of  the  laws  of  the  land."  And  though  the  laws  which  de- 
nounce punishment  for  Sabbath-breaking  are  not  executed  anywhere 
in  the  United  States  with  rigor,  yet  so  generally  are  the  people  im- 
pressed with  the  duty  of  observing  the  Sabbath,  that  it  is  seldom 
any  one  sees  such  violations  of  it  as  interfere  with  the  public  or  private 
services  of  religion.  It  is  universally  believed  with  us  that  man 
needs  the  rest  of  one  day  in  seven,  for  the  benefit  of  his  physical 
nature,  to  say  nothing  of  his  spiritual  well-being.  Even  the  beasts 
of  labor  need  a  Sabbath.     It  is,  in  a  sense,  according  to  the  light  of 


CONCLUSION.  663 

nature  that  there  should  be  a  Sabbath  ;  and  that  government  which 
does  not  secure  the  Sabbath  for  the  laboring  man  does  not  do  what 
it  should  to  shield  the  poor  from  the  exactions  of  the  rich.  A  great 
deal  is  doing  in  the  United  States  by  the  press,  as  well  as  by  the 
pulpit,  to  enlighten  the  nation — the  rulers,  as  well  as  the  ruled — in 
relation  to  this  great  subject.  Associations  exist  to  promote  the  proper 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  ;  nor  are  their  labors  in  vain.  The  con- 
trast is  wonderful  between  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  other  days  of 
the  week  and  the  quiet  calm  of  the  Sabbath — between  the  confusion 
and  din,  and  hurrying  of  the  crowds  to  and  fro  in  the  streets  on  other 
days,  and  the  peaceful  movement  of  so  many  well-dressed  and  serious 
though  cheerful  people,  on  their  way  to  or  from  the  house  of  God, 
twice  or  thrice  every  Sabbath.  I  believe  that  I  utter  the  language 
of  every  American  Christian,  when  I  say,  "  Woe  to  America  wThen 
it  ceases  to  be  a  Sabbath-respecting  land." 

XIII.  Our  Religious  Liberty.  And  here,  perhaps,  it  may  not 
be  improper  that  I  should  say  a  few  things  on  the  subject  of  Religious 
Liberty  in  the  United  States.  The  position  which  we  maintain  is 
simply  this :  The  government  should  protect  all  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  rights  of  conscience  and  of  worship.  And  this  is  fully  done. 
It  is  impossible,  it  seems  to  me,  to  conceive  of  a  state  of  things  more 
favorable  hi  this  respect,  than  that  which  exists  among  us.  The 
rights  of  citizenship,  the  rights  appertaining  to  a  man's  standing  in 
civil  society,  are  with  us  in  no  way  dependent  on  the  faith  which  he 
professes.  Let  him  be  a  Protestant,  Roman  Catholic,  Jew,  believer 
or  unbeliever,  this  fact  has  no  bearing  on  his  civil,  political,  or  relig- 
ious rights.  Accordingly,  we  see  Protestants  of  all  shades  of  doctrine, 
Roman  Catholics,  and  even  Jews,  and  sometimes  men  of  no  fixed  re- 
ligious opinions  at  all,  holding  offices  under  the  General,  State,  and 
Municipal  Governments.  Sometimes,  but  not  often,  a  man  who  is  a 
skeptic,  or  an  avowed  unbeliever,  may  be  found  holding  a  civil  office. 
Mr.  Pierce,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  is  a  Protestant ;  Mr. 
Taney,  the  Chief  Justice,  is  a  Roman  Catholic.  In  the  Congress 
there  is  at  this  time  one  Jew,  if  not  more.  As  the  Protestants  form 
the  vast  majority  of  the  population,  the  majority  of  Protestants  in 
the  government  is  great,  as  might  be  expected ;  but  this  affects 
neither  the  principle  nor  the  action  of  the  government. 

As  to  the  right  to  worship  God  according  to  every  man's  con- 
scientious convictions,  or  even  preferences,  arising  from  education  or 
other  circumstances,  it  is  enjoyed  by  every  one.  Even  the  humblest 
slave  in  the  land  possesses  this  right.  While  the  master  and  his 
family  go  to  an  Episcopal,  or  Presbyterian,  or  any  other  church,  his 
servants  or  slaves,  and  the  poorest  hired  man  on  his  plantation, 


664  CONCLUSION. 

whether  black  or  white,  may  go  to  the  same  church,  if  they  choose, 
or  to  a  Methodist  or  Baptist  church.  And  this  right  they  not  only 
possess  but  exercise.  It  is  lawful  to  purchase  ground  and  build  a 
church,  or  meeting-house,  or  chapel,  or  whatever  we  may  call  it, 
anywhere  and  at  any  time,  without  asking  authorization  from  any 
government  whatever — be  it  the  General  Government,  a  State  Gov- 
ernment, or  the  government  of  a  city,  borough,  or  township.  All 
that  is  necessary  is,  to  comply  with  the  laws  regulating  the  purchase 
and  tenure  of  such  property,  which  are  as  simple  and  reasonable  as 
any  one  ought  to  desire.  And  so,  too,  religious  meetings  may  be  held 
in  private  houses,  and  are  so  held  all  over  the  United  States.  The 
government  is  bound  to  protect  such  meetings;  and  there  its  functions 
cease,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned. 

And  who  are  the  men  that  compose  our  government  ?  They  are 
our  fellow-citizens,  holding  office  for  short  terms,  excepting  generally, 
though  not  always,  in  the  judiciary.  They  form  no  caste,  so  unap- 
proachable that  we  can  not  confer  with  them  save  in  the  most  formal 
and  ceremonious  manner.  They  are  our  friends  and  neighbors ;  they 
and  their  families  frequent  our  churches  as  other  men;  they  are 
members  of  our  congregations,  and  many  of  them  are  members  of 
our  churches.  Not  a  few  of  them  are  active  in  our  religious  soci- 
eties. There  are,  in  our  national  Congress,  and  the  Legislatures  of 
our  thirty-one  States  and  seven  Territories,  not  far  from  five  thousand 
members ;  among  them  there  are  many  teachers  and  superintendents 
of  Sabbath-schools.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  our  judges,  and  of  the 
officers  of  our  municipal  governments.  These  men  are  in  posts  of 
authority  and  influence  for  a  few  years,  and  then  return  to  private 
life.  They  are  of  the  people,  and  move  among  the  people,  even 
while  holding  office ;  nor  are  there  many  of  them  who  are  without 
the  pale  of  a  kind  Christian  influence,  which  reaches  them  from  some 
quarter  or  other. 

Such  is  the  position  of  things  with  us  ;  nor  can  we  be  too  thankful 
for  it.  The  government  and  the  Church  are  mutual  friends  ;  neither 
one  is  the  slave  of  the  other.  The  Church  simply  asks  for  protection 
of  the  rights  of  conscience  and  of  public  worship,  and  this  she  receives 
in  the  amplest  manner.  And  what  does  the  State  receive  in  turn  ? 
It  receives  the  immense  moral  influence  of  the  Church — of  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  at  so  many  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  points,  all  over  the  land — of  the  Sabbath-school — of  the  Bible 
class,  and  all  the  other  influences  of  Christianity.  It  is  in  these  that 
the  laws  find  their  surest  basis,  and  their  most  effective  sanction.  It 
is  just  because  of  these  influences — the  Sabbath,  the  Church,  the  Bi- 
ble— that  a  vast  country  of  now  more  than  twenty-seven  millions  of 


CONCLUSION.  665 

people  can  be  governed,  and  is  governed,  without  the  bayonet  and  the 

cannon. 

XIV.  Evangelical  Doctrines  in  our  Churches.  When  we 
speak  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  Churches  in  America  being  evangeli- 
cal, we  simply  mean  that  they  teach  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformers 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  Saviour  Himself; 
the  sum  of  which  is,  that  there  is  salvation  only  through  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  as  the  "  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world."  We  mean,  that  all  such  Churches  will  give  to  him  who  asks 
the  question,  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?  the  same  evangelical 
answer,  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved. 
On  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  (involving 
the  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  the  Trinity,  the  Fall  of  Man, 
etc.)  there  is  but  one  opinion.  It  is  true  that  there  are  some  sections 
of  the  great  evangelical  body  of  Christians  with  us  which  make  too 
much  of  forms  of  Church  government,  of  modes  of  worship,  and  of 
rites  and  ceremonies,  and  so  become,  in  a  sense,  Puseyites,  if  I  may 
employ  the  word.  But  even  these,  with  few  exceptions,  hold  to  the 
merits  of  Christ  as  the  sole  ground  of  salvation.  What  may  unques- 
tionably be  asserted  is,  that  the  confessions  of  faith  and  other  sym- 
bols of  doctrine  of  all  these  Churches  are  evangelical  and  sound. 

XV.  Individual  Instances  of  Liberality  in  Supporting  and  Ex- 
tending the  Institutions  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  one  of  the  happy 
fruits  of  the  voluntary  principle  that  it  cultivates  a  spirit  of  benevo- 
lence and  self-reliance  among  Christians.  It  teaches  men  the  true 
value  and  utility  of  wealth,  in  showing  them  that  there  are  objects 
infinitely  more  worthy  of  living  for  than  mere  self-gratification.  Pi- 
ous men  of  no  country  have  an  adequate  conception  of  the  amount 
of  good  which  they  can  do  until  they  have  made  the  experiment. 
We  subjoin  a  few  instances  of  individual  liberality,  not  because  the 
authors  of  them  were  rich*  men,  but  because  of  the  systematic  as 
well  as  delightful  spirit  which  they  displayed.  In  the  course  of  this 
work  many  others  have  been  mentioned,  which  are  well  worthy  of 
imitation. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  liberality  in  the  middle 
walks  of  life  is  recorded  in  the  memoirs  of  the  late  Normand  Smith, 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  1800,  of  pious  pa- 
rents, and  seems  to  have  become  decided  in  his  religious  character  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  during  a  revival.     He  learned  the  trade  of  a  sad- 

<*  Had  I  been  disposed  to  speak  of  what  some  (I  am  sorry  to  say  too  few)  of  our 
rich  men  havo  done,  I  might  mention  one  man — a  merchant — who  has,  in  the  course 
of  thirty  years,  given  to  religious  and  benevolent  objects  $800,000,  and  of  one  who 
gives  from  $40,000  to  $60,000  annually. 


666  CONCLUSION". 

dler,  and  commenced  business  himself  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  on 
a  small  capital  lent  him  by  his  father.  He  was  remarkably  prosper- 
ous in  business  from  the  first,  so  that  he  was  soon  able  to  repay  this 
debt.  But  he  did  not  allow  his  business  to  engross  his  time  and 
thoughts.  He  frequently  visited  the  poor  with  the  view  of  inquiring 
into  and  relieving  their  necessities,  was  a  constant  Sabbath-school 
teacher,  and  for  a  long  time  was  superintendent  of  a  Sabbath-school 
for  Africans.  In  short,  he  was  the  foremost  to  encourage  and  support 
every  good  undertaking.  But  we  must  let  the  memoir*  speak  for  itself. 

"  In  the  early  part  of  1820  he  had  great  doubts  whether  it  was  not 
his  duty  to  relinquish  his  business,  in  part  at  least,  that  he  might  have 
more  time  to  do  good.  At  that  time  he  called  to  converse  on  this 
subject  with  the  writer.  He  said  that  he  found  his  business  engrossed 
too  much  of  his  time  and  attention ;  he  wished  to  be  in  a  situation 
more  favorable  for  the  cultivation  of  personal  religion  and  doing  good 
to  others ;  and,  as  he  had  acquired  property  enough  for  himself  and 
family,  he  felt  a  desire  to  retire,  that  he  might  enjoy  more  quiet  and 
leisure.  In  reply,  it  was  said  to  him,  '  The  Lord  has  plainly  indi- 
cated how  you  are  to  glorify  Him  in  the  world.  He  has  greatly 
prospered  you  in  your  business ;  the  channels  of  wealth  are  open,  and 
their  streams  are  flowing  in  upon  you,  and  it  would  be  wrong  for  you 
to  obstruct  or  diminish  them.  Let  them  rather  flow  wider  and  deeper. 
Only  resolve  that  you  will  pursue  your  business  from  a  sense  of  duty, 
and  use  all  that  God  may  give  you  for  His  glory  and  the  good  .of 
your  fellow-men,  and  your  business,  like  reading  the  Bible,  or  worship 
on  the  Sabbath,  will  be  to  you  a  means  of  grace ;  instead  of  hindering, 
it  will  help  you  in  the  Divine  life,  and  greatly  increase  your  means  of 
usefulness.'  The  effect  of  the  conversation  was  not  known  at  the 
time,  but  from  an  entry  made  in  a  journal  which  he  began  to  keep 
about  that  period,  it  appears  that  the  purpose  was  then  formed  to 
continue  his  business,  and  to  conduct  it  on  the  principle  recom- 
mended. 

"  From  that  time  it  was  observable  by  all  who  knew  him  that  he 
made  rapid  progress  in  religion.  One  subject  seemed  to  engross  his 
mind,  that  of  doing  good ;  and  much  good  did  God  enable  him  to 
do.  Besides  many  large  donations  in  aid  of  various  objects  previous 
to  his  death,  he  bequeathed  at  his  decease  nearly  $30,000  to  the  vari- 
ous benevolent  societies  of  the  day.  The  amount  designated  for  these 
societies  in  his  will  was  $13,200.  But  they  were  also  made  residuary 
legatees  of  property  which  he  would  have  distributed  while  living, 
had  it  been  practicable,  without  loss,  to  withdraw  it  from  his  business. 

*  Written  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawes,  of  the  first  Congregational  Church, 
Hartford,  Connecticut. 


CONCLUSION.  66  7 

"  On  his  death-bed  he  said  to  a  brother,  *  Do  good  with  your  sub- 
stance while  living,  and  as  you  have  opportunity;  otherwise,  when 
you  come  to  die,  you  will  be  at  a  loss  to  know  what  distribution  it  is 
best  to  make  of  it.  The  trouble  and  care  of  such  a  distribution  in  a 
dying  hour,'  he  thought,  *  should  be  avoided  by  every  Christian,  by 
disposing  of  his  property  while  in  life  and  health,  as  the  Lord 
should  prosper  him,  and  present  to  him  opportunities  of  doing 
good.' 

"  From  the  period  above  referred  to,  it  became  his  established  rule 
to  use  for  benevolent  distribution  all  the  means  which  he  could  take 
from  his  business,  and  still  prosecute  it  successfully  and  to  the  best 
advantage.  He  was  usually  secret  with  regard  to  donations  of  a 
private  or  personal  nature.  A  memorandum  which  he  kept  three  or  four 
years  before  his  death, '  lest  he  should  think  that  he  gave  more  than  he 
did,'  shows  that  his  gifts  were  numerous  and  large — sufficiently  so  to 
prove  that  he  adhered  to  his  principle  of  holding  all  as  consecrated 
to  the  Lord.  A  slip  of  paper,  taken  from  his  vest  pocket  after  his 
death,  mentions  the  amount  of  his  contributions  at  the  monthly 
prayer-meeting  for  missions  among  the  heathen,  to  have  been  $30,  or 
$360  a  year. 

"  In  personal  and  domestic  expenditure,  he  studied  Christian  econ- 
omy. While  he  denied  himself  no  reasonable  comfort,  it  was  his  habit 
to  consider  what  things  he  might  dispense  with,  that  he  might  have 
the  more  to  give  for  charitable  purposes.  Modest  and  unassuming  in 
his  natural  character,  he  thought  it  not  consistent  with  the  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel  for  one  professing  godliness  to  follow  the  customs  and 
fashions  of  the  world.  While  others  were  enlarging  their  expendi- 
tures, he  studied  retrenchment  in  all  things. 

"  When  he  set  out  in  the  world,  it  was  with  the  purpose  to  be  rich. 
But  grace  opened  his  heart,  and  taught  him  that  the  only  valuable 
use  of  money  is  to  do  good  with  it ;  a  lesson  which  he  emphatically 
exemplified  in  his  practice,  and  which  made  him  an  instrument  of 
good,  the  extent  of  which  can  never  be  known  till  it  is  revealed  at  the 
last  day." 

Another  instance  is  that  of  a  cotemporary  of  Mr.  Smith,  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Ripley  Cobb,  of  Boston,  who  died  only  seven  months  after 
him.  Mr.  Cobb  was  a  merchant  in  that  city,  and  a  member  of  one 
of  its  Baptist  churches.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  publicly  professed 
his  faith  in  Christ,  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of  God  in  the 
sphere  in  which  Providence  had  placed  him,  considering  himself  under 
the  same  obligation  to  employ  his  business  talents  for  the  glory  of  his 
Saviour,  that  devolved  on  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  to  consecrate  the 
talents  intrusted  to  him  for  the  same  great  end. 


668  CONCLUSION. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  drew  up  and  subscribed  the  follow- 
ing remarkable  document : 

"  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  never  be  worth  more  than  $50,000. 

"  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  give  one  fourth  of  the  nett  profits  of 
my  business  to  charitable  and  religious  uses. 

"  If  I  am  ever  worth  $20,000,  I  will  give  one  half  of  my  nett 
profits ;  and  if  I  am  ever  worth  $30,000,  I  will  give  three  fourths ; 
and  the  whole  after  $50,000.  So  help  me  God,  or  give  to  a  more 
faithful  steward  and  set  me  aside." 

"  To  this  covenant,"  says  his  memoir,  "  he  adhered  with  conscien- 
tious fidelity.  He  distributed  the  profits  of  his  business  with  an  in- 
creasing ratio,  from  year  to  year,  till  he  reached  the  point  which  he 
had  fixed  as  a  limit  to  his  property,  and  then  gave  to  the  cause  of 
God  all  the  money  which  he  earned.  At  one  time,  finding  that  his 
property  had  increased  beyond  $50,000,  he  at  once  devoted  the  sur- 
plus, $7,500,  as  a  foundation  for  a  professorship  in  the  Newton 
Theological  Institution. 

"  On  his  death-bed  he  said  to  a  friend,  in  allusion  to  the  resolutions 
quoted  above,  *  By  the  grace  of  God — nothing  else — by  the  grace  of 
God,  I  have  been  enabled,  under  the  influence  of  these  resolutions, 
to  give  away  more  than  $40,000.  How  good  the  Lord  has  been  to 
me.'  » 

Mr.  Cobb — such  is  the  testimony  of  those  who,  like  myself,  knew 
him  well — was  also  an  active,  humble,  and  devoted  Christian,  seeking 
the  prosperity  of  feeble  churches ;  laboring  to  promote  the  benevo- 
lent institutions  of  the  day ;  punctual  in  his  attendance  at  prayer- 
meetings,  and  anxious  to  aid  the  inquiring  sinner ;  watchful  for  the 
eternal  interests  of  those  under  his  charge ;  mild  and  amiable  in  his 
deportment ;  and,  in  the  general  tenor  of  his  life  and  character,  an 
example  of  consistent  piety. 

His  last  sickness  and  death  were  peaceful,  yea,  triumphant.  "  It  is 
a  glorious  thing,"  said  he,  "  to  die.  I  have  been  active  and  busy  in 
the  world — I  have  enjoyed  as  much  as  any  one — God  has  prospered 
me — I  have  every  thing  to  bind  me  here — I  am  happy  in  my  family 
— I  have  property  enough — but  how  small  and  mean  does  this  world 
appear  when  we  are  on  a  sick-bed !  Nothing  can  equal  my  enjoy- 
ment in  the  near  view  of  heaven.  My  hope  in  Christ  is  worth  infin- 
itely more  than  all  other  things.  The  blood  of  Christ— the  blood  of 
Christ— none  but  Christ !  O  how  thankful  I  feel  that  God  has  pro- 
vided a  way  that  I,  sinful  as  I  am,  may  look  forward  with  joy  to  an- 
other world,  through  His  dear  Son." 

But  I  know  no  instance  of  more  systematic  and  long-continued  be- 
nevolence, nor  one  that  produced  greater  fruit  from  similar  resources, 


CONCLUSION.  669 

than  that  of  the  late  Mr.  Solomon  Goodell,  of  Vermont,  who  died 
when  about  seventy.  Mr.  Goodell  was  a  farmer.  The  following 
notice  of  him,  though  long,  will  be  read  with  interest.  It  is  from  a 
source  worthy  of  all  confidence : 

"About  the  year  1809,  the  writer  of  these  lines  observed  a  dona- 
tion of  $100  to  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  published  in  the 
annual  accounts  as  from  Mr.  Goodell.  Such  donations  were,  at  that 
time,  very  uncommon  in  this  country,  and  with  regard  to  that 
society,  nearly  or  quite  unprecedented.  The  thought  occurred,  that 
doubtless  some  gentleman  of  independent  fortune  had  thought  proper 
to  take  up  his  residence  in  the  interior  of  Vermont,  and  that  he  con- 
sidered the  society  just  named  a  good  channel  for  his  pious  benefi- 
cence. This  conclusion  was  strengthened  by  seeing  a  similar  donation 
from  the  same  source  at  the  return  of  each  successive  year  for  a  con- 
siderable period. 

"  When  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  began  its  opera- 
tions, Mr.  Goodell  did  not  wait  for  an  agent  to  visit  him,  but  sent  a 
message  (or  went  himself)  more  than  fifty  miles,  to  a  member  of  the 
Board,  saying  that  he  wished  to  subscribe  $500  for  immediate  use, 
and  $1,000  for  the  permanent  fund.  He  sent  $50  as  earnest-money, 
and  said  he  would  forward  the  remaining  $450  as  soon  as  he  could 
raise  that  sum;  and  would  pay  the  interest  annually  upon  the  $1,000 
until  the  principal  should  be  paid.  This  engagement  he  punctually 
complied  with,  paying  the  interest,  and  just  before  his  death  trans- 
ferred notes  and  bonds  secured  by  mortgages,  which  (including  the 
$1,000  above  mentioned)  amounted  to  $1,708  37 ;  that  is,  a  new 
donation  was  made  of  $708  37,  to  which  was  afterward  added  an- 
other bond  and  mortgage  of  $350. 

"  Before  this  last  transaction,  he  had  made  repeated  intermediate 
donations.  At  one  time  he  brought  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman,  of  Hat- 
field (the  member  of  the  Board  above  referred  to),  the  sum  of  $465. 
After  the  money  was  counted,  Dr.  Lyman  said  to  him,  '  I  presume, 
sir,  you  wish  this  sum  endorsed  upon  your  note  of  $1,000.'  4Oh, 
no,'  was  his  reply ;  *  I  believe  that  note  is  good  yet.  This  is  a  sepa- 
rate matter.'  He  then  expressed  his  wish  that  the  money  might  be 
remitted  toward  repairing  the  loss  sustained  by  the  Baptist  missiona- 
ries at  Serampore.  He  regretted  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  make 
the  sum  $500  ;  consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that  he  might  do  it 
still,  at  some  period  not  very  far  distant ;  and  said  that,  if  any  of  the 
bank-notes  proved  less  valuable  than  specie,  he  would  make  up  the 
deficiency. 

"  Mr.  Goodell  had  made  what  he  thought  suitable  provision  for  his 
children  as  he  passed  through  life.     After  consulting  his  wife,  he  left 


670  *         CONCLUSION. 

her  such  portion  of  his  estates  as  was  satisfactory  to  her,  gave  sev- 
eral small  legacies,  and  made  the  Board  his  residuary  legatee.  He 
supposed  that  the  property  left  to  the  Board  by  will  would  not  be 
less  than  $1,000  ;  but,  as  some  part  of  it  was,  and  still  is  unsaleable, 
the  exact  amount  can  not  be  stated.* 

"  On  visiting  Mr.  Goodell  at  his  house,  you  would  find  no  gentle- 
man with  an  independent  fortune,  but  a  plain  man  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, on  one  of  the  rudest  spots  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Green  Mountains,  every  dollar  of  whose  property  was  either  gained 
by  severe  personal  labor,  or  saved  by  strict  frugality,  or  received  as 
interest  on  small  sums  lent  to  his  neighbors.  His  house  was  com- 
fortable, but,  with  the  farm  on  which  it  stood,  was  worth  only  be- 
tween $700  and  $1,000.  His  income  was  derived  principally  from  a 
dairy. 

"  Besides  the  donations  above  mentioned,  Mr.  Goodell  made  many 
smaller  ones  to  missionary  societies  formed  to  send  the  Gospel  to 
new  settlements.  He  paid  fifty  dollars  or  more,  at  one  time,  to  a 
missionary  whom  he  employed  to  preach  in  the  destitute  towns  near 
him.  He  aided  in  the  education  of  pious  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
by  furnishing  them  with  money  for  their  necessary  expenses.  He 
discovered  no  ostentation,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  learn,  in 
his  religious  charities.  Certain  it  is  that  he  always  appeared  to  con- 
sider himself  as  the  obliged  party,  and  as  obtaining  a  favor  from 
societies  which  he  made  the  almoners  of  his  bounty.  Furthest  of  all 
was  he  from  supposing  that  his  charitable  exertions  could  make  any 
atonement  for  sin,  or  authorize  any  claims  upon  the  Divine  mercy. 
He  held  to  the  most  entire  self-renunciation,  and  to  dependence  upon 
Christ  alone." 

A  very  lovely  example  of  benevolence  is  to  be  found  in  one  of 
our  large  cities.  It  is  the  case  of  a  comparatively  young  man,  who 
was  born  of  parents  belonging  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  was 
taught  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed  by  his  pious 
mother ;  he  was  instructed  in  a  Presbyterian  Sunday-school,  learned 
his  occupation  (that  of  an  apothecary)  with  a  Baptist,  and  was  brought 
to  a  saving  knowledge  of  Christ  under  the  preaching  of  the  Metho- 
dists. After  having  gained  enough  to  furnish  a  comfortable  compe- 
tence to  those  of  his  family  who  are  dependent  upon  him,  he  now 
gives  all  his  nett  profits  to  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  his  Lord 
and  Master.  Nor  does  he  confine  his  charities  to  any  one  channel, 
or  to  any  one  denomination  of  Christians.     On  the  contrary,  his  de- 

*  In  the  summary  view  of  Mr.  Goodell'a  donations  in  aid  of  missions  to  the  heathen, 
we  find  that,  from  the  12th  of  February,  1812,  to  the  19th  of  November,  1816,  they 
amounted  to  $3,885  16. 


CONCLUSION.  671 

light  is  to  aid  every  good  work,  no  matter  by  whom  it  may  be  pros- 
ecuted. It  is  astonishing  to  learn  what  this  devoted  and  excellent 
young  man  has  been  able  to  do  during  the  period  of  ten  years. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  benevolence  I  have  known 
was  that  of  a  colored  woman,  who  gave  sixty  dollars  on  one  occasion 
to  educate  pious  but  poor  young  men  for  the  ministry.  She  sup- 
ported herself  by  her  labor  as  a  servant.  When  she  offered  the 
above  sum,  the  agent  refused  to  receive  it  all  until  pressed  by  the 
humble  donor,  who  said  that  she  had  reserved  five  dollars ;  that  she 
had  no  one  dependent  on  her,  and  that  she  hoped  to  earn  enough  to 
provide  for  her  wants  in  her  last  sickness,  and  for  her  funeral ;  nor  in 
this  was  she  disappointed.  She  often  gave  large  sums,  for  one  in  her 
circumstances,  and  rejoiced  to  have  it  in  her  power  to  do  any  thing 
for  Christ  and  His  cause. 

Would  that  I  could  say  that  such  benevolence  is  universal  among 
the  Christians  of  the  United  States.  Alas  !  all  that  is  done  by  too 
many  of  our  merchants  and  others,  who  profess  to  love  Him  who 
died  to  save  the  world,  is  in  reality  nothing  in  comparison  with  the 
means  which  they  have,  or  have  had.  Too  many  have  indulged 
in  a  luxurious  and  expensive  style  of  living,  while  they  knew  that 
men  were  dying  in  their  sins,  and  ignorant  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  for 
this  sin,  with  others,  that  God  has  caused  so  many  of  our  rich  Chris- 
tians to  lose  their  riches  in  the  commercial  and  financial  distress  with 
which  the  country  has  been  visited  during  the  last  few  years.  Nev- 
ertheless, it  is  certainly  true  that  the  spirit  of  benevolence  is  extend- 
ing itself  more  and  more  among  the  Christian  portion  of  the  com- 
munity. May  God  hasten  the  day  when  Christian  men,  in  all  spheres, 
will  deliberately  act  on  the  principle  of  glorifying  God  in  their  busi- 
ness, and  live  for  the  promotion  of  His  cause,  laboring  as  diligently 
to  make  money  for  this  high  purpose  as  they  now  do  for  their  own 
gratification.  Such  a  day  must  come,  or  I  see  not  how  the  world  is 
ever  to  be  converted  to  Christ. 

XVI.  Misconception  and  Misrepresentations  Abroad.  To 
notice  all  the  misconceptions  and  misrepresentations  which  are  prev- 
alent in  some,  if  not  in  all  portions  of  Europe,  respecting  the  relig- 
ious and  moral  condition  of  America,  is  wholly  impossible  in  a  work 
like  this ;  we  must,  therefore,  confine  our  attention  to  but  a  few  of 

them. 

1.  One  of  the  most  common  objections  against  the  religious  insti- 
tutions of  this  country  is,  that  they  have  not  prevented  the  bankrupt- 
cies and  other  species  of  dishonesty  which  have  here  occurred,  es- 
pecially a  few  years  since.  But  is  it  reasonable  to  make  the  relig- 
ious institutions  of  a  country  responsible  for  the  occurrence  of  such 


672  CONCLUSION. 

things  ?  Must  the  churches  in  America  be  blamed  for  the  unwise 
legislation  of  the  country,  as  well  general  as  local,  which  has  been 
the  primary  cause  of  the  overtrading  and  inordinate  speculation 
which  prevailed  some  years  ago,  and  which  was  so  disastrous  in  its 
reaction  ?  Must  they  be  accountable  for  the  avidity  with  which  the 
foreign  merchant,  manufacturer,  and  money-lender  encourage  the 
adventurous  American  merchant  and  trader  to  purchase  their  goods 
on  credit,  and  invest  their  money  in  American  stocks,  often  with 
little  or  no  effort  to  make  a  proper  discrimination  between  them? 
Must  they  be  expected  not  only  to  prevent  our  own  people,  whether 
in  an  individual  or  a  corporate  capacity,  from  committing  acts  of  ras- 
cality, but  also  to  exert  a  similar  influence  upon  the  foreign  adventur- 
ers, who  come  among  us  from  all  parts  of  the  Old  World  (and  their 
number  is  not  small),  the  real  object  of  many  of  whom  is  to  swindle 
the  American  creditor  out  of  all  they  can,  and  then  escape  to  Europe  ? 
Take  our  merchants  who  are  engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  and  I 
hesitate  not  to  say  that,  as  a  body,  they  have  acted  with  as  much 
good  faith  as  any  men  in  similar  circumstances  have  ever  done,  dur- 
ing the  years  of  commercial  and  financial  difficulty  through  which 
the  country  has  passed.  Many  of  them  ruined  themselves  in  endeav- 
oring to  meet  their  engagements  abroad,  by  paying  an  exorbitant 
interest  on  the  loans  which  they  made  for  that  purpose.  I  speak 
here  of  them  as  a  body;  that  there  have  been  instances  of  dishon- 
esty among  them  will  not  be  denied,  nor  will  any  one  be  astonished 
at  it. 

Our  General  Government  has  not  failed  to  meet  its  engagements, 
nor  is  it  likely  to  do  so.  And  as  to  our  thirty-one  States  and  seven 
Territories,  more  than  one  third  of  them  have  no  debts  whatever ; 
more  than  another  third  have  not  failed  for  a  single  day  to  meet 
their  engagements ;  and  of  those  which  for  a  time  failed  to  do  so, 
only  one  has  avowed  and  acted  upon  the  doctrine  of  "  repudiation," 
and  that  in  the  case  of  a  loan  which  the  Legislature  of  that  State  be- 
lieved to  have  been  fraudulently  contracted.  But  this  doctrine  of 
repudiation  is  itself  repudiated  with  scorn  in  all  other  parts  of  the 
Union,  and  will  be  so  in  the  State  in  which  it  had  its  origin.  Some 
of  our  States  were  for  awhile  not  able  to  meet  the  engagements 
which  they  made  a  few  years  ago  in  the  enormous  loans  they  had 
contracted  at  home  and  abroad,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  extensive 
lines  of  canals  and  railroads  which  they  undertook  during  the  years 
of  unbounded,  and,  I  must  say,  unnatural  prosperity  that  the  coun- 
try enjoyed.  But  they  will  fulfill  all  these  engagements  faithfully ; 
they  have  not  repudiated.     On  this  subject,  the  following  extract 


CONCLUSION.  673 

from  a  sermon  preached  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,*  on  a  public  oc- 
casion, a  few  years  ago,  expresses  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  every 
Christian  minister  in  the  land. 

"  The  doctrine  of  repudiation,  upon  which  the  changes  have  been 
rung  throughout  Europe  to  our  great  discredit,  has,  I  am  happy  to 
believe,  but  few  advocates  in  our  Commonwealth.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  in  point  of  honor  and  morality  in  admitting  the  justice  of 
a  claim,  but  inability  to  meet  it,  and  denying  that  any  such  claim 
exists.  Men,  whose  honesty  is  above  suspicion,  sometimes  become 
involved,  and  are  utterly  unable  to  meet  their  engagements.  It  may 
be  so  with  a  community,  a  State,  or  a  nation.  It  is  deeply  to  be 
lamented  that  such  an  exigency  should  ever  occur.  The  effect  is 
eminently  disastrous  in  impairing  public  confidence,  and  weakening 
the  ties  which  should  bind  men  together  as  a  great  common  brother- 
hood. But  poverty  is  not  necessarily  a  crime  in  a  government  any 
more  than  it  is  in  an  individual.  Public  engagements  may  not  be 
met  at  the  time,  and  yet  the  public  faith  may  eventually  be  preserved 
inviolate.  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  defence  of  those  who  advocate 
the  doctrine  of  repudiation  in  any  form  or  under  any  circumstances. 
They  deserve  all  the  obloquy  and  reproach  which  are  heaped  upon 
them.  It  is  nothing  better  than  public  swindling,  where  the  means 
of  redress  are  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  those  who  are  wronged. 
It  matters  not  a  particle  that  the  money  borrowed  has  been  misap- 
plied, or  squandered  in  projects  which  yield  no  profit.  This  is  our 
misfortune,  or,  it  may  be,  our  fault.  But  it  does  not  make  void  a 
solemn  compact,  in  which  the  public  faith  has  been  pledged.  I  can 
not  believe  that  the  mischievous,  disgraceful  sentiments  which  have 
been  promulgated  by  a  few  on  this  subject,  will  meet  with  any  thing 
like  general  favor.  Our  resources,  our  love  of  justice,  and  our  honor 
abroad  and  at  home,  all  forbid  such  a  resort  to  relieve  ourselves  from 
a  pecuniary  pressure.  It  is  better  to  submit  to  any  personal  sacrifices 
than  to  bear  the  stigma  of  making  loud  professions  and  solemn  prom- 
ises to  swindle  honest  and  unsuspecting  creditors.  Our  debts  to  the 
last  cent  must  be  paid,  whatever  struggles  the  effort  may  cost.  On 
this  point  there  must  be  no  shuffling  or  evasion,  but  an  honest  ac- 
knowledgment of  our  responsibilities,  and  a  steady  and  honest  aim 
to  meet  them.  With  this  disposition  prevalent,  and  proved  by  cor- 
responding action,  the  voice  of  vituperation  and  abuse  will  be  hushed, 
and  our  enemies  abroad  and  at  home  will  confess  that  they  have  been 
too  hasty  and  rash  in  their  opinions  of  our  national  integrity." 

We  are  willing  that  religion  should  be  held  accountable  for  a  great 

*  By  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rood,  at  that  time  pastor  of  one  of  the  Presbyterian  churches 
in  that  city. 

43 


674  CONCLUSION'. 

deal ;  but  we  are  not  willing  that  the  Churches  in  America  should  be 
blamed  for  not  preventing  what  the  Churches  in  no  other  countries 
have  been  able  to  prevent.  The  members  proper  of  all  our  Churches, 
evangelical  and  unevangelical,  do  not  exceed  a  fifth  part  of  our  popu- 
lation ;  and  though  the  influence  which  they  exert  is  unquestionably 
as  salutary  as  that  of  any  other  body  of  equal  number  in  the  world, 
yet  it  is  obvious  they  can  not  control  circumstances  such  as  I  have 
alluded  to.  Would  the  Churches  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Holland, 
Germany,  or  any  other  country,  like  to  be  held  responsible  for  all  the 
acts  of  legislation,  domestic  and  foreign,  of  their  respective  countries, 
and  all  the  villainies  which  have  been  and  are  annually  perpetrated  in 
them  ?  I  think  not ;  nor  should  they  apply  to  their  brethren  in 
America  a  rule  by  which  they  would  not  like  to  be  measured  them- 
selves.* 

2.  The  Political  disturbances  which  occur  in  America  are  not  un- 
frequently  spoken  of  in  Europe  in  a  way  that  conveys  a  reflection 
upon  the  Churches  of  this  land,  as  if  they  ought  to  prevent  these 
things.  That  these  disturbances  do  take  place,  no  one  will  deny. 
There  is  not  a  good  man  in  the  United  States  who  did  not  lament 
what  were  called  the  "Abolition  Riots,"  and  other  disgraceful  scenes 
which  occurred  there  some  years  since.  These  disturbances,  how- 
ever, were  very  greatly  exaggerated  as  to  their  frequency  and  their 
extent,  in  the  reports  which  reached  Europe.  Our  newsmongers, 
in  their  eagerness  to  concoct  a  piquant  article  of  news  for  those  for 
whom  they  cater,  often  give  the  most  astounding  exaggerations  of 
what  was  a  dispute  or  open  quarrel  between  some  firemen,  or  be- 
tween the  blacks  and  whites  in  the  suburbs  of  our  cities,  or  affrays 
between  the  "  native"  population  and  the  "  foreign,"  or  the  interrup- 
tion which  some  lecturer  on  slavery  has  encountered  in  some  of  our 
villages.f     These  representations  go  abroad,  are   circulated  there, 

*  A  great  deal  has  been  Baid  in  Europe,  by  men  who  have  traveled  in  America, 
respecting  the  impositions  which  they  have  suffered  in  this  country.  There  is  no 
Christian  man  in  the  United  States  who  is  not  distressed  when  he  hears  of  such 
things.  But  is  it  just  to  blame  the  whole  people  of  a  land  and  their  religious  institu- 
tions for  such  occurrences  ?  The  author  of  this  book  has  traveled  much  in  every 
country  in  Europe,  and  he  can  affirm,  with  truth,  that  he  has  suffered  impositions, 
and  some  of  them  very  gross,  in  them  all ;  but  he  would  deem  himself  utterly  desti- 
tute of  common  sense,  as  well  as  of  that  charity  which  his  religion  requires,  if  he  were 
to  judge  the  people  of  any  of  those  countries  by  such  instances. 

\  Much  also  has  been  said  in  Europe  about  the  prejudice  that  exists  in  America 
against  the  colored  people,  and  the  difficulty  of  the  two  races  living  together.  But 
it  is  a  singular  and  indisputable  fact,  that  almost  all  the  disturbances  (and  these, 
after  all,  do  not  amount  to  much)  that  occur  between  the  blacks  and  whites  in  the 
suburbs  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  cities,  take  place  between  the  former 
and  the  Germans  and  Irish  who  live  in  those  districts. 


CONCLUSION".  675 

and  lead  many  people  to  think  that  our  whole  country  is  in  a  con- 
tinual state  of  disorder.  But  every  American  knows  how  to  appre- 
ciate these  reports,  and  is  no  way  concerned  about  them,  except  to 
regret  their  occurrence.  Indeed,  neither  their  frequency  nor  then- 
nature  is  such  as  to  give  him  any  serious  apprehensions.  For  these 
things  are  local,  unfrequent,  and  wholly  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  the  bruit  which  our  newspapers  make  about  them.  And  they 
no  more  affect  the  peace  of  the  country  than  the  passing  cloud  ruffles 
the  bosom  of  our  beautiful  lakes. 

Within  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  there  have  been  some  dis- 
graceful instances  of  summary  punishment,  without  the  intervention 
of  a  proper  trial  before  the  courts  of  law,  in  the  case  of  some  gamblers, 
swindlers,  and  negroes  (who  had  committed  shocking  crimes)  in  some 
of  our  South-western  States  and  Territories.  But  these  instances  have 
hardly  exceeded  in  number  that  of  the  years  in  which  they  have  oc- 
curred. They  took  place,  too,  in  a  part  of  the  country  which  is  new, 
and  very  thinly  settled ;  where  religious  institutions  have  scarcely 
taken  root,  and  where  the  forms  in  which  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice is  carried  on  have  hardly  begun  to  exist.  However  much  every 
well-informed,  good  man  in  America  must  lament  these  things,  he 
can  not  but  be  less  astonished  at  their  occurrence  than  at  the  infre- 
quency  of  them.*  No  man  can  look  at  the  great  extent  of  even  the 
settled  portion  of  the  United  States,  the  long  line  of  sea-coast  which 
bounds  the  country  on  the  east,  south,  and  west ;  of  wilderness  and 
mountain-ranges  in  the  centre,  and  the  forests  that  abound  almost 
everywhere,  furnishing  innumerable  facilities  for  the  commission 
of  crime  and  escape  from  punishment,  without  being  surprised  that 
we  have  had  so  few  disturbances  of  a  serious  character,  especially 
when  we  have  had  so  large  a  foreign  element,  with  all  its  concomi- 
tant evils,  to  augment  the  difficulty  of  our  position.  It  would  require 
the  army  of  the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  to  keep  up  a  strong  armed 
police,  which  some  upbraid  us  for  not  having,  and  which  would  be 
necessary,  if  it  were  not  that  the  moral  influence  that  pervades  the 
country — and  owes  its  existence  to  our  religious  institutions — fur- 
nishes a  substitute  infinitely  better.    We  have  had  three  attempts, 

*  When  we  speak  of  the  instances  of  disorders  that  sometimes  occur  in  the 
South-western  and  Western  districts  of  the  country,  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  the 
remarkable  instances  of  the  triumph  of  order  which  are  also  sometimes  witnessed  in 
them,  amid  very  peculiar  circumstances.  Some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago,  a  man 
committed  murder  at  the  lead  mines  of  Dubuque,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Iowa,  be- 
fore there  was  any  sort  of  political  government  established  there.  The  people  as- 
sembled of  their  own  accord,  arrested  the  murderer,  chose  judges,  constituted  a  court, 
and  gave  him  a  fair  trial  before  a  jury.  He  was  condemned  after  such  a  trial,  and 
peaceably  executed. 


676  CONCLUSION. 

one  in  Pennsylvania,  one  in  South  Carolina,  and  one  in  Rhode  Island, 
not  to  overthrow  the  political  institutions  of  the  country,  but  to  ob- 
tain redress  of  grievances,  real  or  imaginary,  in  an  extra-constitu- 
tional way ;  and  yet  all  three  were  suppressed  without  the  loss  of  one 
life  taken  away  either  in  battle  or  by  the  administration  of  law.  To 
what  was  this  owing  ?  To  the  patience,  the  conciliation,  and  the  due 
use  of  argument  winch  the  Christianity  of  the  country  could  alone 
inspire  and  teach.* 

A  few  other  facts  may  be  stated  to  show  the  happy  influence  which 
Christianity  exerts  in  the  United  States  in  securing  the  maintenance 
of  order  in  a  nation  of  at  present  twenty-seven,  if  not  twenty-seven 
and  a  half  millions. 

Notwithstanding  the  unbounded  facilities  for  highway  robberies 
in  almost  all  sections  of  the  country,  who  has  ever  heard  of  the  exist- 
ence of  hordes  of  banditti  either  in  our  mountains  or  our  forests  ? 
And  how  few  highway  robberies  and  murders,  comparatively,  have 
ever  taken  place  in  this  country.  In  many  of  the  Western  States,  a 
solitary  man,  or  even  a  boy,  may  be  seen  carrying  the  mail  on  horse- 
back through  unbroken  forests,  from  town  to  town,  in  perfect  secur- 
ity. With  such  a  population  as  is  to  be  found  in  most  countries  in 
Europe,  could  such  a  thing  be  done  with  safety  ? 

There  have  been  seasons  of  great  excitement,  when  the  nation  was 
agitated  to  its  centre.  For  instance,  during  times  of  unparalleled 
commercial  distress,  when  so  many  banks,  and  so  many  of  our  best 
merchants  and  traders,  our  enterprising  mechanics  and  manufacturers 
— and,  indeed  so  many  men  in  all  the  walks  of  industry,  and  in  every 
station  of  life — were  ruined.  How  was  all  this  borne  ?  Was  there 
the  slightest  attempt  to  seek  redress  by  revolution  ?  No.  The  gov- 
ernment was  severely  blamed  ;  all  these  evils  were  believed,  by  prob- 
ably a  majority  of  the  people,  to  have  been  occasioned  by  unwise 
legislation,  obstinately  persevered  in ;  and  yet  not  a  gun  was  seized, 

*  That  the  political  institutions  of  the  United  States  rest  upon  a  pretty  sure  basis, 
and  are  deeply  planted  in  the  affections  of  the  people,  is  most  certain,  whatever  in- 
ferences foreigners  may  sometimes  make  from  the  language  uttered  in  moments  of 
irritation  and  despondency  by  the  organs  of  our  political  parties  in  the  hour  of  defeat 
or  disappointment.  In  proof  of  this,  the  fact  might  be  cited  that  two  newspapers 
have  been  published  for  several  years  in  the  city  of  New  York,  one  in  French  and  the 
other  in  English,  which  ably  advocate  the  principles  of  monarchy  as  it  exists  in 
France  and  England,  and  often  attack  the  measures  and  sometimes  vilify  the  political 
institutions  of  the  country  which  furnishes  them  hospitality  and  protection.  And 
what  is  the  effect  ?  These,  perhaps,  are  read  by  the  foreigners  among  us — for  whom 
they  are  in  fact  published — and  by  some  of  our  own  people.  But  no  American  has 
the  slightest  regard  for  what  they  say,  nor  does  the  Government  for  a  moment  trouble 
itself  about  them. 


CONCLUSION.  677 

not  a  sword  was  drawn,  and  not  one  human  life  was  lost  during  the 
long  and  dreadful  crisis.  The  only  resort  was  to  the  ballot-box,  as 
our  elections  are  often  termed. 

Take  another  instance.  The  autumn  of  1840  witnessed  the  greatest 
political  struggle  which  the  country  has  ever  seen.  The  question 
was  that  of  maintaining  or  of  overthrowing  the  party  in  power,  in 
the  election  of  a  President.  Nearly  two  millions  and  a  half  of  men 
resorted  to  their  respective  places  of  voting,  and  gave  their  votes  for 
one  or  the  other  of  the  two  candidates.  The  excitement  was  almost 
unparalleled.  At  every  poll,  or  place  of  holding  the  election,  crowds 
of  people  assembled  on  the  day  which  was  to  decide  the  question ; 
and  yet  not  one  person  was  either  killed  or  injured,  so  far  as  I  have 
heard,  in  this  great  political  contest.  Could  such  a  thing  have  oc- 
curred in  the  British  realms,  or  in  France,  or  any  other  country  in 
the  world  ?     I  believe  not.* 

In  the  British  realm,  if  we  suppose  the  population  to  be  twenty 
seven  millions  and  a  half  (we  speak  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
the  islands  adjacent),  there  is  one  regular  soldier  for  about  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  individuals  ;  in  France,  the  army  of  the  line  is  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  by  which  if  we  divide  the  population  of 
the  kingdom,  now  thirty-six  millions,  we  have  one  soldier  for  eighty 
inhabitants;  while  in  the  United  States — whose  standing  army  was,  for 
the  period  of  more  than  twenty  years  which  immediately  succeeded 
1815,  but  six  thousand  officers  and  men,  and  was  on  August  1st,  1855, 
only  twelve  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-nine — there  is  one 
soldier  to  about  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty  individuals  in 
the  population.  And  yet  there  has  been  many  a  single  year  in  which 
more  people  have  been  killed  in  broils  and  emeutes  (insurrections) 
in  both  France  and  the  British  realm,  than  have  lost  their  lives  in 
all  the  "  mobs"  and  "  riots" — political,  religious,  anti-abolitional,  anti- 
gambling,  etc. — that  have  occurred  in  the  United  States  since  the 
independence  of  the  country  was  established,  eighty  years  ago. 
What  a  refutation  does  this  fact  furnish  of  all  the  miserable  charges 
which  are  heard  in  Europe  respecting  the  "  riots,"  "  disorders,"  etc., 
alleged  to  be  continually  occurring  in  America ! 

Nothing  strikes  more  the  observation  of  one  who  comes  from  the 
Old  "World — where  he  can  not  turn  the  corner  of  a  street  in  the 

*  Some  eighteen  years  ago,  there  were  more  serious  broils  and  more  lives  lost  in 
the  political  struggles  in  Canada,  on  our  borders,  though  under  the  strong  gov- 
ernment of  England,  and  in  presence  of  a  standing  army  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
thousand  men,  than  have  taken  place  in  the  United  States  from  the  first.  And 
yet  Canada  had  not  then  more  than  eleven  or  twelve  hundred  thousand  inhab- 
itants. 


678  CONCLUSION. 

principal  cities  and  towns,  especially  on  the  Continent,  without  meet- 
ing a  soldier — upon  his  landing  in  the  United  States,  than  the  al- 
most complete  absence  of  all  military  force.  How  is  it  that  such 
force  can  be  dispensed  with  ?  Only  because  of  the  wide-spread  and 
salutary  influence  of  Christianity.  If  we  have  "  disturbances"  and 
"riots"  sometimes — which  will  not  be  denied — we  have  fewer  of 
them  than  any  other  country  of  equal  population  in  the  world. 

3.  The  American  people  have  been  represented  sometimes  by 
foreigners  as  being  an  immoral  people.  Now,  although  I  know  it 
is  not  easy  to  reply  to  such  charges  in  a  satisfactory  manner  in  the 
very  restricted  space  which  I  must  allow  to  them,  nevertheless,  I  will 
say  a  few  words  upon  this  topic. 

That  there  are  vices  and  crimes  in  America,  and  in  no  inconsider- 
able amount,  is  both  acknowledged  and  deplored.  But  that  they 
exist  to  such  an  extent  as  to  justify  the  assertion  that  the  American 
people  are,  par  excellence,  an  immoral  nation,  is  denied. 

It  is  certainly  not  extraordinary,  as  was  well  remarked  a  few  years 
ago  by  a  writer  in  the  "  Westminster  Review,"  that  there  should 
be  in  the  United  States  swindlers,  counterfeiters,  thieves,  bigamists, 
murderers,  and  other  criminals,  since,  in  addition  to  those  of  indigen- 
ous growth,  they  receive  so  many  from  the  Old  World.  This  is  a 
correct  view  of  the  subject.  For  it  is  a  fact,  that  while  there  are 
cases  in  which  foreign  criminals,  especially  those  who  have  committed 
crimes  which  most  deeply  affect  the  conscience  and  heart,  who  have 
come  to  our  shores  and  changed  their  names,  reform  and  do  well  in 
a  land  where  their  past  history  is  unknown  (and  certainly  the  friends 
of  humanity  must  rejoice  that  it  is  so),  there  are  very  many  in  which 
it  is  otherwise.  A  man  who  has  been  a  thief,  a  robber,  a  counter- 
feiter, a  bigamist,  in  Europe,  is  not  likely  to  reform  in  America,  un- 
less arrested  by  God's  grace.  There  is  more  hope  of  a  man  who  has 
committed  manslaughter,  or  even  murder,  than  of  him. 

A  few  general  statements  will,  however,  best  express  all  that  I 
have  to  say  on  this  subject. 

With  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Scotland,  there  is  no  country  in 
Christendom  where  the  Sabbath  is  as  well  observed  as  it  is  in  the 
United  States.  Of  this  any  one  who  has  extensively  traveled  in  the 
Old  World  can  not  fail  to  be  convinced  when  he  lands  at  any  of  our 
cities,  I  care  not  which,  excepting  New  Orleans,  which  is  more  of  a 
foreign  city  than  any  other.  It  is  the  capital  of  what  may  still 
be  called  a  French  State,  where  American  influence,  though  fast 
gaining  ground,  is  still  inferior  to  that  of  the  French  and  Spanish 
who  remain  in  it.     But  the  Protestant  religion,  when  it  gains  the 


CONCLUSION,  679 

ascendancy,  will  produce  there  the  same  good  effects  in  this  respect 
as  elsewhere.* 

Although  thieves  and  robbers  are  not  wanting  in  our  large  cities 
and  towns,  where,  all  the  world  over,  such  people  most  congregate 
and  find  the  greatest  facilities  for  their  nefarious  vocation,  yet,  taking 
the  country  at  large,  it  will  be  difficult  to  name  another  where  prop- 
erty is  more  safe,  or  where  people  live  in  greater  security. 

As  to  murder,  the  most  horrible  of  all  crimes,  the  most  exact 
enumeration  has  seldom  been  able  to  show  that  more  than  one  hun- 
dred cases  have  occurred  (and  some  years  not  much  more  than  one 
half  that  number),  in  any  one  year.  This  number  is  sufficient  to 
excite  deep  distress  in  the  heart  of  every  good  man ;  but  it  is  less 
than  that  which  takes  place  in  many  other  countries  between  which 
and  ours  comparisons  on  this  point  as  well  as  others  are  sometimes 
instituted.  For  instance,  in  England  and  Wales  alone,  since  the  year 
1812,  the  number  of  convictions  for  murder  has  varied  from  sixty  to 
seventy-five,  while  the  executions  have  been  in  the  proportion  of 
about  one  to  four  of  the  convictions.  Were  the  comparison  to  be 
made  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  it 
would  be  most  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  former.  The  murders  in 
France  are  not  only  more  frequent  than  those  of  the  United  States, 
but  often  more  diabolically  savage  and  shocking,  as  the  records  of 
her  criminal  courts  clearly  show.f 

And  though  there  is  a  considerable  amount  of  prostitution  in  some 

*  As  to  traveling  on  the  Sabbath,  there  is  every  prospect  that  the  establishment 
of  railroad  and  steamboat  lines,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  just  sentiments  which 
prevail  among  the  pious  and  strictly  moral  portion  of  the  population,  will,  in  time, 
almost  put  an  end  to  it,  especially  on  the  long  and  important  routes.  Railroad  and 
steamboat  companies  already  know  that  they  gain  nothing  by  running  their  cars 
and  their  boats  on  the  Sabbath,  owing  to  the  comparative  fewness  of  the  travelers 
on  that  day.  By  stopping  their  cars  and  their  boats  on  that  day,  they  will  save  a 
considerable  portion  of  their  expenses,  give  their  laborers  and  agents  the  rest  they 
need,  and  be  sure  of  having  on  Monday  the  persons  whom  they  would  otherwise 
have  carried  on  Sunday.  Indeed,  if  it  were  not  for  the  carrying  of  the  mail  on  the 
part  of  the  government,  there  would  be  no  great  difficulty  in  causing  the  cars  and 
steamboats  to  cease  on  the  principal  routes. 

f  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  murders  which  are  committed  in  the  United 
States  are  committed  by  foreigners.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  robberies  and 
other  great  crimes  which  occur  among  us.  Almost  all  the  riots  which  take  place  in 
our  Atlantic  States  are  made  by  Irish  and  Germans  congregated  in  the  suburbs  of 
our  cities,  or  working  on  our  railroads  and  canals.  Indeed,  it  is  this  foreign  element 
which  gives  us  the  greatest  difficulty  in  almost  every  thing.  Not  only  are  very 
many  of  our  criminals  foreigners,  but  they  form  a  large  proportion — in  some  places 
a  majority — of  the  persons  in  our  hospitals.  This  is  not  stated  as  a  reproach,  but 
as  a  fact. 


680  CONCLUSION. 

of  our  large  cities  on  the  sea-board — as,  for  instance,  New  York,* 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  New  Orleans — and  something  of  it  in 
the  largest  interior  cities,  yet,  take  the  nation  as  a  whole,  there  is  far 
less  of  this  sin  than  is  to  be  found  in  most  countries  in  Europe.  In 
many  of  our  cities  and  towns  of  ten  and  twenty  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, public  prostitution  is  almost  unknown.  Scarcely  any  thing  of 
the  sort  is  openly  seen  in  Boston,  and  other  chief  places  in  New 
England.  In  no  nation  in  the  world,  I  am  sure,  is  there  a  greater 
amount  of  virtue  among  ladies,  both  married  and  unmarried,  taken 
as  a  body.  Foreigners  are  shocked  at  the  familiarity  which  subsists 
between  the  youth  of  both  sexes  with  us ;  but  foreigners,  if  they 
knew  well  the  domestic  life  of  our  people,  would  know  that  this 
familiarity  seldom  leads  to  evil  consequences  in  neighborhoods  where 
the  Gospel  exerts  its  powerful  influences.  The  youth  of  our  relig- 
ious families  are  brought  up  under  a  strong  moral  influence,  and  are 
taught  to  have  confidence  in  each  other,  and  in  themselves ;  above 
all,  they  are  taught  to  fear  God.  From  their  earliest  years  the 
children  of  both  sexes  frequent  the  same  common  schools.  Even 
until  quite  grown  up,  in  many  districts  they  go  to  school  together 
in  the  winter  season.  And  yet,  how  seldom  has  any  evil  resulted. 
There  are  countries  in  Europe — it  would  be  invidious  to  mention 
them — where  such  a  thing  could  not  be  done  with  safety  to  their 
morals,  and  even  where  it  is  thought  dangerous  to  allow  grown  girls 
to  be  taught  by  a  male  teacher. 

We  have,  indeed,  enough  of  the  sin  of  uncleanness  to  mourn  over ; 
and  yet,  in  comparison  with  the  state  of  many  other  countries,  we 
have  great  reason  to  bless  God  for  the  hallowed  influences  which  His 
Gospel  diffuses  among  us.f     If  we  have  many,  too  many,  alas !  among 

*  I  have  read,  with  great  astonishment,  some  remarks  of  Mr.  Tait,  of  Edinburg, 
on  prostitution  in  New  York,  to  be  found  in  his  work  on  Magdalenism  (p.  5),  and 
referred  to  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  "Wardlaw  in  his  excellent  Lectures  on  Prostitution.  The 
sum  of  Mr.  Tait's  statement  is,  that  "  that  city  furnishes  a  prostitute  for  every  six  or 
seven  adults  of  its  male  population."  I  have  lived  much  in  New  York,  and  know 
something  of  its  moral  state ;  and  I  affirm  that  this  statement,  founded  on  an  ex- 
aggerated report  published  by  the  Magdalen  Society  of  that  city,  some  twenty-five 
years  ago,  is  quite  incorrect,  and  in  no  way  approximates  to  the  truth. 

f  I  have  sometimes  been  amazed  to  hear  the  remarks  of  foreigners  who  have  un- 
dertaken to  be  censors  of  American  morals.  A  certain  visitant  from  Europe,  who 
has  written  three  or  four  volumes  about  America,  and  has  undertaken  to  represent 
the  American  cities  as  remarkable  for  the  prevalence  of  prostitution,  did,  neverthe- 
less, when  at  the  dinner-table  of  a  gentleman  in  Philadelphia,  boast  of  his  having 
visited  half  of  the  houses  of  infamy  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  declared  his  inten- 
tion to  visit  all  the  rest  upon  his  return  to  that  city — as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  as  he 
said! 

A  young  gentleman,  who  resides  in  a  city  not  one  hundred  miles  from  that  in 


CONCLUSION.  681 

us  who  have  not  submitted  their  hearts  to  these  influences,  there  are, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  great  many  who  have,  and  who  are  the  "  salt  of 
the  earth,"  and  the  "  light  of  the  world." 

"We  may  be  charged,  as  a  people,  with  being  rude,  and  wanting  in 
habitual  politeness  in  our  manners.  Witlings  who  visit  us  to  find 
subjects  on  which  to  employ  their  pens,  and  with  which  to  garnish 
their  worthless  pages,  may  accomplish  their  ends,  and  carry  home 
portfolios  laden  with  stories  respecting  the  oddities  and  awkwardness 
which  they  have  remarked  among  certain  classes ;  but  beneath  the 
rough  and  unpolished  exterior  of  our  people  there  will  be  found  much 
sincere  benevolence,  as  well  as  many  of  those  other  enduring  virtues 
which  conduce  to  social  happiness.*     We  are,  comparatively,  a  new 

which  this  work  was  written,  lately  visited  America,  and  spent  two  years  there.  On 
his  return  home,  he  spoke  disparagingly  of  the  religious  state  of  the  country,  and 
charged  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  and  especially  those  of  the  respectable  body 
of  Friends,  with  being  extremely  loose  in  their  morals,  and  unfaithful  to  their  conju- 
gal relations.  And  yet  this  same  young  man  boasted  of  his  having  given,  when 
among  a  tribe  of  Indians  on  our  borders,  a  rifle  to  a  chief  in  exchange  for  his  daugh- 
ter :  and  that  after  he  had  lived  with  her  as  his  wife  for  three  months,  he  abandoned 
her !  The  wickedness  of  such  persons  is  not  so  wonderful  as  their  intolerable  inso- 
lence in  undertaking  to  misrepresent  and  slander  a  whole  people.  But  so  it  ever  will 
be ;  bad  men  seek  to  hide  their  own  infamy  in  charging  others  with  the  sins  of  which 
they  are  themselves  guilty. 

*  Among  other  charges  brought  against  the  Americans  is  one  which  I  must  not 
omit  to  remark  upon.  It  is,  that  they  have  no  discipline  in  their  families ;  that  their 
children  grow  up  in  insubordination,  pride,  insolence,  and  want  of  respect  for  old  age 
and  parental  authority.  All  this  is  inferred  from  the  reports  of  foreigners  (who,  gen- 
erally, have  had  no  very  good  opportunities  of  knowing  the  interior  life  of  the  families 
which  they  may  have  visited),  or  from  some  poor  specimens  of  American  families 
which  have  gone  abroad,  or  from  what  they  suppose  must  be  the  effects  of  republican 
institutions ;  just  as  if  republican  institutions  will  not  tolerate,  or,  rather,  do  not  re- 
quire, due  subordination  and  discipline. 

Now  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  are  weak-minded  and  foolish  parents  in 
America,  as  well  as  in  other  countries,  who  do  not  govern  well  their  children ;  but  it 
is  their  own  fault,  and  not  that  of  the  institutions,  religious  or  political,  or  the  coun- 
try. On  the  other  hand,  we  have  parents,  and  not  a  few,  who  are  as  rigid  in  the 
government  of  their  children  as  are  the  Scotch  themselves ;  we  have  few  teachers 
who  can  not,  or  who  do  not,  punish  their  scholars  with  the  rod,  if  need  be ;  there  is 
not  a  college  in  the  land  that  would  not,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  expel  from 
its  halls  the  sons  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  nation,  if  they  deserved  it,  as  I  have  my- 
self witnessed.  In  our  army,  it  is  true  that  it  is  no  longer  allowed  to  flog  men,  save 
as  a  commutation  for  the  punishment  of  death ;  but  other  and  severe  modes  of  pun- 
ishing, though  less  degrading,  are  permitted.  While  in  our  navy,  the  discipline,  I 
believe,  was,  till  lately,  the  most  severe  in  the  world.  Not  very  many  years  since,  the 
commandant  of  a  petty  brig  of  war  hung  up  three  men  for  alleged  mutiny,  under  the 
most  remarkable  circumstances ;  one  of  them  was  a  son  of  one  of  the  first  officers  of 
the  government.  This  instance  was  summary  in  its  nature,  quite  without  a  parallel ; 
and  how  was  it  borne  by  the  nation  ?    The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people,  in- 


682  •  CONCLUSION. 

people ;  this  is  emphatically  true  of  a  large  portion  of  our  popula- 
tion. And  notwithstanding  our  vices,  whether  of  native  or  foreign 
origin,  there  is  among  us  a  vast  amount  of  practical  and  efficient 
goodness.  We  have  much  to  learn,  but  I  trust  we  shall  not  be  slow 
to  imitate  whatever  is  excellent  in  the  manners  or  the  deeds  of  other 
nations. 

4.  But  the  last  topic  which  I  shall  mention,  on  which  we  have 
been  the  subjects  of  more  misrepresentation  and  abuse  than  any  other, 
is  slavery.  On  this  difficult  and  humiliating  question  I  can  not  enter 
into  detail.  It  would  require  a  volume  to  say  all  that  might  be  said 
about  it,  and  even  all  that  ought  to  be  said,  in  order  to  make  our 
position  fully  comprehended  by  foreigners.   I  can  say  only  a  few  words. 

Slavery  is  an  inheritance  which  the  Old  World  bequeathed  to 
the  New.  England,  France,  Spain,  and  Holland,  all  contributed  their 
respective  shares  to  its  introduction  and  establishment  in  what  is  now 
the  United  States.  Several  of  the  colonies  remonstrated  against 
the  bringing  in  of  slaves  among  them.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  Sla- 
very was  fastened  upon  them  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  com- 
merce of  the  mother-country,  England.  And  when  the  struggle 
came,  by  which  the  colonies  were  dissevered  from  Great  Britain, 
slavery  was  one  of  the  causes  which  led  to  that  event ;  and  of  all 
the  portions  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  it  was  originally 
drawn  up  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  most  severe  Avas  that  which  related 
to  the  slave-trade.*  As  opposition  was  made  to  it  by  some  of  the 
members,  it  was  stricken  out  in  order  to  secure  entire  unanimity. 

The  war  of  independence  found  slavery  existing  in  all  the  thirteen 
colonies.  During  its  progress,  or  soon  after  its  close,  the  original  four 
New  England  States,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut, 
and  Rhode  Island,  abolished  slavery  within  their  respective  limits. 

eluding  almost  the  whole  of  the  religious  portion  of  them,  approved  of  the  act. 
Would  such  things  be  tolerated  in  a  nation  in  which  there  is  no  domestic  govern- 
ment?   I  think  not. 

*  It  was  in  these  words :  "  He  (the  King  of  England)  has  waged  cruel  war  against 
human  nature  itself,  violating  its  most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons 
of  a  distant  people,  who  never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carrying  them  into 
slavery  in  another  hemisphere,  or  to  more  miserable  death  in  their  transportation 
thither.  This  piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  infidel  powers,  is  the  warfare  of 
the  Christian  King  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep  open  a  market  where  men 
should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  has  prostituted  his  prerogative  for  suppressing  every 
legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  restrain  this  execrable  commerce.  And  that  this 
assemblage  of  horrors  might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished  dye,  he  is  now  exciting 
these  very  people  to  rise  in  arms  among  us,  and  to  purchase  that  liberty  of  which  he 
has  deprived  them,  by  murdering  the  people  on  whom  he  also  has  obtruded  them ; 
thus  paying  off  former  crimes  committed  against  the  liberties  of  one  people,  with 
crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  commit  against  the  lives  of  another." 


CONCLUSION.  683 

Some  years  later,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York  followed. 
In  process  of  time  Vermont  and  Maine,  in  New  England,  and  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan,  in  the  West,  were  formed  into  States 
without  slavery.  To  these  we  may  add  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Califor- 
nia. On  the  other  hand,  the  six  original  slaveholding  States,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
remain  such  to  the  present  day,  and  to  them  have  been  added,  in  the 
west  and  south-west,  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Texas,  and  Florida.  And 
the  number  of  slaves  has  augmented  from  about  six  hundred  thou- 
sand, at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  to  at  least  three  and  a  half  mil- 
lions. How  and  when  the  abolition  of  slavery  is  to  be  accomplished 
in  these  fifteen  States,  is  a  question  which  no  one  can  answer. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  for  me  to  say,  however,  that  this  mighty  task 
will  never  be  effected  peaceably  but  through  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. This  has  accomplished  all  that  has  hitherto  been  done — the 
destruction  of  slavery  in  seven  States,  and  the  prevention  of  its  en- 
trance into  nine  more,  besides  several  Territories  ;  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  before  any  other  nation  had  done  any  thing  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  the  declaring  of  it  to  be  of  the  nature  of  piracy,  and  mer- 
iting the  same  punishment.  And  however  desperate  the  struggle 
may  prove  to  be,  she  will  not  shrink  from  it. 

The  example  of  England  in  abolishing  slavery  in  her  islands  will 
not  be  lost  upon  us.  It  has  given  a  great  impulse  to  the  moral  move- 
ment which  is  steadily  going  on  in  the  community.  It  is  true  that, 
as  slavery  is  by  our  Constitution  left  to  the  government  of  each  State 
in  which  it  exists,  to  be  managed  by  it  alone,  there  can  be  no  such  ac- 
tion among  us  as  that  of  England,  by  which  the  overthrow  of  slavery 
in  her  dominions  was  effected  at  a  blow.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  us  ; 
it  is  not  at  a  distance.  Its  destruction  with  us  can  be  accomplished 
only  by  those  whose  pecuniary  interests  are  at  stake  for  its  mainten- 
ance. This  point  foreigners  should  well  comprehend.  It  is  the  slave- 
holders among  us,  or  the  inhabitants  of  each  slaveholding  State,  who 
alone  can  overthrow  it.   This  it  is  which  makes  our  position  so  difficult. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  it  will  require  many  years  to  efface  this  dread- 
ful evil  from  the  midst  of  us.  It  will  require  long  and  persevering 
efforts  on  the  part  of  good  men,  and  a  large  amount  of  that  "  wisdom 
which  cometh  down  from  above."  But  of  one  thing  I  feel  very  sure : 
it  is,  that  although  some  may  act  rashly,  and  sometimes  attempt  to 
promote  the  cause  by  unwise  meaures;  and  others  may  be  too  supine, 
and,  through  fear  of  evil  consequences,  not  come  up  to  its  help  as 
they  ought ;  although  both  these  parties  may  charge  each  other,  and 
perhaps  justly,  with  so  acting  as  to  retard  the  work,  yet  there  is  a 


684  CONCLUSION. 

growing  dissatisfaction  with  this  great  evil,  a  conviction  that  it  should 
and  must  be  terminated  as  speedily  as  possible,  consistently  with  the 
true  interests  of  all  concerned,  which  will  one  day  lead  to  its  over- 
throw. I  do  not  know  how  it  will  be  brought  about,  but  Christianity 
will  effect  it.  God — our  fathers'  God — invoked  more  and  more 
earnestly,  as  I  am  sure  He  is,  will,  by  His  providence,  open  the  way 
for  this  great  achievement. 

To  this  great  struggle — which  Christians  with  us  must  carry  on, 
let  it  take  what  course  it  may,  in  order  to  be  successful — we  are  far 
from  wishing  our  brethren  of  other  lands  to  be  indifferent.*  We 
want  their  sympathy  and  their  prayers.  We  wish  them  to  make  a 
proper  allowance  for  the  difficulties  of  our  position  ;  and  while  they 
reprove  our  delays  and  stimulate  our  zeal,  we  wish  them  to  do  it  in  a 
Christian  spirit,  not  only  because  it  best  comports  with  the  religion 
which  we  both  profess,  but  also  because  of  its  influence  upon  those 
among  us  who  are  slaveholders,  the  majority  of  whom  are  not  relig- 
ious men.  It  is  easy  to  grow  indignant  on  this  subject,  and  indulge 
in  hard  epithets  ;  but  the  "  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteous- 
ness of  God."  There  are  those  abroad  who  see  no  difficulties  in  our 
position  ;  to  whom  the  fact  that  slavery  is  entwined  about  our  very 
vitals,  so  far,  at  least,  as  one  half  of  the  country  is  concerned,  is  of 
no  importance ;  and  who  vainly  imagine  that  it  is  enough  to  demand 
that  every  slaveholder  should  let  his  slaves  go  free.  This,  indeed,  is 
a  very  simple  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  evil ;  and  if  it  were  practi- 
cable, it  would  be  well  enough.  So  if  all  mankind  would  at  once  of 
their  own  accord  give  up  their  rebellion  against  God  and  yield  a 
heartfelt  obedience  to  Him,  this  world  might  be  delivered  from  sin 
without  the  toil  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  the  employment  of  so 

~  The  visits  of  foreign  philanthropists  can  not  fail  to  do  good  among  us,  "when 
made  in  the  spirit  of  a  great  and  a  good  man  who  came  to  us  some  years  ago  from 
England,*  who  traveled  throughout  all  our  States,  and  "reasoned  of  righteousness, 
temperance,  and  judgment  to  come ;"  who,  though  he  neglected  no  opportunity  to 
speak  of  the  wrongs  done  to  the  slave,  was  ever  heard  with  respect  and  attention  by 
the  slaveholder,  for  he  spoke  words  of  mingled  wisdom  and  love.  And  when  he  had 
accomplished  his  mission  and  returned  to  his  natire  land,  he  addressed  a  series  of  let- 
ters to  one  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  es- 
pecially on  the  effects  of  its  abolition  in  the  British  West  India  Islands,  which  have 
been  widely  and  attentively  read,  and  which  can  not  fail  to  do  good.  What  a  con- 
trast between  his  course  and  that  of  some  ardent,  self-sufficient  "friends  of  human- 
ity," as  they  consider  themselves,  who  have  visited  us  from  Europe  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  and  who  accomplished  no  good  whatever  for  the  cause  which  they  pro- 
fess to  have  so  much  at  heart ! 

*  Mr.  Gurney,  a  distinguished  member  and  minister  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  who,  like  his 
excellent  brother,  and  his  sister  (the  late  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry),  is  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of 
humanity. 


CONCLUSION.  685 

many  other  instrumentalities  which  are  now  found  to  be  necessary. 
And  if  all  the  men  in  the  United  States  who  were  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  twenty  years  ago  had, 
of  their  own  accord,  or  upon  being  simply  requested  or  commanded, 
abandoned  their  wicked  business ;  and  all  who  drank  such  liquors 
ceased  to  do  so  from  the  same  influence,  there  would  have  been  no 
need  of  all  the  labor  and  expense  which  it  has  cost  to  promote  the 
cause  of  temperance  among  us.  But  how  vain  it  is  to  talk  in  this 
way  !  To  overthrow  slavery  in  the  United  States  is  a  great  work — 
the  greatest  and  most  difficult,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  that  ever  man 
undertook  to  accomplish.  And  there  is  nothing  but  Christianity, 
employing  its  blessed  influences,  light  and  love,  which  can  effect  it. 
A  good  deal  of  time,  and  a  great  deal  of  patience  and  prudence  will 
also  be  required,  if  we  would  see  this  evil  come  to  an  end  in  a  peace- 
ful way. 

God  has  some  great  and  good  end  in  view  in  allowing  the  African 
race  to  be  brought  to  America,  and  placed  in  a  state  of  servitude. 
They  were  regarded  at  first  just  as  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the 
country  were,  as  barbarous  heathen — very  much  as  the  Jews  regarded 
the  Canaanites,  whom  the  Almighty  allowed  them  to  destroy  or  to 
reduce  to  bondage.  For  a  long  time,  no  laws  were  made  for  them 
in  some  of  the  colonies — in  fact,  the  laws  seemed  not  to  recognize 
even  their  existence.  But  what  did  Christianity  do  for  them,  even 
in  the  portions  of  the  country  where  there  was  the  least  amount  of 
true  religion  ?  It  took  them  up  from  their  degradation  ;  gave  them 
the  manners  of  civilized  life  in  a  good  measure ;  made  their  masters, 
especially  believing  masters,  to  treat  them  with  kindness ;  gave  them 
one  day  of  rest  in  seven  ;  made  many  of  them  savingly  acquainted 
with  the  way  of  life ;  and  secured  to  them  manifold  more  blessings, 
hard  as  the  lot  of  many  may  have  been,  than  they  could  have  enjoyed 
in  Africa.  Still  more,  while  Christianity  said  to  them,  "  If  you  can 
obtain  your  freedom,  avail  yourselves  of  it,"  it  also  said  to  their  mas- 
ters, "  If  circumstances  allow  you  to  liberate  these  people  in  such  a 
way  as  to  secure  their  true  and  best  welfare,  it  is  your  duty,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  law  of  Christian  kindness,  to  let  them  go  free."  And 
was  this  influence  of  Christianity  in  vain  ?  Whence,  then,  came  the 
fifty-four  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  free  people  of 
color  that  were  in  Virginia  in  the  year  1850?  or  the  seventy-four 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-three  in  Maryland  ?  Whence 
came  the  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  that  lived  in  the  slaveholding  States  in  that  year  ?  These  people, 
or  their  ancestors,  obtained  their  freedom  through  the  influence  of 
the  Gospel  on  the  hearts  of  their  former  masters.    And  so,  directly  or 


686  CONCLUSION. 

indirectly,  did  the  two  hundred  and  four  thousand  four  hundred  and 
eighty-four  who  were  to  be  found  in  the  free  States.  There  are  nearly 
half  a  million  of  free  colored  people  in  the  United  States  to-day,  who 
owe  their  freedom  to  the  influences  of  Christianity.  And,  in  my  hum- 
ble judgment,  if  ever  the  three  millions  and  a  half  still  in  bondage  ob- 
tain their  freedom  in  a  peaceful  manner,  whether  to  go  to  Africa  and 
carry  civilization  and  true  religion  there,  or  to  remain  at  home,  the 
most  effectual  course  to  reach  this  great  end  will  be,  to  augment  the 
influences  of  the  Gospel  in  the  States  where  they  are  found,  as  greatly 
and  as  rapidly  as  possible.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  this  is  about  the 
last  course  which  some  men  among  us  think  of  pursuing,  and  yet  they 
deem  themselves  Christians. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that,  discouraging  as  some  things 
are  in  relation  to  this  most  important  subject,  there  are,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  that  are  highly  encouraging.  One  of  which  is,  that  in  no 
State  is  any  slave  forbidden  by  law  to  buy  a  Bible,  or  receive  it  as  a 
gift ;  and  if  he  can  read  it,  he  may  do  so  to  his  heart's  content ;  and 
if  he  can  not  read  it,  he  may  hear  it  read  ;  and  in  the  ten  States  where 
it  is  not  allowed  to  teach  the  slaves  in  schools,  there  is  no  law  to  for- 
bid the  masters  or  members  of  their  families  to  teach  them  privately, 
or  to  impart  the  knowledge  of  the  word  of  God,  orally,  to  them  in 
large  numbers.  Above  all,  in  no  State  in  the  American  Union  is  it 
forbidden  by  law  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  any  man,  whether  he  be 
bond  or  free.  Shall  we  say,  then,  that  nothing  can  be  done,  and  sit 
down  in  despair,  even  although  the  only  men  who  have  control  over 
this  question  are  the  very  men  who  are  most  interested  in  upholding 
the  system  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  anti-slavery  feeling  of  the  Northern  or  Free 
States  (which  now  form  the  majority,  whereas,  at  the  outset,  all  of 
the  thirteen  original  States  were  slaveholding  States)  has  become  ex- 
ceedingly intense ;  and  while  there  is  no  intention  to  interfere  with 
the  subject  in  portions  of  the  country  where,  according  to  the  Con- 
stitution, the  North  has  no  power  to  act,  yet  there  is  a  strong  deter- 
mination not  to  allow  slavery  to  be  extended  beyond  its  present  lim- 
its. On  this  subject  the  excitement  threatens  to  be  productive  of 
most  serious  consequences.  Great  wisdom  will  be  requisite  to  carry 
the  country  safely  through  the  difficulties  which  surround  this  great 
question.  Our  trust  must  be  in  God,  that  with  patience  and  pru- 
dence, slavery  will  be  done  away  in  time,  in  a  way  consistent  with 
the  best  interests  of  all  concerned. 

But  that  the  Infinite  God  had  great  ends  in  view  in  permitting  a 
portion  of  the  African  race  to  be  brought  to  the  United  States,  there 
to  be  civilized  and  made  acquainted  with  the  Gospel,  even  through 


CONCLUSION.  687 

the  hard  pathway  of  bondage,  can  not  be  doubted  by  any  Christian 
man.  And  now  that  it  is  becoming  so  easy  to  transfer  mankind  in 
masses,  if  we  may  so  speak,  from  one  continent  to  another,  as  we  see 
doing  every  year,  who  will  venture  to  say  that  the  day  is  very  dis- 
tant when  a  great  number  of  colonies  of  civilized  colored  men  from 
America  will  be  seen  along  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  that  will 
carry  the  blessings  of  Christianity  and  civilization  into  the  heart  of 
that  great  continent  ?  A  good  beginning  has  been  made  in  Liberia ; 
nor  do  we  believe  that  this  world  presents  a  more  interesting  and  im- 
portant enterprise  than  the  colonization  of  Africa  which  has  there 
been  commenced.* 

We  have  sometimes  been  not  a  little  grieved  by  the  severity — no 
doubt  often  inconsiderate — and  the  want  of  discrimination  with  which 
some  of  our  Christian  brethren  in  the  Old  World  have  spoken  and 
written  respecting  the  American  Churches,  in  relation  to  this  subject. 
]STow  I  have  no  disposition  to  say  that  the  American  Churches  have 
done  all  that  they  ought  to  do,  that  they  feel  all  the  solicitude,  and 
distress,  and  sorrow,  which  they  ought  for  the  continued  existence  of 
this  great  evil.  There  is  nothing  more  probable  in  itself  than  that 
our  Churches  should  fail  of  coming  up  to  their  whole  duty  on  this 
subject,  more  than  on  almost  any  other,  when  we  consider  how  they 
are  situated.  I  do  not  say  this  by  way  of  apology,  but  to  state  the 
case  truly.  But  to  accuse  our  Churches  throughout  the  land  with 
approving  of  slavery,  because,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  they  think 
they  are  compelled  to  tolerate  it  as  an  evil  from  which  circumstances 
do  not  at  present  allow  them  to  extricate  themselves  (and  this  is  the 
most  which  can  be  said  against  them  on  this  point),  is  going  beyond 
the  bounds  of  Christian  charity.  Besides,  to  charge  all  the  American 
Churches,  as  well  those  in  the  sixteen  States  and  seven  Territories 
in  which  slavery  is  unknown,  as  those  in  the  fifteen  States  and  one 
District  in  which  it  does  still  exist,  with  the  sin  of  "  robbery,"  "  man- 
stealing,"  etc.,  is  to  be  guilty  of  something  more  than  a  mere  want  of 
Christian  charity. 

Nor  are  some  other  denunciations  of  a  sweeping  nature  much  less 
unjust  or  injurious.  "Let  America,"  said  a  distinguished  Christian 
minister  whom  we  all  love,  at  a  missionary  meeting  in  one  of  the  great 
capitals  of  Europe,  a  few  years  ago,  "  let  America  wash  the  stain  of 

*  Several  years  ago,  the  late  Dr.  Philip,  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Superintendent 
of  the  Missions  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  in  South  Africa,  expressed  himself 
in  the  strongest  terms  in  favor  of  this  great  and  good  work,  in  a  letter  to  the  students 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  in  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  which  was  published  at  the 
time  in  America.  It  ought  to  be  published  in  Europe,  for  it  places  this  subject  in  its 
true  light 


688  CONCLUSION. 

slavery  from  her  skirts,  and  then  she  will  be  worthy  to  come  up  and 
join  us  in  the  great  work  of  converting  the  world."  Indeed !  and 
must  our  American  Churches  be  compelled  to  abstain  from  attempt- 
ing to  obey  the  command  of  their  risen  Saviour — and  which  may  be 
one  of  the  means  of  staying,  if  not  averting  the  Divine  wrath,  which 
would  otherwise  overwhelm  their  guilty  country — until  their  land  be 
freed  from  slavery  ?  And  if  they  are  to  be  condemned  for  national 
sins  which  they  have  not  been  able  to  overcome,  where  are  the 
Churches  which  are  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  them  ?  Shall  it  be  those 
of  England,  or  France,  or  Holland  ?  Blessed  be  God,  our  heavenly 
Father  does  not  use  such  language  toward  us.  He  deigns  to  bless  our 
humble  efforts  to  make  known  His  Gospel  to  the  heathen  nations,  not- 
withstanding our  many  sins:  nor  does  He  forbid  our  co-operating 
with  those  who  love  His  name  in  other  lands  to  make  known  this 
great  salvation  to  all  men.  Still  more,  He  condescends  to  visit  the 
Churches  in  all  parts  of  our  land  with  the  effusions  of  His  Holy  Spirit, 
without  which,  indeed,  we  might  well  despair  of  our  country. 

But  sympathy,  love,  prayer,  and  co-operation  better  become  those 
who  love  God  in  all  lands,  than  crimination  and  recrimination.  They 
form  one  vast  brotherhood,  and  their  trials,  their  labors,  and  their 
hopes  are  common.  Neither  difference  of  language,  nor  separating 
oceans,  nor  diversity  of  government  and  of  ecclesiastical  organizations, 
nor  variety  of  modes  of  worship,  can  divide  them.  They  have  their 
various  difficulties  to  encounter,  and  their  respective  works  to  per- 
form. And  how  they  should  delight  to  encourage  each  other  in  every 
good  enterprise,  rejoice  in  each  other's  success,  stimulate  and  reprove 
each  other  (when  reproof  is  necessary)  with  kindness,  and  not  with 
bitterness  ;  and  thus  strive  to  hasten  the  universal  triumph  of  the  king- 
dom of  their  common  Lord !  And  how  appropriate  to  them  is  the 
prayer  of  England's  sweetest  religious  bard,*  with  which  we  bring 
this  book  to  a  close : 

"  Come,  then,  and,  added  to  Thy  many  crowns, 
Receive  yet  one,  the  crown  of  all  the  earth, 
Thou  who  alone  art  worthy !  It  was  Thine 
By  ancient  covenant,  ere  Nature's  birth ; 
And  Thou  hast  made  it  Thine  by  purchase  since, 
And  overpaid  its  value  with  Thy  blood. 
Thy  saints  proclaim  Thee  king :  and  in  their  hearts 
Thy  title  is  engraven  with  a  pen 
Dipped  in  the  fountain  of  eternal  love. 
Thy  saints  proclaim  Thee  king ;  and  Thy  delay 
Gives  courage  to  their  foes,  who,  could  they  see 
The  dawn  of  Thy  last  advent,  long  desired, 
"Would  creep  into  the  bowels  of  the  hills, 
And  flee  for  safety  to  the  falling  rocks. 
The  very  spirit  of  the  world  is  tired 
Of  its  own  taunting  question,  asked  so  long, 
1  "Where  is  the  promise  of  your  Lord's  approach  ?' " 

*  Cowper— "The  Task,"  book  vi. 


INDEX. 


•♦• 


Abolition  Riots,  how  viewed  in  this  coun-. 
try,  p.  674. 

Abolition  Riots,  exaggerated  report  of,  in 
Europe,  675. 

Aborigines  (see  North  America). 

Academies  and  Grammar-schools,  300. 

Allenite  Methodists,  noticed,  524. 

America  (see  North  America). 

Americans,  best  method  for  obtaining  cor- 
rect knowledge  of,  61. 

American  Revolution,  effects  of  the,  on 
religion,  207. 

American  morals,  character  of  two  foreign 
censors  of,  680,  note. 

American,  meaning  of.  when  annexed  to 
religious  societies,  283,  note. 

American  Sunday-school  Union  and  Aux- 
iliaries, 308. 

American  Education  Society,  origin  of,  318. 

American  Bible  Society,  notice  of  the,  334. 

American  Tract  Society,  operations  of,  336. 

American  Prison  Discipline  Society,  351. 

American  Home  Missionary  Society,  ope- 
rations of  the,  282. 

American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union, 
629. 

American  preaching,  character  of,  381, 386. 

American  Unitarian  Association,  558. 

American  Theology,  great  achievement  of, 
585. 

American  Colonization  Society,  history  of 
the,  631. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  origin  and  constitution 
of  the,  603. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  history  of  the,  605. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  statistics  of  the,  610. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  plan  of,  for  training  a  na- 
tive ministry,  612. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  annual  meetings  of,  615. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  far  For- 
eign Missions,  publications  of  the,  616. 

Andover  Theological  Seminary,  history  of 
the,  322. 


Anecdote  of  two  young  ladies  under  con- 
viction, 425. 

Anglo-Saxon  Colonists,  character  of,  49. 

Anglo-Saxon,  effect  of  Norman  conquests 
upon,  in  England,  62,  63. 

Anti-slavery  Societies,  354. 

Associate  Reformed  Church,  509. 

Atheists,  notice  of,  575. 

Atonement,  doctrine  of,  illustrated  by 
American  theology,  585. 

Ballou,  Rev.  H.,  work  of  on  the  Atone- 
ment alluded  to,  554,  557. 

Banditti,  no  organized  hordes  of,  in  Unit- 
ed States,  676. 

Baptists,  Regular,  account  of  the,  457. 

Baptists,  Independents  in  church  govern- 
ment, 547. 

Baptists,  Declaration  of  Faith  of,  458. 

Baptists,  statistics  of  the,  462. 

Baptists,  Roger  "Williams  not  the  Founder 
of  the,  461,  note. 

Baptists,  Missionary  Union  of  the,  621. 

Baptists.  Home  Missions  of  the,  292. 

Baptists,  Seventh-day,  notice  of  the,  499. 

Baptists,  Free-Will,  history  of  the,  500. 

Baptists,  Free-Will,  Missions  of  the,  627. 

Baptists,  Campbellite,  account  of  the,  501. 

Benevolence,  interesting  examples  of,  665. 

Bible-classes,  315. 

Blake,  Joseph,  notice  of,  128. 

Blind,  asylum  for  the,  363, 

Boston,  early  settlement  of,  111. 

Bouck,  Hon.  W.  C,  proclamation  of,  648. 

Brainerd,  Rev.  David,  notice  of,  399. 

Brainerd,  Rev.  David,  missionary  labors 
of,  593. 

Burr,  Mr.  Joseph,  and  Seminary,  notice  of 
361. 

"  Bush- whacking"  defined,  47. 

Camp-meetings,  origin  and  nature  of,  432. 

Carolina,  North  and  South,  benefits  of  dis- 
solution of  Church  and  State  in,  233. 

Charters  of  American  Colonies,  curious 
character  of,  57. 

Cheever,  Rev.  G-.  B.,  extract  from  lecture 
of,  645. 


44 


690 


INDEX. 


Cherokees,  removal  of  the,  599. 

Christ-ians,  origin  and  belief  of  the,  562. 

Christianity,  happy  influence  of,  on  public 
order,  675,  676. 

Christianity,  only  remedy  for  slavery  in 
the  United  States,  682-9. 

Churches  and  ministers  at  the  Revolution, 
209. 

Churches,  membership  in,  how  obtained, 
372. 

Churches,  Evangelical,  order  prevalent  in 
the,  435. 

Churches,  Evangelical,  three  divisions  of, 
439. 

Churches,  Evangelical,  general  statistics 
of  the,  530-2. 

Churches,  Evangelical,  missionary  efforts 
of  the,  637. 

Church,  relation  of  unconverted  men  to 
the,  376. 

Church,  union  of,  with  State  gradually 
dissolved,  211. 

Church,  union  of,  with  State,  when  and 
how  dissolved,  and  effects,  213,  228. 

Church  edifices,  how  built  in  cities  and 
large  towns,  268. 

Church  edifices,  how  built  in  new  settle- 
ments, 271. 

Church  edifices,  supply  of,  in  the  large 
cities,  272. 

Church  edifices,  number  annually  built  in 
United  States,  656. 

Church  edifices,  efficiency  of  Voluntary 
Principle  in  erecting,  655. 

Church  edifices,  average  size  of  congrega- 
tions in,  656. 

Church  edifices,  estimate  of  number  of, 
annually  needed,  656. 

Church  edifices,  grounds  of  alleged  desti- 
tution of,  661. 

Cobb,  Mr.  Nathaniel  R.,  charitable  resolu- 
tions of,  667. 

Colleges  and  Universities,  302. 

Colleges  and  Universities,  effect  of  State 
control  upon,  305. 

Colonial  era,  state  of  religion  in  the,  201. 

Colonists,  religious  character  of  the  early, 
90. 

Colonization  Society,  history  of  the,  631. 

Colonization,  advantages  of  African,  633. 

Colonization,  plan  of  G-ustavus  Adolphus, 
138. 

Colored  people,  disturbances  chiefly  be- 
tween them  and  foreigners,  674,  note. 

Colony  at  Plymouth,  account  of  the,  96. 

Colony  at  Plymouth,  ecclesiastical  regu- 
lations of  the,  171. 

Colony  at  Plymouth,  causes  of  aversion  of, 
to  prelacy,  175. 

Congregations,  new,  how  formed,  269. 

Congregationalists,  parent  stock  of  those 
in  England,  447. 

Congregationalists,  not  Dissenters,  448. 


Congregationalists,  present  religious  sys- 
tem of,  449. 

Congregationalists,  mode  of  church  disci- 
pline among,  451. 

Congregationalists,  mode  of,  for  support- 
ing public  worship,  452. 

Congregationalists,  nature  of  the  "Asso- 
ciations" of,  454. 

Congregationalists,  pastoral  office  among 
early,  lost  by  dismission,  455. 

Congregationalists,  ordination  among,  how 
performed,  455. 

Congregationalists  not  Independents  in 
practice,  455. 

Congregationalists,  'Consociations' among, 
nature  of,  456. 

Congregationalism,  opinions  of,  as  to  pre- 
venting heresy,  561. 

Connecticut,  early  settlement  of,  38,  114. 

Connecticut,  union  of  Church  and  State 
in,  dissolved,  226. 

Convent  at  Charlestown,  burning  of  the, 
542,  note. 

Conversion  of  a  young  man,  illustrative 
of  revival-preaching,  410. 

Covenant,  Half-way,  introduction  of,  549. 

Covenanters  (see  Reformed  Presbyterians). 

Deaf  and  Dumb,  history  of  asylum  for  the, 
361. 

Deists,  notice  of,  575. 

Delaware,  early  settlement  of,  40,  137. 

Delaware,  early  relations  between  Church 
and  State  in,  184. 

Delaware,  character  of  the  Swedish  settle- 
ments on  the,  140. 

De  Tocqueville,  works  of,  on  America  no- 
ticed, 66. 

De  Tocqueville,  erroneous  opinions  of,  no- 
ticed, 389,  note. 

District  of  Columbia,  origin  of  the,  73. 

Dwight,  Rev.  Dr.,  opinion  of,  on  union  of 
Church  and  State,  234. 

Education,  attention  of  Puritans  to,  297. 
Education  societies  of- different  sects,  318, 

321. 
Edwards,    Rev.    Jonathan,    character   of 

preaching  of,  896,  550. 
Edwards,  Rev.  Jonathan,  labors  of,  among 

the  Indians,  593. 
Eliot,  Rev.  John,  missionary  labors  of,  591. 
English  language  first  introduced  in  Dutch 

Churches  of  New  York,  132. 
Episcopal,  (see  Protestant). 
"  Evangelical  Association,"    account  of 

the,  522. 
Evangelical  churches,  three  divisions  of, 

439. 
Evangelical  statistics  of  missionary  efforts 

of,  638. 
Evangelical,  General  statement  of,  530, 

531. 


INDEX. 


691 


Foreign  Evangelical  Society,  (see  Ameri- 
can and  Foreign  Christian  Union). 
Fourrierism,  notice  of,  575. 
Frelinghuysen,  Rev.  T.  J.,  notice  of,  133. 
French  colonists,  character  of  the,  54. 

Georgia,  early  settlement  of,  42,  129. 

German  colonists,  character  of  the,  52. 

German  Reformed  Presbyterians,  account 
of  the,  514. 

German  Transcendentalism,  559,  560. 

Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  when  found- 
ed, 162. 

Germany,  early  immigration  from,  162, 
163. 

Goodell,  Mr.  Solomon,  systematic  benevo- 
lence of,  668. 

Gurney,  Mr.,  happy  influence  of  visit  of, 
■to  the  United  States,  684,  note. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  colonization  plan  of, 
138. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  death  of,  138. 

Half-way  Covenant,  introduction  of  the, 

549. 
Hanover  Presbytery,  memorial  of,  to  Vir- 
ginia Assembly,  and  opposition  to,  216, 

220. 
Harrison,  Gen.  "W.  H.,  a  Sunday-school 

teacher,  314. 
Harvard  College,  when  founded,  306. 
Harvard  College,  early  opposition  to  Uni- 

tarianism  in,  554. 
Henrico,  University  of,  noticed,  124. 
Henry,  Hon.  Patrick,  notice  of,  222. 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Dr.,  sermon  of,  in  Boston, 

1768,  553. 
Huguenots,  origin  of  the,  152. 
Huguenots,  immigration  of,  to  America, 

155,  158. 
Huguenots,   interesting  facts  respecting 

the,  156. 
Huguenots,  eulogium  on  the,  161. 
Hunt,  Rev.  Robert,  notice  of,  126. 

Immigration,  extent  of,  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, 86. 

Immigration,  influence  of,  on  the  Volun- 
tary Principle,  87. 

Indians,  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gos- 
pel among,  557. 

Indians  (see  Aborigines  of  North  America). 

Insane,  asylums  for  the,  359. 

Irish  colonists,  character  of  the,  52. 

Italian  colonists,  character  of,  52. 

Jefferson,  Hon.  Thomas,  proposal  of,  for 
establishing  religious  freedom,  220. 

Jews,  notice  of  the,  567. 

Jews,  American  Society  for  benefit  of  the, 
629. 

Judicial  order,  striking  instance  of,  in  a 
new  settlement,  675,  note. 


Kentucky,  peculiar  character  of  revivals 

in,  402. 
Kirkland,  Rev.  Samuel,  missionary  labors 

of,  594. 

Laidlie,  Rev.  Dr.,  anecdote  of,  132,  note. 

Lamed,  Rev.  Sylvester,  anecdote  of,  377, 
note. 

Liberia,  influence  of  colony  at,  634. 

Liberia,  Methodist  mission  at,  634. 

Lindsay,  Memoir  of,  by  Belsham,  555. 

Livingston,  John  and  Robert,  notice  of, 
133. 

Livingston,  Dr.  J.  H,  notice  of,  134. 

Lowell,  Massachusetts,  statistics  of,  366. 

Lutheran  Church,  history  and  statistics  of 
the,  516. 

Lutheran  Church,  Theological  Seminary 
of  the,  516. 

Lutheran  Church,  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  the,  627. 

"Lynch-law"  very  rarely  executed,  675. 

Maryland,  early  settlement  of,  39. 

Maryland,  effects  of  early  union  of  Church 
and  State  in,  182,  195. 

Maryland,  early  religious  toleration  in,  126. 

Maryland,  effects  of  separation  of  Church 
and  State  in,  232. 

Maryland,  Declaration  of  Rights  in,  226. 

Marryat,  Captain,  opinions  of,  noticed, 
544,  note. 

Mason,  Dr.  J.  M.,  originator  of  Theological 
Seminaries,  322. 

Massachusetts,  early  settlement  of,  38,  105. 

Massachusetts,  the  last  to  dissolve  union 
of  Church  and  State,  234. 

Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  trials  and 
prosperity  of,  111. 

Massachusetts,  dissolution  of  union  of 
Church  and  State  in,  227. 

Massacre  at  St.  Charles  city,  Virginia,  no- 
tice of,  125. 

Maternal  Societies,  316. 

Mather,  Cotton,  notice  of,  204. 

Mayhew,  Rev.  Thomas,  missionary  labors 
of,  591. 

Mennonists,  account  of  the,  523. 

Methodist  ministers,  salaries  of,  654,  note. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  history  and 
organization  of,  488,  490. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  religious  be- 
lief and  discipline  of,  491,  493. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  statistics  of 
the,  496. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Home  Mis- 
sions of,  293. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Foreign  Mis- 
sions of  the,  633. 

Methodists,  Primitive,  account  of  the,  524. 

Methodists,  Allenite,  notice  of  the,  524. 

Methodists,  Protestant,  origin  of  the,  525 

Methodists,  Calvinistic,  notice  of  the,  526. 


692 


INDEX. 


Methodists,  Still  well,  notice  of  the,  524. 
f  Ministers,  salaries  of,  how  raised,  275. 

Ministers,  extent  of  support  of,  276. 

Ministers,  how  trained  and  settled,  279. 

Ministers,  proportion  of  Evangelical  Pro- 
testants, to  the  population,  652. 

Ministers,  Evangelical,  not  sufficient  for 
present  need,  653. 

Ministers,  total  amount  raised  to  support, 
654. 

Montgomery,  rapid  growth  of  the  town 
of,  273. 

"Moore's  Charity  School,"  notice  of,  594. 

Moravians,  notice  of  the,  163. 

Moravians,  Church  of  the,  account  of, 
498. 

Moravians,  Foreign  Missions  of  the,  628. 

Mormons,  origin  and  character  of  the, 
571. 

Morris,  Mr.  Samuel,  notice  of,  214. 

Muhlenburg,  Eev.  Mr.,  anecdote  of,  229, 
note. 

Murders,  comparative  number  of,  in  En- 
gland and  America,  679. 

Murders,  large  proportion  of,  in  United 
States  committed  by  foreigners,  679, 
note. 

Nassau  Hall  College,  when  founded,  137. 
New  England  indebted  to  the  religion  of 

the  colonists  for  its  character,  68,  69. 
New  England,  cause  of  rapid  growth  of 

settlements  in,  117. 
New  England,  apology  for  the  Fathers  of, 

118. 
New  England,  religious  character  of,  119. 
New  England,  influence  of  early  union  of 

Church  and  State  in,  185-194. 
New  England,  relations  between  Church 

and  State  in,  171-7. 
New  England,   proposal  to   divorce   the 

Church  from  the  State  in,  how  received, 

233-4. 
New  England,  introduction  and  history  of 

Unitarianism  in,  547-562. 
New  Hampshire,  early  settlement  of,  38, 

116. 
New  Jersey,  early  settlement  of,  40,  135. 
New  Jersey,  early  eminent  ministers  of, 

137. 
New    Jersey,    early    relations    between 

Church  and  State  in,  184. 
New  Jersey,  College  of,  established,  137. 
New   Orleans,    more   of  a  foreign    than 

American  city,  678. 
Newton  Theological  Seminary,  notice  of, 

331. 
New  York,  early  settlement  of,  39,  129. 
New  York,  intolerance  of  early  Episcopacy 

in,  200. 
New  York,  early  Indian  war  in,  131. 
New  York,  character  of  first  colonists  of, 
131. 


New  York,  early  relation  between  Church 
and  State  in,  183. 

North  America,  geography  of,  19-24. 

North  America,  discovery  of,  noticed,  31. 

North  America,  account  of  the  Aborigine 
of,  24-31. 

North  America,  first  attempt  at  coloniza- 
tion of,  31-35. 

North  America,  colonization   of,    accom- 
plished, 37-49. 

North  America,  colonial  charters,  of,  57- 
61. 

North  America,  forms  of  government  in, 
70-72. 

North  America,  views  of  first  settlers  of, 
on  religious  toleration,  79. 

North  America,  character  of  early  colo- 
nists of,  168. 

North  America,  relations  between  Church 
and  State  in,  171. 

North  America,   churches  and  ministers 
in,  at  the  Revolution,  209,  210. 

North  America,  union  of  Church  and  State 
in,  gradually  dissolved,  211. 

North  America,  early  efforts  to  convert 
the  Aborigines  of,  589. 

North  America,  obstacles  to  conversion  of 
the  Aborigines,  594,  598. 

North  America,  sentiments  respecting  the 
extinction  of  the  Aborigines,  29-31. 

North  America,  causes  of  the  decrease  of 
the  Aborigines,  597. 

North  America,  removal  of  the  Indians  by 
Government,  599. 

North  America,  governmental  sanction  to 
missions  among  the  Aborigines,  601. 

North  America,  similarity  of  original  tribes 
of,  25. 

North  America,   advance   of  civilization 
among  Indians  of,  599. 

North  America,  causes  of  success  of  evan- 
gelical religion  in,  650. 

North  America,  General  and  State  Govern- 
ments of,  not  indifferent  to  religion,  648. 

North  America,  grounds  of  hope  in  rela- 
tion to  the  churches  in,  651. 

North  America,  union  of  Church  and  State 
in,  when  terminated,  653,  note. 

North  America,  foreign  objections  to  Te- 
ligious  institutions  of,  671. 

North  America^   religious  institutions  of, 
not  chargeable  with  prevalent  immor- 
alities, 678. 
North  America,  religious  institutions  of, 
not  chargeable  with  political  broils,  674, 
North  America,  impositions  in,  as  report- 
ed in  Europe,  674,  note. 
North  America,  prejudices  against  colored 

people  in,  674,  note. 
North  America,  financial  integrity  of  Gen- 
eral and  State  Governments  of,  673.  ^ 
North  America,  settlement  of  the  interior 
of,  43. 


INDEX. 


G93 


Northampton,  Massachusetts,  notice  of  re- 
vival at,  396,  550. 

North  Carolina,  first  settlement  of,  42,  127. 

North  Carolina,  early  relations  between 
Church  and  State  in,  1S4. 

Owenism,  notice  of,  576. 

"  Panoplist,"  commencement  of,  in  Boston, 
555. 

Pantheism  of  the  Transcendentalists,  560. 

Peace  societies,  355. 

Penn,  William,  notice  of,  141. 

Pennsylvania,  early  settlements  of,  40, 
141,  150. 

Pennsylvania,  character  of  colonists  of,  143. 

Perkins  Institution  for  the  Blind,  363. 

Philips  Academy,  notice  of,  302. 

Piedmont,  immigration  from,  167. 

Plymouth  Colony,  account  of  the,  96-105. 

Plymouth  Colony,  ecclesiastical  regula- 
tions of  the,  174. 

Plymouth  Colony,  causes  of  aversion  of, 
to  prelacy,  175. 

Plymouth  Company,  notice  of,  106. 

Poland,  early  immigration  from,  166. 

Poland,  early  immigration,  tradition  re- 
specting the,  166. 

Political  excitement,  recent  instances  of, 
and  results,  676. 

Political  disturbances  in  United  States, 
how  exaggerated  abroad,  674. 

Political  institutions,  firm  attachment  to, 
676,  note. 

Poor  and  afflicted,  how  provided  for,  356. 

Presbyterian  Church,  history  of  the,  464. 

Presbyterian  Churches,  how  organized, 
465. 

Presbyterian  Church,  qualification  for  min- 
istry in,  466. 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Domestic  Missions 
of,  287. 

Presbyterian  Church,  mode  of  communion 
in  the,  373. 

Presbyterian  Church  Session,  how  consti- 
tuted, 467. 

Presbyterian  Church  Session,  deacons  not 
members  of,  468. 

Presbyterian  Church,  Presbytery  of  the, 
how  constituted,  468. 

Presbyterian  Presbytery,  powers  of  the, 
468. 

Presbyterian  Church,  ministers  in  the,  how 
licensed,  469. 

Presbyterian  Church,  Synod  of  the,  no- 
ticed, 471. 

Presbyterian  Church,  General  Assembly 
of  the,  nature  of,  471. 

Presbyterian  Church,  character  and  influ- 
ence of  the,  478. 
Presbyterian   Church,    origin    and    prog- 
ress of  Old  and  New  School  parties  in, 
482. 


Presbyterian  Church,   the  separation  in 

the.  484. 
Presbyterian  Church,  difference  between 

Old  and  New  School,  485. 
Presbyterian  Church,  statistics  of  the,  487. 
Presbyterian  Church,  Board  of  Foreign 

Missions  of  the,  486,  617-621. 
Presbyterians,  Cumberland,  history  of  the, 

504. 
Presbyterians,   Reformed,    distinguishing 

traits  of,  511. 
Presbyterians,  Associate  Reformed,  510. 
Presbyterians,  Associate,  508. 
Primary  schools,  296,  297. 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  notice  of, 

329. 
Prostitution,  foreign  exaggerated  account 

of,  680,  note. 
Protestant  religion  established  by  law  in 

South  Carolina,  250. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  account  of 
1    the,  439. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Puseyism, 

how  extensive  in  the,  445. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,   Board  of 

Missions  of  the,  626. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Theological 

Institution  of  the,  321. 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  settlement  of, 

115. 
Public  worship,  total  cost  of,  in  United 

States,  657. 
Public  opinion,   alleged    tyranny  of,   in 

United  States.  587,  note. 
Public  disturbances  and  crimes,  compara- 
tive fewness  of,  674. 
Puritans,    origin  and    character  of   the, 

92-95. 
Puritans,  eulogy  on  the,  69. 
Puritans,  attention  of  the,  to  education, 

297. 
Puritans,  religious  views  of  the,  547,  548. 
Puritans,  ecclesiastical  usages  of  the,  548. 

Quakers,  history  and  character  of  the,  527. 
Quakers,  persecution  of  the,  141,  189. 

Rappists,  notice  of  the,  568. 

Reformed  Dutch  Church,  history  of  the, 

505. 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Home  Missions 

of  the,  293. 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Theological  Sem- 
inary of  the,  331. 
Religious  institutions  of  the  United  States, 

best  means  of  knowing  the,  66-68. 
Religious  liberty,  progress  of,  in  America, 

262,  644. 
Religious    liberty,    present    state  of,    in 

America,  645. 
Religious  toleration,  extract  on,  645. 
Religion,    state  of,   in    the  colonial  era, 

201-206. 


694 


INDEX. 


Religion,  exigences  of,  in  United  States, 

263. 
Religion,   evangelical,   causes  of  success 

of,  in  United  States,  649. 
Religion,  true  source  of  all  success  in  pro- 
moting, 650. 
Religion,  institutions  of,   not  chargeable 

with  public  crime,  671. 
Religion,  institutions  of,  not   chargeable 

with  political  disturbances,  614:. 
Repudiation,  wrong  impressions  respect- 
ing, abroad,  672. 
Repudiation,  doctrine  of,  how  viewed  in 

this  country,  673. 
Revivals  of  religion,  nature  of,  392. 
Revivals  of  religion,  character  of  early,  394. 
Revivals  of  religion  at  Northampton,  396, 

550. 
Revivals  of  religion  extensive  in  1740-41, 

398,  550. 
Revival  of  religion,  peculiar  character  of, 

in  Kentucky,  402. 
Revivals  of  religion,  remarkable,  in  Yale 

College,  402. 
Revival  of  religion,  best  mode  of  conduct- 
ing, 405. 
Revivals  of  religion,  advantages  of,  413. 
Revivals  of  religion,  consistency  of,  with 

our  mental  constitution,  413. 
Revivals  of  religion,  instances  of  opposi- 
tion to,  disarmed,  416. 
Revivals  of  religion,  importance  of  orderly 

meetings  in,  436. 
Revivals  of  religion,  happy  instance  of 

female  influence  in,  425. 
Revivals  of  religion,   alleged  abuses  in, 

428. 
Revivals  of  religion,  injurious  effects  of 

late  meetings  in,  436. 
Revivals  of  religion,  who  oppose,  428. 
Revivals  of  religion,  causes  of  prejudices 

against,  429. 
Revivals  of  religion,  Unitarian  objections 

to,  in  New  England,  551. 
Revival  preachers,  objections  to,  431. 
Rhode  Island,  early  settlement  of,  38, 115. 
Rochester,  rapid  growth  of,  271. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  early  establish- 
ment of,  541. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  conversions  from, 

how  checked,  545. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  statistics  of  the, 

543. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  probable  influ- 
ence of,  545. 

Sabbath  associations,  354. 

Sabbath,  comparatively  good  observance 
of,  in  United  States,  678. 

Sabbath,  interest  of  railroad  and  steam- 
boat companies  to  observe,  679,  note. 

St.  Charles  city.  Virginia,  massacre  at,  124. 

Scotch  colonists,  character  of  the,  52. 


Scotch,  persecution  of  the,  147. 
Scotland,  early  cause  of  immigration  from, 

145,  146. 
Scotland,  religious  influence  of  immigrants 

from,  152. 
Scottish  Secession  churches,  account  of 

the,  509. 
Scottish  Secession  churches,  Foreign  Mis- 
sions of,  628. 
Seamen,  efforts  to  promote  the  interests 

of,  346. 
Sects,  advantages  of  numerous  evangeli- 
cal, 533. 
Sects,  nature  and  character  of  theological 

discussions  among,  583. 
Sects,  grounds  of  alleged  want  of  harmony 

among,  536,  539. 
Sects,  evangelical,  often  commingle,  537. 
Sects,  differences  between  evangelical  and 

unevangelical,  579. 
Sects,    extent    of    doctrinal    agreement 

among,  582. 
Shakers,  account  of  the,  568. 
Shakers,  extraordinary  book  of  the,  570, 

note. 
Slavery,  true  position  of  the  country  re- 
specting, 682. 
Slavery,  how  entailed  on  this  country,  682. 
Slavery,  severe  clause  against,  in  original 
Declaration  of  Independence,  682,  note. 
Slavery,  when  abolished  by  the  free  States, 

682. 
Slavery,  increase  of,  since  the  Revolution, 

683. 
Slavery,  how  to  be  ultimately  abolished, 

336. 
Slavery,  an  obstacle  to  promotion  of  re- 
ligion, 83. 
Slavery,  Christianity  the  only  remedy  for, 

684. 
Slavery,  extent  of,  in  the  U.  States,  683. 
Slavery,  difficulties  attending  the  abolition 

of,  683. 
Slavery,  severity  of  foreign  Christians  re- 
specting, 687. 
Slavery,  proper  Christian  spirit  in  relation 

to,  684. 
Smith,  Mr.  Normand,  extract  from  memoir 

of,  665. 
South  Boston,  Transcendental  sermon  at, 

560. 
South  Carolina,  early  settlement  of,  41, 

128. 
South  Carolina,  early  relations  between 

Church  and  State  in,  182. 
Southern  States,  religious  character  of  the 

early  colonists  of,  122. 
State  legislation,  friendly  to  Christianity, 

252. 
Stoddard,  Rev.  Mr.,  peculiar  sentiments  of, 

549. 
Story,  Chief-justice,  opinion  of,  on  State 
patronage  of  religion,  235. 


INDEX. 


695 


Success,  true  source  of  all,  in  promoting 
religion,  650. 

Sunday-school  Union,  American,  338. 

Sunday-school  Societies,  other,  310. 

Sunday-schools,  mode  of  conducting,  312. 

Swedenborgians,  notice  of  the,  567. 

Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware,  139. 

Swedish  settlements,  character  of  the  col- 
onists of,  140. 

Swiss  colonists,  character  of  the,  52. 

Temperance  societies,  348. 

Tennent,  Eev.  Messrs.,  opinion  of  Whit- 
field respecting,  407 

Thanksgiving-day,  publicly  appointed,  648. 

Thanksgiving-day,  Governor's  proclama- 
tion for,  648,  note. 

Theological  Seminaries,  322-333. 

Tract  societies,  336. 

Transcendentalism,  notice  of,  559,  560. 

Transcendental  sermon  at  South  Boston, 
560. 

Trinity  Church,  New  Tork,  funds  of,  654, 
note. 

Union  of  Church  and  State,  when  termin- 
ated, 653,  note. 

Unitarianism,  introduction  and  history  of, 
in  New  England,  547-557. 

Unitarianism,  circumstances  favorable  to 
the  growth  of,  549. 

Unitarianism,  different  writers  on,  554. 

Unitarianism,  early  opposition  to,  in  Har- 
vard College  and  elsewhere,  554. 

Unitarianism,  concealment  of,  554. 

Unitarianism,  first  disclosures  of,  and  re- 
sults, 555,  556. 

Unitarianism,  first  congregation  that  a- 
vowed,  556. 

Unitarianism,  first  American  advocate  of, 
554. 

Unitarians,  objections  of,  to  early  revivals 
in  New  England,  551. 

Unitarians,  early  philosophy  of,  552. 

Unitarians,  "  American  Association"  of, 
558. 

Unitarians,  religious  belief  of,  558. 

Unitarians,  introduction  of  Transcendent- 
alism among,  and  results,  559,  560. 

"  United  Brethren  in  Christ,"  account  of, 
the,  321. 

United  States,  geographical  notice  of  the, 
35-37. 

United  States,  power  of  government  of,  in 
promoting  religion,  235. 

United  States,  religious  character  of  gov- 
ernment of  the,  240. 

United  States,  action  of  government  of, 
Christian,  243. 

United  States,  State  governments  of,  Chris- 
tian, 247. 

United  States,  State  government  legista 
tion  of,  in  favor  of  Christianity,  252. 


United  States,  Church  discipline  in  the, 
369. 

United  States,  moral  character  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical discipline  in,  370. 

United  States,  causes  of  diversity  of  re- 
ligious doctrine  in,  577. 

United  States,  difference  between  evan- 
gelical and  other  sects  in,  579. 

United  States,  alleged  tyranny  of  public 
opinion  in,  587,  note. 

United  States,  religious  literature  of,  341. 

United  States,  misrepresentation  of  family 
discipline  in,  681,  note. 

United  States,  character  of  political  papers 
in  the,  345. 

United  States,  commencement  and  prog- 
ress of  religious  liberty  in,  262,  263. 

United  States,  comparative  smallness  of 
standing  army  in  333. 

United  States,  absence  of  military  police 
in  the,  677,  678. 

United  States,  comparative  morality  of  the 
people  of  the,  678. 

United  States,  much  of  the  gross  crime  of, 
imported,  678. 

Universalists,  origin  of,  in  the  United 
States,  565. 

Universalists,  doctrinal  belief  of  the,  566. 

Universalists,  difference  between,  and 
Unitarians,  540. 

Virginia,  early  settlement  of,  37. 

Virginia,  the  first  to  dissolve  union  of 
Church  and  State,  213. 

Virginia,  religious  character  of  first  set- 
tlers of,  123. 

Virginia,  intolerance  of  Legislature  of,  126. 

Virginia,  early  relations  between  Church 
and  State  in,  and  effects,  179-182, 
495-201. 

Virginia,  legislation  in,  about  religion,  221. 

Virginia,  effects  of  dissolution  of  Church 
and  State  in,  228. 

Virginia,  state  of  Episcopal  Church  in,  at 
close  of  Revolution,  230. 

Virginia,  present  state  of  Episcopal  Church 
in,  232. 

Virginia,  act  for  establishing  religious 
freedom  in,  224. 

Voluntary  Principle  in  supporting  relig- 
ion, obstacles  to,  77-89. 

Voluntary  Principle  in  religion,  nature  of 
the,  262. 

Voluntary  Principle  in  religion,  impor- 
tance of  the,  264. 

Voluntary  Principle  founded  in  character 
and  habits  of  the  people,  265. 

Voluntary  Principle  developed  in  Home 
Missions,  282. 

Voluntary  Principle,  influence  of  the,  on 
education,  296. 

Voluntary  Principle,  influence  of,  on  moral 
reformation,  348. 


G96 


INDEX. 


Voluntary  Principle,  influence  of,  on  be- 
neficent institutions,  356. 

Voluntary  Principle,  influence  of,  in  fur- 
nishing a  ministry,  652. 

Voluntary  Principle,  efficiency  of.  in  in- 
creasing the  ministry,  652. 

Voluntary  Principle,  efficiency  of,  in  sup- 
porting the  ministry,  653. 

Voluntary  Principle,  efficiency  of,  in  erect- 
ing church  edifices,  655. 

Voluntary  Principle,  comparative  in- 
fluence of,  in  raising  religious  funds, 
658. 

Wales,  notice  of  immigrants  from,  144. 
"Welsh  colonists,  character  of  the,  52. 
Western  States,  extent  of  population  of 
1840,  48. 


Wheaton,  the  late  Hon.  Henry,  remarks 
of,  on  relations  between  Church  and 
State.  259. 

Wheelock,  Rev.  Eleazar.  school  of,  for  In- 
dian youth,  594. 

Whitaker,  Rev.  Alexander,  notice  of,  126. 

Whitfield,  Rev.  George,  preaching  of,  at 

•  Boston,  550. 

Williams,  Roger,  arrival  of.  115. 

Williams,  Roger,  notice  of,  188. 

Winebrennarians,  notice  of  the,  522. 

Winthrop,  Hon.  John,  notice  of,  108. 

Winthrop,  Hon.  John,  letter  of;  to  mem- 
bers of  Church  of  England,  109. 

Winthrop,  Hon.  John,  arrival  of,  in  this 
country,  111. 

Yale  College,  remarkable  revivals  in,  402. 


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